Ice Contact (Milwaukee Steel Riders #1)

38. Olivia

38

olivia

M aggie drops me off outside the emergency room and speeds away to find a parking space. I rub my hands up and down my thighs, the weight in my chest feeling like it’s collapsing in on me. I’m still not sure what’s happening, but I know I don’t want to be here alone. I glance towards the parking lot, not seeing Maggie or her car anywhere. She said she’d stay with me as long as I needed her.

Hospital waiting rooms are the worst. The sterile beige walls with cheesy artwork from the 1980s is the farthest thing from a comforting environment. It’s depressing seeing the room filled with people here for a variety of reasons. Some are here for something simple - a broken arm, a bad cough, or a kidney stone. Some may be here for a more serious reason like a heart attack, a stroke, trauma, or even a death. I don’t even know what camp I fall into right now. I don’t even know what’s happened. Please, God, don’t let it be bad. I head toward the reception desk and the middle-aged woman sitting at the computer.

Please be nice. I can’t deal with not nice today.

“Hi; I’m here for Hayes Larson. I got a phone call that he was in an accident,” I mumble, my voice still shaky as tears well in my eyes, my throat struggling against the giant lump in it.

“Hi Ms. Brooks. I’m Mary, the one who called you. Let me see if I can get you an update,” she says with a warm but concerned smile. “Wait right here.”

Wait right here? Mary, I’m not fucking going anywhere. I’m not leaving until I can see Hayes. My Hayes. I’m not the most religious person, but I say another prayer. Probably the thousandth one I’ve said since I got Mary’s phone call. Please let him be okay. I just found him; I can’t lose him.

“Ms. Brooks?” Mary says, walking my way.

“Please, call me Olivia.”

She smiles, her eyes guarded. “He just got back from CT. I can take you to him now.” Mary leads me down a hallway in the emergency room. It’s not that big of an area, but this is the longest walk I’ve ever taken in my life. Every muscle in my body tenses with fear and anticipation as we pass room after room, dreading what might be waiting for me when I finally reach Hayes. Is he okay? Is he hurt bad enough to miss hockey? What if he can’t play again ? We continue walking by what seems like a hundred more rooms, then around a corner and down another long hall.

How many rooms are in this fucking place?!?!

Finally, we stop at room 22. Well, that’s ironic. A nurse is walking out as I stumble toward it.

“You must be Olivia,” the nurse smiles. “He’s been asking for you.”

My heart in my throat I can barely stand, let alone speak as I stare blankly at her hoping she has good news. “Is he…is he okay?”

“He’s going to be fine. Someone side swiped him, and he’s most likely got a concussion, but he’s going to be okay. We’re still waiting on all the results from his scans, but he’s awake. Just in pain and a little groggy. You can go in and see him now.”

Tears threaten to spill down my cheeks, relief making my knees weak. “Thank you.” I glance over my shoulder at Mary. “Can you tell my friend Maggie he’s okay and I’ll keep her posted? She was parking the car and is probably out in the waiting room now.”

Mary smiles. “Sure will. If you want, just let the nurse know and I can bring her back if you need me too.” I thank her as she walks back to her desk, and I place my hand on the door to Hayes’ room.

Walking in, my heart drops. There he is. Lying on a bed not made for a professional athlete full of muscle. Cuts and bruises litter his face. Machines beep, and there’s a slow dripping IV hooked into his arm. But he’s okay. He’s okay.

“Hayes?” I whisper as I inch toward him on the hospital gurney.

“Olivia. Come here,” he slurs, and I full-on ugly cry. I lean over, kissing his battered face and gently embrace him as if he’s a Fabergé egg that will break if held the wrong way. I want to hold him and never let go just to reassure myself he’s here and breathing and okay.

Hayes tries to make room for me to sit beside him, but the hospital gurney is smaller than Rose’s floating door in Titanic . Instead, I pull up a chair and sit beside him, refusing to let go of his hand.

“Oh my God, Hayes, they called me, and…I-I was so scared. I don’t know what I would have done.” I gently squeeze his fingers, kissing his knuckles. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I think the ice cream is going to be melted,” he says, and I laugh through my tears.

“Hayes Larson don’t make jokes with me right now. I thought you were dead!”

“Thank God you put yourself in my phone as my emergency contact. I had no clue what your phone number was. Someone kept asking who they could call, and I could picture your face, but I couldn’t think of your name. I was fucking freaking out. Thank fuck my phone survived the crash because finally, someone said, ‘Is it Olivia? She’s listed in here as your I.C.E. contact’. The minute they said your name, it all came flooding back, and I cried. I fucking cried,” he says, choking back tears as he gently turns his head toward me. “How could I forget ‘Olivia’? The most beautiful name for the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” A tear streaks down his cheek, disappearing into the tangled mess of his hair. “How could some asshole sideswipe me and knock that out of my head? I’m getting it tattooed on me tomorrow,” he vows, making me laugh again.

“You cried? For me?” I say, tears still streaming down my face.

“Olivia, how could I not? I love you, and I was freaking the fuck out, convinced I had amnesia and wasn’t going to remember who you were. I couldn’t even remember my own name.”

I sniffle as I tell him, “That’s the plot of Muppets Take Manhattan . Kermit gets hit by a car and gets amnesia. He can’t remember who he is, but Piggy karate chops him, he gets his memory back, and it all works out in the end. Just like now.” I kiss his knuckles again. “I’m glad you don’t have amnesia but know that I would gladly karate chop you if it helped. Seriously, how have you not seen this movie?” I say to him with a little chuckle as I sit rubbing his hand with my thumb.

“I can’t wait to watch it,” he looks at me as he winces out a smile.

“Don’t smile! It looks like it hurts,” I chastise, quickly dropping another kiss to his forehead.

“I fucking hurt everywhere. I feel like I got slammed into the boards, only a million times worse.”

I squeeze his hand tighter, my heart aching for my tough guy, my protector, in such a fragile state. “I bet. Do you remember what happened?”

Hayes tells me he finished his errands and was headed over to my place when some idiot was speeding and blew through a stop sign right into the side of his car. Luckily, it hit behind the driver’s seat, so he just got the blowback, whacking his head hard against the window.

“Hayes, I was so scared. You are the most important thing in the world to me, and when you weren’t at my house when you said you would be, I felt like something was wrong. Then I spiraled thinking it was because of the whole anthem thing, and I felt so bad. And then Cayden showed up at my door…”

“WHAT?!” Hayes says as his heart rate monitor goes crazy.

“Oh God, calm down. I opened the door, thinking it was you, only to find it was Cayden instead. Apparently, things didn’t work out with Shay-Shay, and he wanted to get back together with me. I told him to fuck off and that my boyfriend was on the way, ready beat the shit out of him if he didn’t get off my porch.”

He grimaces at me with pride. “I so would have beat the shit out of him. Then you’d be bailing me out of jail instead of visiting me in the hospital. I don’t know which is better honestly,” he says, and we both laugh.

“Mr. Larson?” a voice says from behind, as I turn to see a physician walking in the door. “I’m Dr. Knight. Your scans all came back clean. You do have a pretty nasty concussion, which I’m sure you’re familiar with as a hockey player. Everything else looks good though. You’ll just be sore for a few days.”

“Thank God,” Hayes sighs, sinking back into the scratchy sheets, “When can I get back to playing?”

“I’ll send everything over to Dr. Gregory with the Riders; he’ll make that determination. As long as your concussion heals up quickly, you won’t be out of the game too long. We’re glad to have you here in Milwaukee. You’re a good addition to the team. I’m sorry this is your introduction to the town.”

We both chuckle. “Not the welcome I wanted, but outside of this, I’ve had a great time here in the city. Not sure what your schedule is like, but I’ll have the Riders reach out and we’ll get you and your staff some tickets for taking good care of me. And for getting my girlfriend here so quickly.”

“We are all huge Riders fans here, so we’d love that. I’ll have the nurse come back and get your paperwork, so you should be good to go home in a bit. Do you have someone to stay with you tonight?”

“Yes, he does,” I say before Hayes gets the chance. “I will not be leaving his side.”

I’m not leaving his side tonight, tomorrow, or next week. Whether he likes it or not, Hayes Larson is stuck with me. I don’t want to leave his side ever again.