27. Hunter
27
Hunter
W e were on fire. The team was winning a lot more games than we were losing. We had about two months left in the season and we were gunning for the wild card to get into the playoffs. Webber, Ro and I had started to work so well together that we were becoming intuitive with each other. Webber and I got in our own hat tricks, and it didn’t seem like we were slowing down anytime soon.
We were playing my old team again and since we were doing a lot better than the first time we played, they were playing rougher. They were getting a lot of penalties, and two fights had already happened, one being with Ro and their defenseman.
It was almost the end of the second quarter and Webber was onto his second hat trick this month. Ro and Webber were passing back and forth when Webber lost the puck but I recovered it quickly, passing it back to him. He was getting ready for a slap shot when he was hit by two players. His legs flew up from underneath him and one of the guys landed on his leg.
My heart stopped for a moment when I thought I heard a snap. I rushed to him, pushing the asshole off Webber. The moment I saw his face in agony, I saw red.
“You motherfuckers,” I snarled, ripping my gloves off and launching myself at the first dickweed.
Chaos ensued as I threw punch after punch, seeing Cap and Ro fighting with me. These assholes did it on purpose. The refs pulled us apart just as the medical team was putting Webber on the stretcher. My stomach dropped, seeing him in pain and I was ready to go after anyone after that. Ro held me back as the refs dished out penalties. I was thrown into the penalty box along with Ro and Captain. They had three other players in the box as well. I itched to get back on the ice, but I was worried about Webber.
The rest of the game was slow and brutal with another fight breaking out with Coach threatening to bench us if we didn’t get our shit together. We were up one goal, and we kept the lead for the rest of the game.
Cap, Ro, Clark and I undressed quickly, wanting to get to the hospital as soon as we could because no one was giving us answers about how Webber was doing. I winced, getting my pads off, having to take a deep breath to remove them completely.
“Riggs, you might need to get checked before we leave,” Cap said loudly enough that I knew Ro heard him.
“I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
My shoulder was on fire. I didn’t want to waste time on it and fear kept me from going to get it checked out. Seeing Webber on the floor in agony made me realize that I had limited time left. It was only a matter of time before I was hit so hard that it ended my career.
“Please have them check you out,” Ro said, as people were walking to the showers. “The sooner you do it, the sooner we can leave to go check on Webber.”
“I’m fine,” I groaned.
“Liar, now save us both some time and just get it checked out,” he growled, before he walked away.
He was right, but that didn’t mean I wanted to do what he said. Taking a deep breath, I went to the trainers where they checked me out. They said my shoulder was getting worse and that I would have to get an MRI. If I didn’t get it, they wouldn’t let me play. Arguing with them didn’t help and left me even more frustrated. They gave me instructions to ice my shoulder and do a few stretches. I rushed through my shower, dressing quickly. Ro was waiting for me outside of the locker room.
“What did they say?” He looked concerned.
“Are you ok?” Valencia rushed toward us, inspecting us quickly.
My face hadn’t sustained injuries, but Ro’s face looked banged up. He had a split lip and a bruise forming on his cheek. She reached up to touch his face when she pulled back abruptly. Sadness etched on her face and for the first time, I didn’t like that I couldn’t touch her, or she couldn’t touch us.
I looked around, stepping in front to block them from prying eyes. Ro looked relieved when he grabbed her hand and put it on his face. She still looked sad as she looked at me, cupping my cheek, looking over me again.
“We are fine,” I said, glancing behind me before holding her hand against my cheek and leaning in.
“They deserved everything they got,” Ro said with conviction. “They got off easier than they should have, but we are ok.”
She still looked upset. This was reckless; seeing her upset made me feel feral. I pulled her in for a hug, holding her tightly and kissing her forehead.
“We are fine, Lenny,” I said, not knowing where her nickname came from. “It’s part of the game.”
I felt her nod against my chest.
“Mamacita.” Ro grabbed her chin to look up at us.
Her jaw was flexed.
“I…I know. I’m sorry,” she said, pulling away.
My hand tightened around her.
“Don’t say sorry,” I said, looking at Ro because I didn’t know how to make her feel better.
“You were worried and that's ok.” Ro leaned down. “I like it when you worry, but I don’t like seeing you like this. What do you need?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “This is helping, being close to you. I didn’t see the hit and I thought?—”
She looked up at me and then Ro.
“You thought it was one of us.” I finished her sentence.
She nodded, pushing her face into my chest as I felt her shudder. The sound of a door banging made Valencia jump away from me, taking her warmth and comfort.
“Please let me know how he is,” she said, wiping her eyes.
“Of course we will,” Ro said, stepping away from her.
“Florida, are you ok?” Cap came up to us.
“Yeah, I just haven’t seen a hit so hard and the sound of his pain just…” Another tear fell.
“Yeah, seeing that is awful and it’s hard to deal with,” Cap said, pulling her in for a hug.
“I was just asking if the guys could give me an update on how he’s doing,” she said, wiping her eyes.
“Of course,” he said, looking at Ro and I with suspicion.
“He’ll be fine, Florida,” Ro said, not looking at Cap.
Fucking hell, don’t tell me he knew too.
“I’ll let you guys go. Sorry about the water works,” she said with a sad smile.
“You don’t have to apologize,” I said, hoping to make her feel better or something other than what she was feeling.
“G’night,” she said, and as she passed us, I put the key to my apartment into her hand.
I looked over my shoulder to see her walking away as we yelled good night before we walked out the door.
“Please tell me Webber wasn’t right,” he said.
I tensed, cursing Webber and his big fucking mouth.
“Webber is wrong about a lot of things,” I said, not getting specific.
“Yeah, like that one time he told us about a Thai place close to the hotel and we ended up walking like two miles and never finding it,” Ro chuckled, acting so oblivious to it. I loved it.
Cap stared at us like he was trying to decide if he should believe Webber.
“Dude, you’re freaking me out,” Ro said, shaking his head. “What’s going on?”
“You tell me,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Are we still going to go see Webber or did something happen?” I asked, looking at Cap and then Ro like I was confused.
“Dammit guys, please don’t be doing something stupid,” he sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Be careful.”
I didn’t want to say anything, the least amount of people that knew was better.
“The only stupid thing we did was fight so much,” Ro said.
“That’s true,” I said, and Cap agreed.
“Ok, let’s go check in on him,” Cap said. “Clarke said he would meet us there.
We all drove there separately, even though it would have made sense for Ro and I to drive together. I texted Valencia to go to my apartment and wait for us there because I wanted to see her, to comfort her. The hospital was surprisingly busy, and parking was a little difficult. Ro and I managed to find a parking spot close to each other. It’s like he knew I needed him, or we just needed each other.
We walked in together, finding the elevators quickly. Once the doors closed on us. Ro pulled me towards him. I sighed into his neck, needing exactly this. Seeing Webber get hurt, realizing I was probably next and the worried look on Valencia’s face, had me feeling anxious. My life felt like it was spinning out of control, and I didn’t know how to make it stop spinning. Ro’s arms tightened around me, easing some of the pressure in my chest.
“It’s gonna be ok,” he said, kissing my cheek.
The elevator dinged, making Ro pull away from me. A sense of loss hit me again, I couldn’t help but feel angry. A part of me hated that I couldn’t be close to them whenever I wanted.
Ro looked back at me when I hadn’t gotten off the elevator.
“Hunt?” He looked confused.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said walking out, feeling his eyes on me.
Why was I feeling like this? I shouldn’t be having these thoughts.
“This is him,” Ro said, giving me a worried look as we arrived at a room. “Hunt, if this is too much for you, we can see him later.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said, pushing past him to go into the room.
Webber was looking at a TV in the corner of the room looking sad.
“Hey man,” I said, catching his attention as I noticed Cap sitting next to him and Clarke sitting by the window.
“What’s up guys,” he said, trying to smile.
“Hey, dude,” Ro said, walking in behind me. “How are you feeling?”
He shrugged.
“What’s the news?” I asked, sitting on his left.
“My MCL is torn and my patella has shattered,” he said, and I tried not to flinch.
He would be out for the rest of the season and possibly the beginning of next year depending on how well he did with surgery.
“Have they talked about surgery?” Ro asked, sitting next to me.
“Yeah, I will see the surgeon in the morning along with someone else, but they told me to rest tonight,” he said, looking down at his hands.
“I’m so sorry, man,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. “Are you in pain?”
“No, I feel so relaxed that I don’t know how to feel,” he said, looking lost. “I guess it’s better than having to deal with it.”
“We will be here for whatever you need,” Ro said, leaning over and holding his hand.
He frowned. “Thanks, guys.”
“Anytime, man,” I said. “You need anything we will help any way we can.”
“Damn, guys, you're going to make me cry,” he said, wiping his eyes.
“You want one of us to stay with you?” I asked, feeling bad that no one was here for him.
“No, my best friend, Jude, said he would be here tomorrow,” he said, running a hand over his face. “I’ll probably just sleep tonight.”
The man who was in love with him? Poor guy.
“You sure, man?” Ro asked. “I can stay here with you.”
“Nah, it’s ok, I’m fine,” he said. “Go home and rest so you can kick ass the rest of the season.”
“You hungry? We can smuggle in some tacos or a burger for you?” I asked, knowing he was probably starving since Webber was always hungry.
He smirked at me. “You know me. I can always eat.”
I laughed as we took his order and a few things he was going to need at least until tomorrow.
We stayed with Webber until we got kicked out at midnight. Visiting hours ended at 8, they were gracious enough to let us stay with him, but they stressed he needed to rest.
After he had eaten, he seemed better, but I wasn’t fond of leaving him alone. We even offered to stay again, but his last dose of pain medicine made him drowsy.
I was dead on my feet when we walked into my apartment. It was quiet, and I kind of expected Valencia to be awake, except she was in the middle of my bed surrounded by pillows. Her phone was in her hand and her glasses were still on.
Her curly hair was spread around her with pieces of blue framing her. She looked serene, soft and sensual. My chest warmed at the sight of her, tugging at something I didn’t understand. It was something that I had run away from for years or never thought I would have. Panic clawed at me and my breathing got a little faster and shallower.
Ro immediately got into bed, taking off her glasses and then pulling her phone from her hand. He plugged it in with the extra charger she brought to my house, placed her glasses on the nightstand, removed the pillow she was hugging and slid in right next to her.
This was not what I wanted. This was supposed to be easy, sex and more sex. We only did this to win, and we had been winning. Ro and I had gotten over whatever was holding us back and we were in sync. These feelings were not good. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Hunt?” Ro’s voice brought me out of my spiral and I flinched when I noticed how close he was to me. “Are you ok? What's wrong? Does your shoulder hurt?”
His voice was full of concern as he cupped my face.
“What's going on in that head of yours?” he asked. When I didn’t respond, he asked, “Do… Do you need us to leave?”
He clenched his jaw on his last question like he didn’t want to ask, but he forced himself anyway.
“I don’t know what I need,” I said truthfully.
I had no clue what I wanted and why I was freaking out.
“Let me take Lenny and we can?—”
“That's not what I need,” I said quickly, because the thought of them leaving made me more anxious. “I think Webber’s situation made me realize that my time is ending.”
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the entire truth either.
“Hunt, you've got years if you want,” he said, as tension fell from his shoulders.
“Yeah, it's just I might need to face reality soon,” I said, taking my shirt off so he didn’t see my face. “The MRI is freaking me out a bit.”
“Are you ok?” Valencia’s voice was thick with sleepiness.
“Yeah, we are coming to bed,” I said, shucking off my pants to sleep in my boxer briefs.
“Ok.” She laid back down.
Ro waited for me to get into bed, climbing in behind me. Ro spooned me as I turned Valencia around to spoon her. The anxiety that had been toying with me all night finally eased enough that I could take a deep breath.
“We are here, Hunt,” Ro said softly. I almost didn’t hear him. “We are here for whatever you need.”
That’s what scared me. This wasn’t just about me anymore; this contract was turning into something that I didn't know if I would be able to give them. For the years I had been in the BDSM lifestyle, but hurting them made my stomach sour. Contracts didn’t last forever, even if I wanted this one to.