Chapter 15 Jack #2
I smiled and nodded, wiped my nose on my sleeve, and took one more gulp of water before throwing myself back out there.
Hockey games weren’t won by quitters. As Herb Brooks once said, “Risk something or forever sit with your dreams.” I’d risk my body for this team and that gold medal.
My heart was already on the line, so I guess I was risking it all for my dreams.
The next morning my dreams were mostly about a heating pad, ibuprofen, and checking for blood every time I hauled my sore ass out of bed to piss. So far so good on the piss. Otherwise, I felt like someone had hit me in the kidney with a two-by-four.
“You really should call the team doctor,” Starry said for the tenth time since we’d woken up after our trouncing of Team Latvia.
“It’s good. I’m fine. I’ve had worse pain stubbing my toe,” I lied like a big sore rug. “Just give me a few minutes to get with the program.”
“Rock head,” he mumbled as I moaned and groaned my way to a sitting position.
“Hey, winners don’t win if they quit,” I ground out while trying to ease my arm into a T-shirt without another whimper.
“Obviously. Will you at least skip morning skate to rest? We don’t play again until tomorrow, so you’re totally cool to take a down day.”
Jesus the man was stubborn.
“Nope, if I skip morning skate Coach will rip me a new asshole. A hot shower, some food, and a few Advil and I’ll be right as rain.”
What Pete said as he entered the bathroom with his cell I didn’t fully catch.
Part of it sounded like hardheaded pecker but I could be mistaken.
I’d just made it to the little couch by the window when someone knocked on our door.
I could hear the shower running and Starry’s questionable musical selections blaring, so I old man-walked to the door to peek out the peep hole.
There stood Tian, rumpled and sleepy, hair all at cross ends.
“Hey,” I said after unlocking and opening the door. “You’re up early.”
“I got a call from your roommate.” He eased in as I did my best impression of a carp lying on the bank. “You’re in pain.”
“Starry called you? How did he get your number?” I asked as I began plotting how to sneak into the bathroom so I could flush the toilet while he showered. That would show him. “I’m fine just a little—Hey! Stop that! Personal boundaries!”
He tugged the back of my shirt up. I was too sore to lift my arm properly to swat him away. His hiss made me cringe inside.
“Fuck, Jack, that looks awful.”
“It’s just a bruise. I’m going to kick Starry in the balls.”
“You can’t lift your leg that high. Come sit down.
” He eased an arm around me as if I were some old man who might fall over.
I leaned into him just so he felt good about being a nosy and overprotective lover.
“You should not play for a few days. What did the team doctor say when he saw this last night?”
“Take some aspirin, apply heat, let me know if you piss blood or puke.” I’d not told the team physician I was in pain so that was all a lie but a good lie because it was based on truth.
I’d had bruised kidneys before. I’d had bruised everything before.
You didn’t play hockey for a living and not end up with injuries.
If you did you weren’t playing hard enough, or so one of my college coaches had preached.
“Hmm,” Tian said as we made our way to my bed. I sat back down with a grunt. “Can I get you to at least let the doctor look at it?” He sat down beside me, his hand on my thigh. “Please?”
“Tian, baby, I’m really touched that you’re worried, but it’s nothing. Honestly, I’m just stiff and sore but that will go away with a nice heat wrap and massage after skate.”
“I think the doctor should look at it,” he replied.
“Well, I think it’s fine, and it’s my body, so what I say goes.”
“Do I need to call Fiona?”
I gasped. It hurt. I stared at him in shock. “Don’t you dare.”
“Then let the doctor look at it.”
“Are you always this fucking bossy?”
“Yes, when I care about someone. Now call the doctor, or I’ll call Fiona.”
“How does everyone I know have each other’s phone numbers? What the fuck did I fucking miss, and hand me my fucking phone so I can call the fucking team doctor.”
“That was a lot of fucks,” Tian said as he reached up to pluck my phone from the nightstand. “We kind of reached out to each other here and there. Making new friends. That’s what the Olympics are about.”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered as I fumbled through the pages of files, numbers, and contact info on my phone until I found the one for the team doctor and dialed it.
“Also, I say fuck a lot. I’m a hockey player.
Oh, hey, Doc, Jack O’Leary. I have a small, little, tiny bruise on my back near my kidney that’s a whisker on the sore side.
Should I take some aspirin and use a heating pad, or should I lie down on the floor and just expire?
What? No, I was being a smart ass. It’s nothing too bad.
No, no blood in my urine. Yep, lots of fluids, bed rest. We have a morning skate today, and Coach…
okay, well, sure if you think I should take the day to rest. I know we play Denmark tomorrow.
It’ll be fine by… Sure, I can let you look at it tomorrow morning at practice.
Yep, sure, no, yes, okay. Yep, thanks, Doc. ”
I ended the call and then flipped my phone to the nightstand. “Well, what did he say?” Tian prompted just as Starry broke out into an off-tune rendition of “Love on the Rocks” that made my sore back even sorer.
“Rest today, let him evaluate it in the morning. So, what the hell am I supposed to do all day stuck in this stupid hotel room?” I grumbled, put out with everyone and everything. If I missed tomorrow’s game, I was going to be—
“I can hang out with you. Here. Alone. In this bed…” The tone of his voice and the tiny touch of his finger to my thigh drove all my mutterings out of my head. “I mean if you want to be stuck here with me all day.”
I threw my hands into the air. I knew when I was beat.
“I’m happy as a fucking clam at high tide to spend the day with you.
” That was the truth. One whole day with Tian locked in a hotel room?
Uhm, yes, please and thank you. “I’m still mad at the three of you.
” I knew I had no reason to be mad at my sister, but once she found out, she would nag, and then I’d have reason, so I was pissed preemptively.
“That’s okay, be mad.” He patted my face, stole a kiss, and then told me to lie down so he could pamper me for the day.
Turns out Tian wasn’t only a fabulous athlete, but he was also one hell of a nurse. The sponge bath he gave me was exceptionally memorable.