Chapter 13 #3
From the back, Graham yelled for me again.
And Big-D’s eyes lifted toward the corridor, and I felt my whole body go tense.
Please just go out to the fucking bus, asshole.
Instead, he popped another candy in his mouth and locked eyes with me.
“If I’m ever hit on the head hard enough to yell for the team homo, one of you will just shoot me, right? Put me out of my misery.”
“Really?” Hartley asked, his jaw tight. “You want to do this right now, with your teammate flat out in the next room?”
“That’s the thing, though,” Big-D said, folding his arms. “I’m just looking out for Graham. Actually, Rikker never told us whether he likes to give or receive.” He stared me down. “Which is it? If you like to be the cumbucket, maybe Graham is safe.”
A spear of red-hot anger sliced through my chest. “Funny. You seem real eager to know what sex with me is like,” I said. “Curious, maybe?”
His ground his teeth. “Watch your fucking mouth.”
“Yeah? You feel like making me?” I was too stressed out to back down. “That’s your strategy, maybe. You want my hands on you any way you can get them.”
Big-D made two fists, his face red. “Shut it, faggot.”
Hartley jumped between us. “STOP! Both of you.”
“Rikker!” Graham yelled. And the tension I felt was unbearable.
Hartley pointed at me. “Stay with… Bella,” he finished. Then he jerked a thumb at Big-D. “You, on the bus. Right now.”
Big-D gave me one last, angry stare before he turned around.
Hartley gave me a shove toward the back, and we both went into Graham’s room.
“There’s too many people in here,” the doctor grumbled, checking Graham’s eyes again. “You all can sit in the waiting room. Except for Rikker, because he’s going to save my eardrums.”
“Where’s…?” Graham tried to see around the doctor.
“Right here,” I ground out.
“Why are we in a hospital, Rik?” he asked.
“Uh, Hockey game, G. You took a hit on the head.”
Bella tugged on my arm. “He’s afraid of something. Why?”
I put my lips close to her ear. “Not now, Bella.”
“He doesn’t want you to go,” she said, her face flushing.
“Then I’ll sit in that fucking chair all night, okay? Now hush.” I could still feel the blood pounding in my ears. Hitting something sounded really good right about now.
Bella took a shaky breath. Then she went over to ask Coach if I could stay with her to keep her company.
“Sounds like a fine plan, if Rikker is willing,” Coach said.
“Hey, no problem,” I stammered.
The doctor finished her examination. “He’s awfully agitated,” she said, frowning. “I don’t love that. But there’s been no vomiting for an hour now.” She patted Graham on the shoulder. “Why are you so upset, buddy?”
Coach tugged his chin. “Shit. I don’t feel like I should walk out of here.”
“Why are we here?” Graham asked.
I cleared my throat. “You took a hit during the hockey game,” I said for the millionth time. But then I had an idea. “Hey. Where is his stuff? Did he come in here with his helmet?”
“Why?” the doctor asked.
But I’d already found the door of a flimsy little closet in the corner, and yanked it open. Graham’s hockey bag was crammed inside, the helmet on top. “G, look at this,” I said, pointing to the crack. “This is why we’re here.”
“The hockey game,” Graham said.
“That’s right.” I handed him the helmet. “That’s the only reason.”
Graham fingered the crack in the helmet while everyone watched.
“Coach, just leave me here with Bella,” I said. “We’ll be fine.”
He looked from Graham to me and then to Bella. “You can just add a room with the team card,” he said.
“I’ll just stay in this chair,” I pointed. “Seriously. One night. We’ll leave in the morning.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m good. They’re waiting for you.”
Still frowning, Coach patted Graham’s shin. “Stay strong, kid. And I’ll see you tomorrow when you get back.” Then he turned and left the room.
I sagged into the plastic hospital chair, feeling the first hit of relief.
An hour and a half later, I woke up with a start. My head lay on my crossed arms, which were propped onto Graham’s bed.
“Sorry,” Bella said from behind me. It was her return to the room that had startled me.
I picked up my head, untangling my stiff neck. Graham was asleep, his fingers curled into the cage of his helmet. “What time is it?”
“Midnight. I got the rental car.”
I yawned and stood up. “You can have the chair.”
She shook her head. “I already asked them to bring in another one, and they said it’s against policy.” Bella rolled her eyes. “So I’m going to the hotel, unless I can talk you into going in my place.”
“Naw. I’ll stay,” I said.
“Thought you’d say that,” Bella said, her eyes downcast. “He wants you, anyway.” She let out another sigh, and then walked over to the head of Graham’s bed.
Bending down, she barely touched her fingers to his sleeping head.
“Tell me what happened, Rikker. What were you talking about before? Something happened in an alley. Graham got beaten up?”
I shook my head. It wasn’t something I could discuss with her.
But Bella’s laser eyes did not retreat. “Graham didn’t get beat up,” she whispered. “You did.”
Ugh. “It was a long time ago, Bella. I’m over it.”
“But he isn’t,” she whispered.
Chivalry be damned, I sat back down in my chair. “I guess not,” I agreed with her in a low voice. “I didn’t really know that until tonight.”
“Was it bad? Must’ve been, if the hospital is freaking him out.”
I didn’t really know what to make of that, since Graham hadn’t even come to the hospital with me.
And I didn’t remember it so well, to be fair.
“I got through it,” I said, not wanting to go into specifics.
“But maybe that’s why I’m over it, you know?
I dealt with the injuries. They sucked, but it’s done with. ”
Bella looked down at my sleeping boyfriend. “But he’s still duking it out, isn’t he? The hardest-hitting defenseman we have. Trying to intimidate the other team, night after night.” Her eyes never left Graham, even as she spoke to me.
Well, shit. I hoped she was wrong about that. I hoped Graham wasn’t still trying to dole out retribution after all these years. How absofuckinglutely depressing.
Bella leaned down farther, kissing Graham’s hair. “Mmm, helmet sweat,” she said. It was supposed to be a joke, but she looked too sad to pull it off. “Goodnight, sweetie,” she whispered to him. Then Bella walked over to the wall and flipped the overhead light off. “Night, Rikker.”
Then she left.
Graham
Someone was trying to press my head into a vice. And Christ that hurt.
Prying my eyes open, the first thing I saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.
Wait. It wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. I moved my eyes a few degrees, which was painful.
But the edges of the room came into focus.
A hospital room. Memories of last night began flickering at the edge of my consciousness.
There was a lot that didn’t make sense. But I knew Coach had been here. And Bella, Hartley and…
I moved my chin to see more. In my left hand I held my hockey helmet, which had a nasty crack in it.
Under my right hand lay Rikker’s sleeping head.
My heart gave a little squeeze just seeing him there, his strong arms folded onto my mattress, the soft skin at the side of his neck disappearing into the collar of his T-shirt.
Gently, I removed my hand from his hair, though. I never touched Rikker in public, not even a playful punch to the shoulder.
God, my head hurt so badly. What else happened last night? I’d been confused, and I could picture the faces of my friends trying to calm me down. Rikker, especially. He’d looked shaken. But why?
Beside me, Rikker groaned. He rolled his head around on the mattress, slowly stretching out his neck. Then he picked his sleepy face up and studied me. “You’re awake,” he said, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “We’re at the Central Mass hospital, because you got knocked on the head during the…”
“…Hockey game,” I said.
He blinked at me. “Okay. Good job remembering that.”
A doctor strode into the room then, stethoscope around her neck. She wore honest-to-God combat boots with her scrubs, and a blue jewel in her nose. “Morning, sunshine. I’m just going to look you over one more time before we can release you, okay? Same drill as last night.”
“Last night?” I asked. But as she came closer, I realized that I remembered her. It had been dark in the room, but during the night I’d awoken several times to see her stalking towards me with a light that she’d shined in my eyes while I was trying to sleep. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Yep,” she said. “Every two hours you tried to eject me from the premises. Good times.”
“Sorry,” I managed. “I was confused.”
Rikker moaned into his hands. “Yes, you were. It was a long night.”
The doctor moved around to the side of the bed where Rikker was still sitting. “Now that we’re friends again, I want to look at that contusion on your hip, too. Maybe your boyfriend could step out for a minute.”
Boyfriend.
The word hit me like an ice bath. Holy crap. For the first time it occurred to me to wonder whether my deflector shields had taken a worse beating last night than my hockey helmet or my skull.
I must not have kept the flinch off my face. Because the doctor cocked an eyebrow. “Sorry. My mistake. It’s just that you did an awful lot of yellin’ for him last night. Wouldn’t let him leave the room.”
I turned my head too fast toward Rikker. The result was a new flash of pain. But the troubled expression on Rikker’s face was even worse. “What happened here?” I croaked, afraid of his answer.
“We’ll talk in a bit,” he said. “I’m going to look around for coffee.” He got up and slid out of the room.
“Roll for me, hon,” the doctor said with a nudge to my shoulder.
Reeling, I turned my body so that she could lift the hospital gown that I was wearing. I didn’t remember putting it on. I didn’t remember how I got here, or who drove me.