Chapter 3 #2
With his palm secure in mine, I had too much fun rubbing my thumb over his skin.
I glanced at Maddy, who wore a small smile.
“So what do you say? Can this sexy-ass beast of a man stay with me? I promise I’ll make sure he behaves.
Sometimes he struggles to keep his hands to himself.
” I turned to Sutton, who I could tell was grinding his back molars.
“You hear that, baby? No funny business.” I followed up with a wink and somehow managed not to snort out a laugh when he narrowed his gaze at me.
“I’m sure I can manage that,” he gritted with a tight smile. Sutton aimed a very different smile at Maddy. “Cross my heart.”
“In that case, I’m sure it should be fine. I’ll need to check with the duty nurse, but I don’t see a problem. We can have a cot brought in for you. Now, let’s get on with these checks and get you some pain meds.”
She set about checking my vitals while I managed to keep my mouth shut. Though the truth was, exhaustion once again was setting in. By the time she finished and left, I didn’t have the energy to tease Sutton, a little disappointed at the fact.
“You can barely keep your eyes open.” Sutton’s voice was light and soothing. I peeked at him under my half-closed eyelids and attempted a smile. “Just rest.”
“’kay,” I mumbled, sighing contently that through it all, Sutton hadn’t let go of my hand.
A nurse woke me every three hours to check my vitals. Each time, Sutton was already awake and sitting on the edge of the cot, his gaze intent on me. By the time I woke up properly for the start of the new dawn and the rounds from the doctor, I’d washed up and was feeling almost human.
“Give us time to organize the discharge papers, and you should be out of here by ten,” the doc said, chart in hand.
“Remember, concussions are serious business, and while we’re happy with the MRI results, it could be as little as a week, but maybe closer to a month before you’re feeling fully recovered.
Do not push it. I’ll organize a script for anti-nausea medications, as well as painkillers and something to help you sleep should the headaches be too much and keep you awake. ”
I smiled and gave a careful nod, not wanting to shake my brain any more than necessary.
I didn’t even correct him that falling asleep was not my problem.
He’d already spent ten minutes going over the possible side effects and why that was.
I didn’t want to give him any reason to believe I couldn’t be set free.
“Your fiancé”—a thrill of amusement buzzed to life at the word—“I’m sure will fill the script for you. I’d suggest doing it before you leave. The pharmacy opens in about thirty minutes.” He glanced at Sutton, who was clearly listening to everything the doctor said.
“I can do that.”
The doctor nodded, returning his attention to me. “I know you’re here on vacation, and I’m sure this will put a dampener on things, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to take it easy.”
It majorly sucked, but with the aches in my body and the throb in my head, I didn’t expect relaxing would be too much of an issue.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t overdo it,” Sutton said from my side, sitting opposite to where the doctor stood.
“As for physical activity, including sexual intercourse, play it by ear, and use your headaches to guide you. Certainly nothing too strenuous for at least a week, but listen to your body after that.”
I couldn’t help it. I grinned and turned to Sutton.
The tips of his ears turned pink, and as always, he grunted.
“It’ll be hard, I know, baby,” I said, reaching out and squeezing his arm, cackling on the inside at his rigid shoulders and the stink eye he shot me.
Right about now, I was sure he was regretting reacting to being kicked out and wished he’d just got Nate to pick him up.
Me? Hell, I loved every moment of his embarrassment.
The man didn’t embarrass easily, so I had to make the most of it when he did.
“Righto, Jayden. I expect the nurses may want you to sign a few autographs on your way out. There’s been increased chatter once everyone realized who you are and that you play for the League.
While the League’s not too big in these parts, it doesn’t take much for our staff to grab on to the most positive excitement they can get.
But just give me the nod if you want me to get them to back off.
The duty nurse owes me a favor, and she’ll make sure no one bothers you. ” The doctor gave me a small smile.
“I don’t mind at all, and I’m sure Sutton here’s up for a few photographs too.”
“Brilliant. No overdoing it, though, and I’ll make sure Amanda, the duty nurse, takes control so you don’t get overwhelmed.” With that, he said his goodbyes and left the room, leaving me alone with Sutton and eager to be discharged.
“You think it’s a good idea bringing attention to you and signing autographs?” Concern had Sutton’s voice sounding deeper than usual.
“It’ll be fine. You emailed my agent and Coach, right?
Got my parents up to speed?” He nodded, and I eased out of bed to go to the bathroom.
“Then it’ll be fine. They all know my injuries aren’t anything too serious, and it won’t impact my season.
It means they’ll be able to shut down any speculation.
You gave the hospital the details of where to send the medical records.
” I shrugged and stood, waiting for the dizziness that thankfully didn’t happen.
Smiling, I looked up, brows shooting high seeing Sutton standing before me, hand clearly ready to hold me should I need the support. My heart constricted, so fucking happy he’d come all this way and we were getting back on track.
Before he could say anything, which he clearly intended to do based on his expression, I blurted, “I need to piss.”
He nodded and let me pass, and I was sure if I looked over my shoulder, he’d be less than three feet behind me.
After finishing up in the bathroom, I returned to find my fruit and toast. Sutton, ever the gentleman his mom brought him up to be, was waiting for me before he started on his own breakfast.
“What time is it?” I asked after taking a gulp of OJ.
“Not long after eight. I’ve called Nate, and he’s going to head on over to get us.” He worried his lip, something he rarely did, and shifted his gaze away from me.
“What is it?” I asked, sitting on the bed.
He lifted his cell, huffed out a heavy breath, then shoved it at me. “Read for yourself.”
Sunshine Coast Qld Chronicle @sunshineqldchronicle #BreakingNews
Basketball superstars @jaydenmooreofficial and @galesuttonofficial are out and engaged. It seems the month for it this #PrideMonth
*image of Jayden Moore and Gale Sutton public kiss September last year*
89.3K Retweets 14.7 Quote Tweets 512.7K Likes
Wide-eyed, my heart galloped in my chest as I read the tweet, not bothering with the comments, but I took in the number of reactions.
“Shit,” I said with a laugh, having no idea how else to react.
This was crazy, but then that photo of Sutton and me from all those months ago most definitely looked like the real thing.
I supposed it was.
When I’d kissed him, it had been to prove a point. My own big FU to the bigots targeting Ryan and Nate.
For a while, the media had jumped all over the story.
It was only when our club’s PR advised us to make a statement making it clear we weren’t in a romantic relationship, right alongside the two of us being supporters of the LGBTQ community, that the stories fizzled out.
Sure, there’d been a whole fandom of “Jayton” love out there with conspiracy theories of the two of us being in the closet and in love, which I’d eaten up and thought was both hilarious and awesome.
That had been the final straw for Sutton, though.
He’d distanced himself completely. The memory made me jerk my head in his direction.
I ignored the pain of the fast movement, too focused on Sutton and dreading that he’d act all fucking weird again and back away. “Shit, okay. We can fix this, right?”
He sighed. “This one’s on me. I’m sorry. I was the one who panicked about being kicked out and said we were together.”
When his tone sounded more resolved than angry, I eased back against the puffed-up pillows, relaxing.
“So would you say this is worse than me kissing you in front of the cameras? You know, since you said we’re engaged and that means one day soon we’re going to get married…
you think that is going to be harder to take back? ”
His gaze snapped to mine, and I couldn’t hold back.
I grinned, and laughter burst free. The pain of the movement and the loud noise was so fucking worth it for the flickering emotions crossing his face.
I didn’t think either of us was sure whether he wanted to punch me, abandon ship, or laugh his ass off right alongside me.
“It’s okay. You can admit that this is sooooo much worse,” I said, super helpfully.
With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair, his shoulders drooping, shaking his head. Seeing the glimmer of a smile on his face was a hell of a thing, though.
“Only you, Jayden.” His gaze connected with mine.
“Only me what?”
He tilted his head. “I swear, since the day I met you and you told me I was going to be your friend and there was nothing I could do about it, life’s been… chaotic—”
“And fucking epic.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that too. But I only get involved in shit when you’re around.”
I gasped, somewhat melodramatically. “I am so not the bad influence in this duo—” I cleared my throat, indicating I was building up to some life-changing speech.
“—Mr. He’s My Fiancé.” As far as life-changing declarations went, my pitched voice that sounded nothing at all like Sutton’s, was short but sweet.
Sutton flipping me the bird told me as much.
He did that a lot. It was one of the many ways he’d shown me over the years that he was devoted to me and our bromance. He also wasn’t exaggerating that I’d latched on at basketball camp and told him he was the jelly to my peanut butter and we were destined to be best friends.
I was gifted with my skill with words and metaphors and remained surprised that I’d actually managed to graduate college at all.
Though Sutton may have had something to do with that too.
Sure, we’d gone to different colleges, but I may have accidentally on purpose fought hard to get into the college closest to his, as there wasn’t a chance I could attend Dartmouth like his big-brained self.
We’d met up as often as possible over the four years, and he kept me grounded and made sure I worked enough to pass and not bring shame to my momma.
“Okay, we’re out of here soon, and I suppose we need to figure out what to say?
” I said after he remained quiet. “Perhaps put your phone away too.” I indicated toward his cell, which he’d taken back and scrolled through.
At the look on his face, my heart thudded loudly.
The usual calm expression was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey,” I said, concerned, reaching out to squeeze his arm.
“Let’s not sweat this, all right? Let’s not say anything for now.
We’ll get out of here when Nate arrives and go kick back and relax.
We’ll figure it out, perhaps talk to the team’s PR or something. This doesn’t have to be a big deal.”
Like last time, his reaction left me confused.
For a fact I knew Sutton wasn’t homophobic.
He’d not only been vocal in his support of the community over the years but put his words into action and helped one of his cousins with an LGBTQ+ rally about six years back. Since then, he’d been a strong ally.
Knowing that about him made his reaction to our kiss last year more difficult to understand.
I admitted I’d overstepped and had apologized about how sorry I was that I didn’t get his consent first. I wasn’t a complete asshole.
With each apology, he’d acknowledged he understood my intention, but for weeks after, he’d acted differently.
I swallowed hard. Maybe one day he’d tell me the truth about what was really bothering him, but for now, we needed to deal with this. However we did that, I refused to have it destroy our friendship.
“Okay,” he finally answered, his gaze steady.
“Good. Let’s get my stuff packed up then, and you go fill that script so we can get outta here.”