Josh
He smelled awful. All of them did. Even though they’d all jumped into the river after throwing Teagan in, his skin was screaming at him to find a shower and some body wash.
Baloo clearly didn’t hear the same call. As they approached the hotel, he invited everyone to his and Britney’s suite to party. All the engine room guys were on board. Crabby and Teagan were in, too.
Brit and Teagan in the same room was going to be… interesting.
His phone rang. He looked down, angling the screen away from Britney’s prying eyes when he saw who it was.
He tipped his head toward the lobby. “You go ahead. It’s Dad.”
His girlfriend went on ahead so he could take the call.
But it wasn’t his dad.
“Hello?”
Dr. Monroe gave a little laugh. “You’re a hard man to get hold of, Mr. Regis.”
Yeah. That’s what happened when you found out your heart could kill you and you wanted to pretend it wouldn’t.
“Sorry, Dr. Monroe. I’ve been busy.”
“You haven’t scheduled the follow-up test I recommended this summer. Why is that?”
How much time did the guy have? He was a cardiologist not a shrink, so Josh said, “I’ve been feeling good. The beta blockers you prescribed are working.”
“Those were only a temporary solution, Josh. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a serious condition.”
“I’m aware.” Aware his heart was faulty.
Aware it could kill him. He’d been diagnosed this summer while at a training camp in Baltimore, but he still hadn’t told his family.
The Regis family didn’t respect weaklings; they valued winners.
His illness had cost him the stroke seat, which was in turn why his grandfather had chosen to shine his light on Ryder instead of him.
If Josh didn’t push himself harder, his dad’s wrath would rain down on him harder than any storm. But pushing himself harder could kill him in the blink of an eye. So yeah, he knew the situation was serious.
“We need to monitor your heart to ensure the left ventricle wall hasn’t thickened any farther. If it does—”
“I feel fine, Dr. Monroe. Really.” He’d had the odd twitch. If twitch meant breathtaking pain radiating from his heart through to the rest of his body.
“Josh.” Dr. Monroe’s voice had a note of warning in it now. “As you know, this state allows us to treat minors on their own, but if you don’t take your treatment seriously, I have a duty to involve your parents.”
“No! No. It’s fine. I’m fine. I’ll reschedule the test. Honestly. I’ll do it right now.”
He didn’t. He took a shower, put on some clean clothes, forced himself to go to Baloo’s suite with his party face on. Gave high fives to the dudes, tried not to look like his life was on fire.
Teagan spotted him over the rim of the trophy the guys were forcing her to drink out of. She carried it over and held out the mystery mix of alcohol to him. “Josh Regis? I believe it’s your turn for a sip from the winner’s cup?”
Life was short and then you died, right? And his stood a good chance of being shorter than most. He cupped his hands around Teagan’s, the hit of connection as strong as it was the first time they’d touched. He knew exactly what he wanted.
“I don’t want to be just friends.”