30. Aliens Take One Look and Just Nope Right on By
Everything happens so slowlyI”m convinced I can stop it. Lily leaps using only one foot. It”s an exercise I”ve done for years. I know the balance and coordination it requires. As soon as she pushes off the ground, I can tell she doesn”t. I launch myself toward her when I see her awkward takeoff. My eyes are locked on her feet as she switches in midair. I”m sure she doesn”t even give it a thought, but now her right foot is her lead. That”s the ankle she just injured on Coach”s goddamn tires. I try to speed myself, but I”m not close enough. Her right foot lands on the stone, and I know what”s going to happen before it does. I watch as her ankle immediately gives out, and her foot rolls under. I”m too late. And hearing her cry out when I can”t do anything to prevent her pain feels like being stabbed in the center of my chest.
I drop beside her and hold her calf, careful not to touch her ankle. ”Stay down this time.”
”I”m fine. We need to finish.” The pain is obvious in her words.
”You”re not fine. We need to have someone look at this.”
She tries to peel one of my hands away, but I don”t budge. ”Hello? That”s me. My job is literally evaluating and treating sports injuries, and I say I”m fine. I probably just need to walk it off. We can still win.”
”Is that your official treatment plan? Just walk it off? Is that what you would tell one of us?” I don”t give her a chance to answer because I wouldn”t be surprised if she said yes. ”Didn”t think so.”
I look up and see Kayden running up to Coach”s side. Behind him, Poppy and his husband are jogging our way. ”What”s going on?” Kayden asks. ”That didn”t sound good.”
”It wasn”t good. We need to wrap this. Or better yet, an air cast. Someone get an air cast.” Poppy and Zachary are here now, but not one of them is moving. ”Right. Now!”
”Oh my god, Brant. Guys, it”s fine. I twisted my ankle. Not a big deal. Someone help me up. Or get this stubborn man away so I can get up on my own.”
”Not happening, Jams.” I grip her shoulder to let her know I mean business. Her eyes go to the guys behind me, but I know not one of them will disagree with me about this. Just to be sure, I threaten each of them with a look. That”s when I see the Princeling behind them all. ”Princeling, what the fuck are you doing?”
He freezes in the center of the tire run. ”Uh, I thought you would want us to finish the race.”
”You thought wrong. Race is over.” I pin him in place with my stare so he doesn”t take another step.
”I was going to come help. Honestly. But it looked like you all had it under control. So I assumed?—”
”Princeling, you can shut the fuck up right now. Race is over.”
I draw in a shallow breath when Lily rests her hand on top of mine. ”Brant, he”s fine. You don”t all have to stop because of me.”
But it”s not fine. Just knowing she”s in pain made my world stop, and everyone else”s world should have stopped too. That includes rookies who are too fucking dumb for their own good. Hell, Kayden was the first one at our side, and he”s as competitive as they come.
”What a year for Elijah to not be here.”
”I saw Jason over at one of the tables earlier.” Princeling says. He and his partner have finally come to their senses and joined the rest of the team in a circle around us. ”Want me to get him.”
”Fuck no.” Poppy shakes his head at the rookie who has yet to learn you don”t trust Jason with a hangnail.
”I”m taking you to my SUV. I have a first aid kit with a roll of athletic tape in the back. Hold still.”
I slip my hands under her and she gasps. ”Brant! Don”t you dare!” She slaps at my arms and tries to push them away, as if she”s strong enough to stop me. It might be cute if my brain were capable of processing anything other than the fact that she”s in pain. ”Kayden, tell him no!”
”Sorry, Lily. He”s a dumbass, but even dumbasses are right sometimes.”
”Somebody tell him I”m fine, please? Ow! Ow, ow, ow!”
She winces as I lift her from the ground, and I want to beat myself up for not stabilizing her ankle before picking her up. Too late now. But I”m extra careful as I carry her to my SUV. It would be a lot easier if she would stop huffing and complaining about being carried. If she would put her arms around my neck, this would— On second thought, maybe it”s best if she doesn”t. If I feel her arms around me, I can”t promise I could stay friends like she wants.
By the time I get her to the parking lot, she”s gnawing on her bottom lip and sucking in breaths through her exposed teeth. Whether or not she”ll admit it, she”s in pain. ”Change of plans. I”m putting you in the passenger seat.”
”Good. It”s about time you came to your senses. It”s only a sprain, and not even a bad one.”
I carefully set her into the seat and then dash around the front of the SUV. I always thought it was stupid when I would see someone in a movie slide across the hood of their car, but I understand now. Going the extra distance makes the trip to the other side seem endless. But finally I get there and slip in behind the wheel. ”Buckle up, Jams. I”m taking you to an urgent care.”
”Oh my flipping god, Brant! I have a master’s degree in athletic training. Plus I”ve been working with professional athletes for the last four years. I probably have more experience with sprains than anyone at an urgent care.”
”Then you know there are a lot of parts in an ankle, so we need to make sure you didn”t damage anything more severely than you think.” I look down at her legs stretched in front of her. ”Shit. I should have given you something to elevate it. Oh well, we”ll be there in a few minutes.”
Lily slams her head against the headrest. ”You are so impossible. Why are you like this?”
Because she”s the only thing I think about other than hockey these days. Because I promised I would never let anything bad happen to her, but then I stood helpless as she twisted her ankle. Because I would rather die than see her in pain, even if she won”t admit how much it hurts. ”Because I”m Canadian, and we”re very nice people?”
”More like stubborn and obsessive.” She doesn”t know how right she is. ”Can you at least take pity on me and stop calling me Jams now, Mr. Nice Canadian?”
”After you called me stubborn? I”m calling you Jams more often.” I flash her a grin.
She slaps my arm. ”You are such an asshole. And so stubborn.” She”s doing her best to sound angry, but I see the smile she lets slip when she thinks I”m not looking.
”If goalies could be alternate captains, I”d sew that A on my jersey just for you, Jams.
”I am this close to throwing myself out of the car.” She shifts and whimpers from the pain in her ankle. It sends a brand new rush of adrenaline through my body, and I press even harder on the accelerator.
When we get to the urgent care, I run inside and come out with a wheelchair for her. She sits on the edge of the passenger seat, looking at me like she wants to rip more than one of my body parts off, but when I explain it”s either this or I carry her inside, she hops into the wheelchair without a word.
We”re the only patients in the waiting room, so it”s only a couple of minutes before we”re called back. The second we”re in the exam room, Lily tells the nurse that she doesn”t really need to be here. The only reason she came at all is because I forced her. The nurse looks over at me and chuckles. ”Boyfriend?”
Lily and I both snort. ”As much as he”s in my business, he might as well be.”
”I just look out for her, that”s all.”
The nurse laughs again and wheels Lily out of the room for imaging.
It seems like she”s gone for hours. I”ve read the HPV vaccine poster hanging on the back of the door so many times that I could be a pharmaceutical rep if I ever need to quit hockey. But finally she comes back, and she”s with the physician assistant. The PA introduces herself to me and then pulls up Lily”s images on the computer. ”The good news is there”s nothing too severe. No breaks and no tears. The ultrasound does show significant swelling here, but it”s nothing that can”t be fixed by rest.” The PA looks up and points at me. ”You need to make sure she stays off this ankle for at least a couple of days. I can tell she”s the type who won”t rest without someone there to make her, so that”s your job.” She turns back to Lily. ”We”ll give you some crutches, but use him instead of those as much as possible. You need something today or tomorrow? You ask him to get it for you. Got it?”
”Oh, we don”t live?—”
”I got it. I”ll make sure she stays off it.”
”It”s good to have patients who actually listen to me for a change. Now let me put a wrap on this, and we”ll send you two home.”
Lily doesn”t say a word as I wheel her all the way to the passenger door. Other than a couple of quiet whimpers when I hit bumps I couldn”t avoid, Lily is unusually quiet during the ride home too. Until I pull into my driveway.
”Brant?”
I look at her and act surprised to see her. ”Oh hey, Lily. I didn”t know you were there.”
”Very funny. You drove past my house.”
”Yup.”
”So you”re going to back out of the garage and drive me back because you made a mistake?”
”Nope.”
”You want me to use the crutches and walk home?”
”Nope.” I pop the P extra loud for her.
Her jaw tenses, but several seconds pass before she says anything. ”I can”t stay with you. You heard the PA. I”m fine, mostly. I just need to take it easy for a while. Trust me, I know the protocol.”
”And you can take it easy at my place where I”ll take care of you. You also heard the PA. She told me to make sure you stay off that leg for the next few days.”
”Couple of days.”
”Fine. You only have to stay with me for a couple of days. Happy?”
She clenches and unclenches her fists several times in her lap. ”I”ll leave. You won”t stop me.”
I press the button above the rearview mirror, and the garage door closes behind me. ”Garage is locked.”
”Then I just won”t go in.”
”The garage gets chilly at night, but I”ll make sure you have a blanket.”
”Huge asshole.”
I grin. ”The biggest.”
”I bet they can see a mammoth asshole like you from space. Aliens take one look and just nope right on by.”
I trace a giant A on my chest with my finger.
She flips me off. ”You need to go to my house.”
”Didn”t we just have this discussion?”
We stare at each other. After a few seconds, she opens her eyes wider. After a couple seconds more, she tries to raise her eyebrow. Her left eye narrows, and I can see that she”s focused on that eyebrow, but every time she tries to move it, the right one shoots up too. I add this to the list of things that are adorable about her. After a few seconds more, she tilts her head. ”Brant…”
”Oh, Silver!”
”Yeah, Silver. Just wait until he finds out you wanted him to stay all by himself for two days while you once again live out your hero complex with me.”
My jaw drops open. ”You wouldn”t dare tell him.”
”I most certainly would.”
”I”ll bribe him with treats. He”ll never believe you over me.”
She flicks her wrist, dismissing me. ”I apparently have nothing to do for the next two days except give belly rubs. Whose side do you think he”ll be on after that?”
”Oh, the asshole has turned. Let me get you situated first. Then I”ll run over and get him. But don”t you dare think about taking off while I”m gone. We”ll track you.”
”I know better than to try to escape. You”d have the sprained ankle police after me before I got to Mrs. Hanson”s house.”
I smile. ”Look at you, knowing your neighbors.”
”Just because she makes the best honeycomb cookies. And was one of the only ones who accepted me when I was growing up. Anyway, don”t forget to bring his dog food and dishes. He usually grabs Pinky when I ask if he wants to go walksie-woo, but be sure to bring him if he doesn”t.”
Does she really expect me, a grown ass man, to ask a dog if he wants to go walksie-woo? ”Got it.” Of course she does. And of course, that”s exactly what I”ll do.