Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
Cooper: You awake yet? I’m worried about you. Let me know what you need.
Evan: Dude, you okay? What do the doctors say?
Jonas: Can we bring you anything?
I feel like a truck ran me over. Or a massive defenseman slammed me into the boards. My entire body throbs with pain, from my eyeballs to my feet. I want to go back to sleep.
But someone squeezes my hand. “Hey, there.”
I force my eyes open—ow, the light hurts—and I’m rewarded by the soft smile on Natalie’s face.
“Hi,” I croak, my words a whisper. My throat is sore and dry, and she holds a Styrofoam cup with a straw up to my lips. I take a sip, the cool water soothing the scorching fire in my throat, and then lay back on my pillow. How can taking a drink of water be exhausting?
Natalie’s brown eyes brim with concern, and she smooths my hair off my forehead. “How are you feeling? Any pain?”
I shrug. There’s literally nowhere that doesn’t hurt, but I won’t tell her that. Thankfully, she fills the silence for me.
“Hunter, I was so worried. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner, didn’t come right away. You’re—you’re important to me.” She chokes up, and I don’t know why she’s upset, but I caress her fingers, still laced in mine, and tug her closer. My eyelids want to close, but I force them to stay open.
“Hey, don’t cry.” My voice is still raspy, but better than when I first tried to speak. “I’m fine.”
I try to shift, and that’s when I notice my left leg, swathed in a fabric cast. I can’t move it. No wonder I’m damned uncomfortable. I blink at the cast that covers me from knee to toes. I’m decidedly less fine than I thought.
Because I know what broken legs mean for hockey players.
Natalie must see, because she presses a kiss to my forehead. I close my eyes, trying to block out the light and the reality of what’s happened. To my embarrassment, a tear leaks out, but she kisses it away.
“It’s going to be okay. We’ll get through it together.”
I let my exhaustion pull me under with her words echoing in my ear.
“What are you doing here?”
I blink awake at my dad’s cold tone. He stands at the foot of my hospital bed, glaring. Natalie stretches, uncurling from the chair where she slept. Sleep marks crease her cheeks, and her hair is rumpled. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.
His words are flat and unyielding. Natalie cringes. I try to shift but my leg is still too heavy, and the cast makes it bulky so I can’t move.
“Hunter, who is this?”
I ignore him and hold my hand out to Natalie. She rushes to my side and laces her fingers through mine.
“Hey. How are you?” Concern fills her eyes. I swallow, then brush a strand of hair off her face.
“I’m okay.” It’s a lie. Everything hurts. But having her here, caring about me, makes my chest feel warm and fuzzy.
“Hunter.” My dad’s words are a deep growl. “I don’t know who this is or why she was allowed in your room, but she needs to leave. Now.”
Stepping towards her, he grabs her arm and tugs her towards the door, but she shakes him off. I sit up at the anguished look on her face, wincing at the pain that causes.
“No. Natalie’s my girlfriend.” My speech slurs a little and the monitor by my head flashes. But I don’t care. I can’t let him send her away.
My dad’s eyes narrow in a look I’m all too familiar with. He’s pissed.
“I thought we talked about this. No distractions.” He huffs, then speaks under his breath. “Maybe this explains your poor performance. And why you’ve been ignoring my texts.”
“She’s not a distraction.” I force the words out through my haze of exhaustion and pain. “She’s the best thing that’s happened to me this year.”
My dad crosses his arms, his face a stony mask. “We need to talk, son. In private.”
“Anything you need to say, you can say in front of her.”
He leans in close, his voice a sharp hiss. “I don’t even know her. And you shouldn’t, either. You were supposed to focus on hockey, and nothing else. I should have known you’d screw this up, too. Women are only after one thing.”
Natalie snorts and stands up straighter next to me. She pops her hand on her hip. “And what’s that?”
My dad’s mouth forms a harsh line. His gaze darts to Natalie, and he snaps his fingers in her face. “I just figured out why you look familiar. You work for the team.”
“I do.”
“Meal ticket,” he mutters under his breath. “Publicity. Golddiggers, all of them.”
I have a fleeting image of her dad. The polar opposite of mine. Weak where mine towers over me, older where my dad looks young and strong. His brown hair hasn’t even started graying at the temples—although maybe he colors it for his image on TV. They couldn’t be more different, because her dad is kind where mine is cruel, loving where mine is selfish.
I might be woozy on pain medication, but I can see in her gaze the moment she realizes it—my dad is not a nice guy. Not like hers at all.
Natalie gasps, and her eyes flash. “How dare you—”
“Hunter, get her out of here.” My dad’s voice is low and urgent. “I’m serious, we need—”
“She’s not leaving.” I pull her closer, practically onto the bed with me. “I love her.”
This wasn’t how I wanted to tell her, wasn’t the moment I was waiting for at all, but it’s the truth. I needed to say it.
Natalie smiles at me, ignoring my dad’s stuttering, and runs her thumb over my knuckles. She leans in. Her voice is soft, only for me.
“I love you, too.”
Her confession fizzes in my chest, lights me up inside.
“That’s it.” My dad throws his hands up in the air. “I’m getting security to remove her.”
“Dad.” I finally meet his gaze. “Don’t. I don’t know why you’re here, but Natalie stays.”
“I’m here because I’m your father!” The words explode out of him, and Natalie stiffens beside me. “I’m here to talk about your future! Which you won’t have if you keep girls like this around.”
I shake my head. “I should have known you only cared about hockey, not me.”
“What do you mean?” The murderous look on his face intensifies. “I’m missing a game for you!”
“How generous,” I mutter, bitterness soaking my tone. I shift in the bed, not letting go of Natalie. “Say your piece and go.”
He turns red and a vein pops in his forehead. “I figured one of us should care about your future. It’s clearly not you, not with the kind of choices you’ve been making.” He gestures at Natalie and the monitor by my head beeps faster as my heart races. “But the jokes on you, girl.”
Natalie takes a step back at the venom in his voice, and I wish I could protect her from this. From him.
“Because I can cut him off whenever. And there’s no way the Blackhawks will keep him now.”
She looks away from him to me, confusion lacing her features, and I nod. It sucks, but he’s right. I should have dropped out my senior year and signed with Chicago when I had the chance. They won’t want me after an injury that will surely end my season. Or worse.
“Oh, Hunter.” Natalie’s voice wavers. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for dumping him now that you know your free ride is gone?” my dad taunts, and my stomach clenches. She would never. But his words still cut deep. Unfortunately, he continues talking. “He’s the one who should apologize, for getting injured and ruining the arena gala, not to mention his prospects.”
“You think Hunter should apologize for getting injured?” Her voice rises on the last words, incredulity lacing her tone. “Are you serious?”
“You don’t know anything about hockey, or what’s best for Hunter.” Then he points his finger at me. “And you should learn not to trust a pretty face trying fleece you.”
With that, he turns on his heel and storms out of the hospital room. The machines’ beeping fills the silence as Natalie stares at me, her mouth open. Then she bursts into tears and climbs into bed next to me.
Yeah, my dad has that effect on people.