Chapter 35
brAXTON
Cooper is kneeling above me when I wake up from another unexpected nap, this time with my back against what feels like a brick wall.
My eyelids are heavy as I blink, trying to bring his face into focus.
There’s something wet on my ear, and my head hurts, a pulse thumping away inside of my skull.
A burning in my hands has me lifting them in the air. Scraped skin and blood.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Braxton. I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance. How long have you been asleep? You’re bleeding,” he rushes out, frantic hands moving over me, eyes examining me.
I drop my head to his chest, exhaustion trying to pull me under again. “Let me go back to bed,” I slur.
A growl hits my hair before a set of arms is digging beneath my armpits and lifting me onto my feet. I frown, shaking my head.
“We’re going to the hospital. You definitely have a concussion.”
“No. My car. Did you see anyone when you got here?”
I manage to tie my words together, trying to dig my heels into the ground as he leads us to the SUV parked beside my car.
“No. And now I know you didn’t fall on your own. You need to file a police report as soon as you’re done at the hospital.”
“I don’t want to think about that right now.” I reach toward my ear and swipe away the warm liquid there. When I see the red on my fingertips, I gulp. “I am bleeding.”
Cooper maneuvers us so he can pull open the passenger door and help me inside. Once I’m sitting, he goes to the back of the vehicle and comes back a second later with a first aid kit.
“Let me check your head. I don’t like the look of you bleeding,” he states gruffly.
Knowing better than to refuse, I nod. “I’m going to miss the game tonight.”
“Yeah. You are.”
His touch is gentle on the side of my head, but I still flinch. Cooper doesn’t pay it any attention; he just continues to wipe away the blood on the side of my face and then starts to push through my curls in search of the wound.
“I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer, and now he’s going to think I bailed on him,” I whisper.
“No, he’s not. Now, hold this rag here, and let me clean your hands.”
I hold the first one out to him, grabbing the rag and applying the same pressure he was on my head, trying not to wince at the first dab of the peroxide-soaked wipe.
“We need to call the police about your car, at least. You need to get your window replaced as soon as possible. Did you have anything valuable that someone could have wanted to steal?”
Anger flares in his eyes each time I flinch or hiss out a breath. When he cleans the deepest cut, I release a whimper, and he grinds his jaw so hard I worry he’ll break his teeth.
“No. I don’t know why anybody would want to break into it in the first place. It’s old. Half the time, it doesn’t even start.”
“Switch hands,” he mutters, waiting for me to grab the rag in the newly cleaned hand and give him the bloody one. “I don’t think they cared about the car. It doesn’t make sense. You’re not wrong about it being unreliable.”
“Hey, I’m the only one that gets to insult her.”
He rolls his eyes. “Does this place have security cameras?”
“Yes. One that faces the parking lot and another at the back entrance.”
I only had them installed last week, and now I’m grateful that I did, despite the extra cost. Maybe we caught the guy.
“Alright, good. When we’re done at the hospital, you’re going to report the break-in and hand over the security tapes.”
I sigh, feeling the full weight of my exhaustion. “I’ll do it tomorrow. Not tonight. I’m tired.”
Cooper blows out a long breath. “Okay, love. You just scared me. I’ve never heard you like that before. And then when you stopped answering . . .”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, twisting my mouth.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for. I’m so happy you called me.”
I nod, not knowing what else to say as he finishes cleaning up my hands, glancing up at me every few seconds to make sure I’m still okay.
A couple of moments later, he’s wrapping my hands in white bandages and saying, “Stay awake on the way to the hospital. I’m serious.”
I nod, swallowing the worry in my throat.
He buckles me in, then throws the first aid kit back in the vehicle and gets in the driver’s side.
If it weren’t for the heavy reality of the situation, I would laugh at the way he blasts the radio and turns the A/C all the way up in an attempt to keep me awake.
He’s so worried that even though the music makes my head throb that much more, I don’t say anything. I’m lucky he came as quickly as he did. I’m too scared to think of what could have happened to me had he not rushed to get to me.
“You should be able to go home soon, but I do want someone to stay with you tonight through tomorrow to watch for any of the symptoms I mentioned, alright? Are you able to stay with her?”
One of the emergency room doctors at the hospital—a curvy woman with gorgeous flaming-orange hair and a warm smile—places a hand on my wrist and looks between Cooper and me.
Cooper flicks his eyes to me before staring back at the doctor. “It won’t be me, but there will be someone with her tonight.”
My brows furrow. “Do you have plans or something?”
He laughs, shaking his head. “No, love. But I think—”
“Braxton?” a deep voice shouts outside of the room. “Don’t touch me. Just tell me where the fuck she is. Braxton?”
The doctor’s lips pull tight in what looks like an attempt to hold her laugh. “That’s for you, I assume?”
My heart goes into overdrive. He’s here. “Yeah. That’s for me. Can we open the door?”
“I’ll leave it open on my way out. Remember, come back in if you start to feel any symptoms.”
“I will.”
“Alright. Have a great night, guys.”
“Thank you,” I say, cautiously touching the bandage on my head.
My stare follows her out of the door and lands on the man rushing toward me, his body draped in hockey gear and pushing through a crowd of hospital staff. My jaw drops as I look at him, at the worry in his eyes and the way his lips part on my name.
My doctor mutters something toward the group, and they separate instantly, making room for Maddox to walk through.
I try to speak, but my words die the moment he reaches us and grabs me where I sit on the exam table, lifting me into his arms and spinning us away from Cooper.
He presses my back to the wall, careful of my head, and buries his face in my neck, releasing shuddered breaths on my skin.
I wrap my arms around his neck, not liking how his gear keeps us from being closer.
“You’re okay, baby. You’re okay. Fuck,” he breathes, his arms wrapped around me nice and tight.
“I’ll be outside,” Cooper says softly before the door shuts, and it’s just Maddox and me.
“How are you here?” I ask, closing my eyes, careful not to put pressure on my palms as I tighten my grip around his neck.
“That doesn’t matter. Fuck, how are you feeling? What happened?”
“It does matter. You’re supposed to be playing a game right now,” I persist.
He pulls me away from the wall and sets me on the edge of the bed.
I go to protest at the distance left between us when he quickly eliminates it, stepping between my legs and cupping my face in his hands.
His eyes scour my face, the skin damp beneath them, panic pulling at his features when he smooths his thumb up my cheek and touches my hair around the stitch in my scalp.
I blink at him, waiting and waiting for words that don’t come.
“Maddox,” I whisper.
“Tell me who did this to you, baby.”
His words seem calm, but they’re vibrating with a thick sense of danger that has me fighting back a shiver.
“I don’t know. I only noticed that somebody had broken into my car, and I guess they weren’t gone yet. All I remember is being shoved forward and falling and then falling asleep. When I woke up, Cooper was there.”
His throat bobs. The air pulls tight around us.
“I’ll take care of this, I promise. Whoever did this won’t get away with it,” he swears.
I nod, wishing I could pull his face toward me without hurting my hands. He’s fighting some sort of inner battle, and I want to dive into his mind and be included.
“Cooper could have watched me tonight. You didn’t have to come. I don’t want you to get in trouble,” I murmur.
He drops his forehead to mine, rolling it side to side. “I will always choose you. Nothing else matters to me but you. Nothing.”
I tuck my lip between my teeth and breathe him in, ignoring the less-than-appealing smell of his gear and focusing on the hint of his body wash.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t answer my phone when you called. I was already on the ice for a final practice,” he grits out.
“It’s okay. How did you find out?”
“Cooper called my dad. Dad called Coach. Coach told me. I left as soon as the words were out of his mouth. If it weren’t for Bentley, I would have left with my skates on I was so out of my head.”
I laugh softly, bumping our noses. “Thank you for coming.”
“Don’t thank me, sweetheart. Just please, I never want to have someone tell me you were hurt again.”
“I’ll try my best,” I attempt to joke.
His jaw pulses. “I’m serious. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared. I can’t lose you again, okay? Just seeing you here, like this . . . it’s taking everything in me not to go out there and find this guy.”
I press my lips to his jaw, on the bushy beard covering it. The one I’ve grown to love. “I’m okay, Dox. I promise. Can you just take me home, please? All I want is to cuddle and watch TV.”
He traces my bottom lip with his knuckle before kissing me softly. It’s a cautious kiss, like he’s scared he’ll break me, and while there’s no possible way for that to happen, I accept the gesture with open arms.
“As long as you let me hold you in the shower and wash the blood out of your hair first,” he says. I pretend to think about it, and he nips at my bottom lip. “Please. Don’t make me get on my knees and beg.”
“Oh, see, that’s a tempting picture. You made a mistake offering that to me.” I waggle my eyebrows.
“At home, baby girl. Cooper could walk in here any minute, and while I owe him my life for getting to you as fast as he did, I’m not about to let him see me on my knees for you,” he says, voice dropping into a growly whisper.
“Sounds fine by me, although I’m sure it would make his entire year to find you in that position.”
Maddox shakes his head, smiling as if I’ve said something ridiculous. “He’s been waiting our entire lives to see me on the ground at your feet, Braxton. It would make more than just his year to see it. Now, let’s go home.”
Home.
I don’t know whether he means my place or his, and it doesn’t seem to matter. Home is wherever he is.
I grin like a fool as he flashes me a dimple and moves to let Cooper in so we can leave.