Page 151 of Rush the Edge

“I’m not playing tonight.” My mind is already made up. “Coach will let me go.”

Malaki snorts. “You gonna tell him the reason?”

I shrug. “You got a better idea?”

Malaki thinks for a second. “Honestly, devil girl has made a pretty big impact on the team. He may just accept the real reason.”

How could she not make an impact? Her smile alone stops everyone in their tracks.

I catch a glimpse of Malaki’s growing grin. “Or he might collapse from shock that you are thinking of someone other than yourself for once.”

I send him a glare. “Fuck you.”

Rhodes, from down the bench, chuckles. “It’s the truth.”

It isn’t.

I’ve always thought of her.

Even when I pretended I didn't.

I glance at Coach with his furrowed brow and ignore my teammates’ snickers as I head toward him.

* * *

The apartment is quiet with only a few lights on. I eye the bag of medicine and Tupperware of soup on the counter, both untouched.

I walk past the coffee table, pausing when I see her journal. I flip it open to the last page she’s written in. There’s a long list of numbers beside a line of dates:99.6, 99.8, 99.5, 100.2,100.8. Below those are a few symptoms that she must have been dealing with over the last week:fatigue, achy joints, sore muscles, nausea, increasing fevers.

I quietly close the journal and move to her bedroom. The door is cracked slightly, but the lights are all off. My heart is lodged inside my throat as I push it open.

Where is she?

I glance to the bathroom and stride over to the opened door. The lights are off. I reach my hand out and flip the switch. My eyes adjust right away, and the sight I see scares the shit out of me. There she is, body lifeless on the floor.

“Daisy?”

I scoop her up into my arms with my heart pounding violently. Her eyes flutter open, and I frantically search her face before giving her body a once-over to see if she’s hurt. “What are you doing on the floor, baby?”

“Um.” She clenches her eyes shut and winces. “I kind of fell and then just got tired, so I went to sleep.”

“Are you hurt?” I ask, needing to know if she’s okay. “I’m calling River.”

“No!” Her eyes fly open, and she locks onto me.

There are dark bags beneath her bottom eyelashes and a pinkish hue to her nose and cheeks. I can tell she’s not herself right now, yet she’s still just as beautiful as ever.

“Why not?” I brush a few strands of hair out of her face and realize her skin is burning hot. “Have you taken anything for your fever?”

Daisy pulls her attention away from me. The wheels are turning in her head as she thinks about my question. “Daisy.” I give her arms a little shake.

She looks back at me, her eyes red. “I can’t remember.”

“You can’t remember?”

Well, shit.

Suddenly, she starts to shake in my arms, trembling with the chills, or exhaustion, or?—

---