Page 72 of The Love Playbook

Autumn

Ellie’s fussing over me while Piper watches. “How’s your ice pack? Should we switch it for heat? How’s your head? I know you said it wasn’t a big deal, but you could have a concussion. Maybe we should get you checked out.”

“My brother’s had a few concussions,” Piper adds. “They can be serious.”

Ellie nods along with her. “Yeah. Cal has too.” She crosses her arms and looks down at me. “I think we should go to the ER.”

Fortunately the doorbell rings, and I’m saved from once again rehashing my argument that I didn’t hit my head hard enough on the headrest of my seat to merit going to the ER. Yeah, I have a headache, but it’s my neck that hurts the most.

I was waiting to turn left into the parking lot before my noon class, and someone just … didn’t stop, I guess. A guy in a pickup ran right into me. Because I was paying attention to the oncoming traffic so I could make my turn, it caught me completely by surprise. Everything inside my car ended up somewhere else—spare napkins and an empty coffee cup flying out of the cup holders, my backup sunglasses popping out of the storage compartment, my bag flying off the seat and onto the floor with my books and papers and laptop spilling out.

I lurched forward, my seatbelt stopping me from hitting the steering wheel, and then my head slammed into the headrest on the way back.

Since she’s standing, Ellie answers the door, but not before giving me a stern look and an ominous, “We’re not done talking about this.”

“Holy crap, you guys,” I mutter. “Are you gonna threaten to call my mom next?”

“Maybe,” Piper puts in. “Someone should. You were in a car accident, Autumn! Don’t you think your parents should know?”

I wave a hand. “I’ll tell them. But it’s bad enough dealing with you guys fussing constantly. My mom will probably insist on coming here. And if she does, my dad will too. It’ll be better and easier if I wait a day or two, get the car situation figured out, and then tell them once there’s nothing to worry about. Not that there’s really anything to worry about now.”

“Like hell there isn’t,” says a familiar voice I worried I’d never hear again. I turn to see Jackson standing in the door, silhouetted by the golden evening light. He strides into the room, laser focused on me. “You got in a car accident? What happened?”

Taking the ice pack off my neck, I push myself to sitting. “It really isn’t that big of a deal, I promise.” But I’m not sure Jackson hears a word, because he’s staring at the ice pack in my hands. Might’ve been a tactical error to draw attention to it.

He crosses his arms, his eyes moving back to mine. “Not a big deal? Then why do you need to ice your neck?”

“Exactly,” mutters Piper, but I ignore her.

Instead I go for deflection. “Oh, please. You and your teammates ice all your body parts all the time. You even have whole icebathsas part of your recovery. And you’re going to lecture me about icing a sore muscle?”

“We also have a team of trainers making sure we aren’t hurt beyond simple muscle soreness,” he fires back. “Doyouhave one of those?”

Dammit. No. Obviously I don’t. But I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of admitting that. “I’m pretty sure I can tell if I’m hurt badly enough to require medical attention. I’m fine. We all learned about RICE in health class in high school, right? I mean, I’m not going to do compression on my neck and it’s naturally elevated. But I’m resting and icing. And alternating heat, because both of my roommates have football playing older brothers and have watched them do this plenty of times when they’re extra sore from two-a-day practices or whatever. How is this different?”

“Because,” Jackson grits through clenched teeth, “you. Were hit. By a car.” He punctuates his sentences by leaning forward a little more on each one.

“I’m really fine,” I protest again, but it’s quieter now.

Jackson comes closer, his fingers under my chin. Tipping my head up, he looks into my eyes. Then he holds up a finger. “Watch my finger,” he commands gruffly. He moves it side to side then close to my nose until I go cross eyed and try to jerk my head away.

“Your eyes are tracking normally,” he murmurs, “and your pupils are evenly dilated.” Pulling out his phone, he turns on the flashlight and shines it into my eyes.

“Hey!”

He scowls at me. “I’m making sure you don’t have signs of a concussion. If you do, I’m taking you to the ER whether you like it or not.”

“Thank you!” Ellie practically shouts from behind him. “Piper and I have been trying to convince her to go for an hour.”

He glances over his shoulder at her. “I’m glad you guys were looking out for her since she apparently won’t do it herself.”

“Hey!” I protest again, but he ignores me.

“Fortunately she doesn’t seem to have hit her head hard enough for that, so she’s probably right that ice and heat will help her neck the most. Do you guys have any Icy Hot or anything like that? That would help a lot.”

Piper and Ellie exchange a look, silently checking in with each other before answering Jackson’s question while I pout on the couch since they’re discussing me like I’m not here and perfectly capable of making decisions for myself.

“No,” Ellie says at last. “I don’t think we do. Unless Dani’s hiding some somewhere.”

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