Page 45 of Skating to Him

Hodge grabbed Knight by the jersey and shoved him into the boards. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Cummings skated to Hodge, snatched his arm, and wrenched him free. “Stop it, Hodge!”

With a sneer, Knight glanced at me and then Hodge. “What,ishe your boyfriend now?”

“Shut the fuck up. That was a dirty hit.” He wiggled his arm from Cumming’s grasp and pushed his chest into Knight’s. “I swear to God, if he’s out for the season, you’ll pay for this.”

“Yeah? How?” Knight poked Hodge in the chest.

With a wicked smile, Hodge said, “I know people, Knight. Don’t forget, my dad’s a juniors coach and my brother?—”

“You going to call your big brother to beat me up?” Knight freed a maniacal cackle, tilting his head this way and that.

Shaking his head slowly, Hodge said, “Naw, my reach goes even further than that.” He shoved his glove into Knight’s face mask. “Watch your back, asshole.”

“That’s enough, boys.” The ref parted them. “Both of you, off to the box.” Looking at Hodge, the ref said, “You’re lucky you’re not getting worse.”

Our trainer ran onto the ice with his bag and crouched next to me. “Let’s immobilize this knee and get a scan.”

“Yeah, okay.” I hung my head and let him get to work. It might be a long-ass night. So much for blowjobs with Hodge.

After being drivento the ER at Tempe St. Luke’s by our trainer, being undressed by nurses and given a gown, they’d stuffed me into an MRI, and now I played the waiting game while resting in a hospital bed surrounded by only a curtain, my knee iced and raised. The thing didn’t feel too bad now, but Coach wanted to take every precaution. I’d already checked the game, and sure enough, we’d won in a shootout. Too bad I had to miss it. I’d have loved to see the look on Knight’s face.

As I watched a sitcom on the little television above my bed, Hodge strode into the room. “Oh my God, Rowan.” He threw his arms around my neck, pressed his cheek to mine, and then planted a hard kiss on my mouth. “How bad is it?” He looked me over, his brows wrinkling.

“Uh, wow.” The kiss was a nice surprise. A grin worked over my lips. “Don’t know yet. I’m waiting to hear from the doctor.” I looked around him. “Where’s Hicks? He isn’t out there somewhere?”

“I didn’t see him.” His eyes widened as he straightened. “Shit, I didn’t think about the fact they’d send you here with our trainer.” A sly grin crept over his mouth. “I lied at the front desk and told them I was your brother so they’d let me in.”

“Oh shit, really?” I chuckled. “Can they put you in jail for that?” I squeezed his hand that was resting on my stomach.

“Only if they find out.” Huffing a laugh, he scratched his cheek.

“Find out what?” Hicks parted the curtains and strolled toward us, his large body filling out his team sweats and dark curls falling over his forehead. “And what are you doing here, Hodge?”

Tyler snapped his hand to his side. “H-he’s my partner. I had to come and see how he’s doing.”

With a slow nod, Hicks clasped his hands in front of him. “That’s some dedication. You two have gotten close since Coach put you together.”

“Uh…” I threw a glance at Tyler. “Yeah, guess we have.” I focused on Hicks. “We’re supposed to though, right?”

“You are.” Hicks left the bedside and came back from outside the curtain with a duffel. “Here, we grabbed your things from the locker room. It’s time to go home. You’ve got a sprained MCL.”

“MCL?” Tyler lifted his brows. “That’s the?—”

“The ligament on the inside of the knee.” Hicks’s dark gaze cut to mine. “You’ll need ice, rest, and compression and no skating for a few weeks. I’ll want to see you at the gym in a week or so and we’ll assess what sort of physical therapy we’ll do on it.”

“Okay, so it’s not torn, just sprained.” Holy fuck, I’d dodged a bullet. I sighed a breath.

“Yep, no tear.” Hicks set my bag on the end of my bed. “Come on, let’s get you out of here. I don’t have all night.” He unzipped my bag and pulled out my team sweats.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll wait outside.” Tyler tapped Hick’s arm. “I can take him home, right?”

“Sure. Then I don’t have to do it.” A smirk crept over Hicks’s mouth.

As I hobbledinto my apartment with my new knee brace and one arm wrapped around Tyler’s shoulders, I stood a moment, flicked on the lamps on the tables next to the couch, and looked around. I’d left the place clean because I’d known we were coming back here. Just didn’t think it would be with me injured.

After shutting the door behind us, Tyler said, “Let me get youcomfortable on the sofa.” He dropped our duffel bags on the floor and walked me to the couch.

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