Page 19 of Home Game

“What’ll happen to her now?”

“Well, we will hold her overnight. Probably release her sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

“Just like that?”

“She’ll be in pain, but she’ll heal. She’ll need to keep her arm in a sling for a couple weeks.”

“How’s she going to do that when she is on the street?”

He shrugged. “We see this kind of stuff all the time. These street kids get the brunt of it. Poor nutrition, no social support. No home. No family. A lot of them turn to drugs or even worse.”

Fuck me.

He slapped me on the shoulder. “There are some fantastic fundraisers, if you’re ever interested in helping out. Someone of your status would go a long way.”

“Yeah,” I said, still distracted by Zoey’s fate. “I’ll talk to my agent.”

“Great. Sorry to bring you down here on such a miserable night, but I can’t wait to tell my friends I met you. Any chance I can get an autograph?”

Was he for real?

“No problem.”

He handed me a pen and a pad of paper and I signed it.

He had ushered me to the front waiting area. And then he was gone. I walked back to my vehicle, unsure how to process how I felt.

Coach was out for blood.He made us do speed skating sprint drills for an hour. I was functioning on limited sleep so by the time we finished I felt like puking. Then we had our regular practice. Then he reamed our asses out, and told us we were cowards, idiots, and dumb ass jocks that didn’t deserve our coveted positions as star athletes.

He wasn’t wrong.

The locker room was silent when we came back to change. No one looked at each other. No one spoke.

I walked out to the parking lot and just sat in my SUV. It was pouring rain again. I couldn’t get my mind off Zoey. What the hell was she thinking, hanging out in a deserted parking lot in the middle of the night? I had met farm dogs who weighed more than she did.

I couldn’t get the image of her lying in the hospital bed out of my head. She looked so lost and defeated. Would they send her somewhere in a cab? Where would she go? She would be in crippling pain. Would she even be able to afford pain meds?

Frustration ripped through me. Deep calm breaths. What I needed to do, was let this go. I had enough shit on my plate.

I put my SUV in reverse. I didn’t get here by being distracted by anyone or anything. My career was in crisis. It needed my complete focus. I couldn’t afford any distractions.

I would call Krista and tell her to make a donation to the food bank or something. And to set up a charity event for the homeless. That is where it ended. The game, as always, needed to come first.

CHAPTER 6

ZOEY

“You’re awake,”a nurse said, sliding the curtain open.

I looked around. I could only see out of one eye. I reached up and touched my other eye. It felt puffy and hot.

She grabbed my hand and pulled it from my face. “Your eye is swollen shut. Don’t touch it, okay?”

I tried to sit up, and it felt like someone stabbed me with a hot knife in my shoulder. I looked down. My left arm was in a sling.

“What happened?” My voice sounded weak and scratchy.

She adjusted something above my head. “You don’t remember?”

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