Page 111 of Bagging the Blueliner
A few of the players noticed as the trainers ran onto the ice, and the fighting ceased immediately, all of them dropping to a knee. Twenty thousand eyes were locked on Cal lying there motionless.
I prayed that it was something simple, like he’d gotten the wind knocked out of him when he hit the ice unexpectedly. But the longer he laid there, the more my panic ratcheted up.
There was a collective hushed gasp when EMTs wheeled a stretcher onto the ice surface.
From where we sat, I couldn’t tell if he wasn’t moving because he sustained a spinal injury significant enough to rob him of the ability to use his limbs, or he’d been knocked unconscious.
My vision swam as I watched them roll him carefully onto a backboard, strapping him on before lifting his giant frame onto the stretcher and wheeling him into the belly of the arena. My brain was misfiring, but I knew one thing—I needed to get to him. Injured players were taken to the training room for evaluation.
Without a word, I bolted for the door of the suite. Behind me, I heard Natalie call out, “Hannah!” Then lower, muttering, “Shit. Liam, take Charlie.”
Swiping my key card at the elevator, I became frantic when the doors didn’t open immediately. My legs were moving on instinct as I swiped my card at the stairwell instead and ran down the concrete steps until I reached the underground tunnels. Running on pure adrenaline, muscle memory took care of the rest as I found my way to the training room.
Pulling the handle and finding the door locked, I began to pound on it. When no one answered, the high-pitched voice that rose up my throat was unrecognizable as I screamed, “Let me in! Please! I need to see him! Let me in!”
“Hannah?” A voice called softly from behind me.
Turning, for a half-second, thinking it was Cal, my hope shattered when Jaxon stood before me, still fully dressed in his gear, his skates giving him extra height.
“Jaxon,” I sobbed. “Where is he? I need to get to him.” Wiping the snot running from my nose, I begged, “Please.”
Pain filled his whiskey-colored eyes, and he hesitated for a moment before responding, “He’s not here.”
“What? Wh-where is he?” Wherever he was, I needed to be there.
“They took him to the hospital. He was unconscious.” He took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry, Hannah.”
I’m so sorry.That’s when it hit me. I’d known this was bad, but until he’d said those words, I hadn’t allowed the seriousness of the situation to sink in. I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen a player carted off the ice on a stretcher in all of my almost thirty-two years. My mind skipped right past a possible spinal injury to wondering if he would ever wake up again.
Jaxon looked lost himself. Cal was his best friend.
Throwing myself into his arms, I collapsed, becoming a screaming, crying mess. My words became incoherent as I begged Jaxon to take me to Cal and begged God to let him survive. My wails echoed off the concrete walls underneath the arena.
Jaxon never wavered, holding me tight as I fell apart, tears swimming in his own eyes.
I couldn’t do this without Cal. He was the missing piece in my life.
He needed to be okay.
I wouldn’t survive if he wasn’t.
Chapter 26
Cal
Pain rolled through myhead in waves. It felt like I was underwater. Sounds were muffled, and everything was dark.
Did I go drinking last night after we’d won the game? If so, this was the worst hangover ever.
An incessant beeping became clear; each shrill beep felt like an ice pick stabbing my brain. Thinking it was my alarm, I reached out to shut it off with my eyes still closed. After the grind of last night, I deserved to sleep in. It was probably Hannah’s going off. She’d be right to work securing our hotels for the Conference Finals.
Groaning in frustration when I couldn’t reach her alarm, I tried to open my eyes. Pain sliced through my skull when a bright light shined in them, and I squeezed them shut again in response.
“Fuck,” I muttered, throwing a hand to the side of my head.
“Cal?” a male voice asked softly.
Jesus, had Hannah gotten me drunk enough to have a threesome last night with another man? Guess it was a good thing I couldn’t remember what happened.
