Page 53 of Barn Burner
“Jesse, I don’t wanna rush you, but you gotta hurry ’cause I don’t think we’ve got long,” Cooper tells me from his spot on the ladder.
I glance up at the sky, which has turned a blanket grey, and the feel of freezing cold moisture hitting my face causes me to grimace. This is just fucking great. The snow has come earlier than predicted.
Working as quickly as I can without cutting corners, I secure the panels, and once I’m happy, I pass everything over to Cooper.
I stay in my position, almost lying on my side on the roof, until I hear him call up that I’m good to go. Carefully shifting my way down the sloped roof, I shiver as the snow settling on the metal panels seeps through my jeans. I’m almost at the bottom of the steepest part when my foot slips, and I lose my grip. My heart is in my throat as I struggle to find purchase, and I’m aware of Cooper’s panicked shout, but everything happens so fast. I fall off the edge of the roof and land on my side. I cry out as pain radiates through my arm and shoulder.
“Fuck!” I bellow, carefully rolling onto my back to take the weight off my side.
Cooper appears over me, hands skimming over my head like he’s checking for blood. “Fuck, Jesse! Are you okay?”
“I think I’ve broken my arm or my shoulder,” I hiss, holding my injured arm to my chest. I move to sit up, and pain soars throughout my body, forcing me to lie back on the cold, hard ground.
“I don’t think you should move. I don’t know if you hit your head or your back. Fuck.” He curses again and pulls his phone from his coat pocket. “Mom, call for an ambulance. We’ve gotta get Jesse to the hospital.”
22
Brayden
No matter how many times I blink, rub my eyes or check my phone, the text from Rhett doesn’t change.
Rhett
Hi Brayden. I know you have a game tonight and I’m real sorry to do this but I didn’t want to wait until later to tell you. Jesse’s in the hospital. He fell while fixing the barn roof. He’s currently undergoing x-rays and CT scans, but we’re pretty sure he’s broken his arm, or maybe his shoulder, but we’ll know for sure once we get the results of his scans and whether or not he’ll need surgery. I’ll keep you updated whenever we get news.
I don’t usually check my phone this close to the start of a game, but something had been making my Spidey senses tingle all day since Jesse said he was going to be fixing up the barn because it was expected to snow.
I hate that my subconscious was right.
“You okay, Neil?” William asks, scooting over on the bench and nudging me with his padded knee. “Your mouth is doing a great impression of a fish.”
I look over at my closest friend and teammate. Similar to me, he’s only half-dressed ahead of our game against Nashville tonight. I need to put my chest protector and jersey on, but right now, my skin feels too tight. Like I might combust if something touches me.
“Jesse’s had an accident,” I manage to say, but my voice comes out like I’ve swallowed broken glass. “He’s having scans now.”
Unable to sit still any longer, I stand up and pace the floor in front of our designated stalls and run an agitated hand through my hair. My heart is racing so fast, and my hands begin to sweat at the thought of Jesse being hurt. I need to be there with him. What if he does need surgery? What if something happens to him on the operating table, and I can’t be there because I’m two thousand fucking miles away?
For the first time since we met, I’m hit with the realization that this will be what it’s like for both of us while I’m still playing professional hockey. If I ended up getting hurt during the game, he would be in the same position. I would be putting him through the same stress and the same worry of not knowing whether I’m okay while I’m lying in a hospital nowhere close to home.
And I say home because Huxley Creek Ranch is the first place that’s felt like home since I left England when I was seventeen.
Jesse is my home, and it fucking infuriates me that I can’t be there for him.
“Shit.” William’s brows furrow in a frown as his eyes follow me. “Do you know what hospital he is in?”
I shake my head. “No, his brother didn’t say.”
William purses his lips, then shouts something in Swedish to our captain, Henrik Hallström. Whatever he says has Henrik snapping his head up and concern immediately flooding over his expression.
“Your man hurt, Nielson?” he asks.
Suddenly, the locker room goes quiet, and my skin prickles with awareness as all of my teammates’ eyes land on me. I shift on my skates, feeling like I’m under a microscope under the weight of their attention. They’ve always been supportive of me and my sexuality, but I’ve never been in this position where their attention and concern is on me and my partner.
My partner, who happens to be a man.
“Yeah,” I croak as heat travels up my neck to my cheeks. “He fell while trying to fix the roof of the barn. They don’t know the extent of his injuries, but he’s having scans right now.”
Henrik stands up and crosses the visitors’ locker room floor to clap a hand on my shoulder. My skin burns under his touch, but the tightness of him gripping me grounds me in a way. “Leave your phone with Poppy. I’ll ask her to check for updates. Then, when we land back in Calgary, no one will be allowed off the plane until you are off. We will get you to him as soon as we can, okay? For now, we will win this game for him. Jesse, yes?”
