Page 25 of Crazy In Love
I heard the crack of my nose, and then the spray of blood that followed.
“Oh no!” my father yelled out. “Did I do that?”
Was he serious? Who else would have done it?
Like I said, the man didn’t have an athletic bone in his body.
I tore my shirt off and covered my nose to apply some pressure. “Fuck.”
Needless to say, the ref called the game.
The older women came over to check out my pickleball wound.
Easton stormed over, a weird mix of concern and irritation on his face.
My brother was ridiculously competitive, and pickleball was his passion.
But, the fact that blood was soaking through my shirt forced him to have a bit of compassion.
“What happened?” he asked. He pulled the shirt back to look at my nose and winced.
“Bridger must have run up behind me,” Dad said.
Uh… that was a hard no. I hadn’t moved from my fucking side of the court. But I wouldn’t devastate the guy. He clearly felt terrible, even if he wanted to blame me for the accident.
“Well, it’s a good thing you have a battle wound because you just got your asses kicked by a bunch of elderly women,” Easton said, a hint of humor in his voice.
“Oh boy. That’s a lot of blood,” Rafe said as he walked over, gawking at me, with Archer and Axel beside him.
“What’s your excuse for getting your ass kicked?” Easton hissed at Rafe.
“My excuse? Let’s see. I got hit in the dick with a ball by that asshole Barry Wilcox. I couldn’t shake it off after that.” Rafe shrugged, and everyone laughed.
“I think we need to get some ice on that,” Archer said as he lifted the shirt and looked at my nose. “The bleeding has stopped.”
“I don’t need ice. I need to be done with this fucking game and go home,” I growled.
My mom came running out of the clubhouse, as if there’d been a murder. I don’t know how she heard, but Ellie Chadwick was that mom. She always just showed up when any of us were hurt.
“What happened?” she shrieked.
“Dad was mad at Bridger for losing the match, and he whacked him in the face with his racket,” Rafe said over his laughter.
My father rolled his eyes and explained his own incorrect version of what had happened.
My mother examined my nose before FaceTiming my sister, Emerson, who was a doctor. She held the phone up to my face, and I was getting aggravated by all the attention. I’d split my nose; it wasn’t broken.
I’d broken it twice in my life, as I used to be a bit of a fighter in high school and college. I wasn’t proud of it, and I hadn’t been in a fight in a while. I had a lot more to lose now with the company that I’d built.
“It’s fine, Em. I’m going to head home.” I winked at her, because there were just a few people in the world I loved, and she was one of them.
“I’ll call you in an hour to see how the cut looks once you get it cleaned up. Get ice on it and keep your phone on,” she said. She could be a bossy little thing when she wanted to be.
I nodded and handed the phone back to my mom.
Henley, Lulu, and Eloise were walking our way, eyes wide and concerned. Obviously word traveled fast at the Rosewood River Country Club.
“Are you okay?” Lulu rushed over to me.
