Page 74 of Chasing The Goal
“Youarestrong. And you’re also thirty-one weeks pregnant. You’re allowed to be human.”
Her eyes glistened. I squeezed her hand tighter.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I added. “You’re stuck with me, remember?”
“Fiancé, huh?”
“You said it,” I said with a grin. “I’m just playing my part.”
She let out a soft breath. “They would’ve made you leave.”
“Not a chance in hell I was walking out of here.”
***
Connor and Darren were still in the waiting room when I finally stepped out. The chairs were too small for guys our size, but neither of them looked like they noticed. Connor was pacing tight circles near the window, arms crossed over his chest, jaw clenched like he was about to start a fight with a vending machine. Darren looked like he’d Googled seventeen things that could go wrong during pregnancy and regretted all of them.
He looked up the second he saw me. “Well?”
I rubbed a hand over my face, dragging in a breath.
“She okay?” Connor asked, voice sharp.
I nodded. “Yeah. Dehydrated. Low BP. They’ve got her on fluids now, monitoring the baby. They’re keeping her overnight just to be safe, but everything’s stable.”
Darren exhaled so hard it came out like a whistle. “Holy shit. I thought she was gonna pass out in my car.”
“She almost did,” I said, thinking of the way her body had leaned into mine, too limp, too quiet.
Connor ran a hand through his hair and muttered, “Jesus,” like he couldn’t believe it even now. He dropped into the chair beside Darren, tension still radiating off of him.
I nodded toward them both. “Eliza’s on her way,” I said. “Darren let her know right when we pulled in.”
“I figured she’d want to know,” Darren said quickly. “She’s the coach, but also—Mallory’s, like, her person. Right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Good call.”
They didn’t ask if I was staying.
Didn’t ask if they should leave.
Connor just scrubbed a hand down his face and said, “We’ll be here.”
No hesitation. No posturing.
Just three guys who’d spent months getting patched up by the same woman—who watched her take care of everyone but herself, and who finally saw what happened when she didn’t have anything left to give.
And I knew they meant it.
Mallory
The hospital room wasquiet in that strange way only hospitals could manage—where the silence wasn’t really silence, but a low hum of machines, distant beeping, and the occasional voice drifting from the hallway like a ghost. Going through the ER and talking to the doctor had been a blur. I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I must have, because when I opened my eyes again, the overhead lights had dimmed and the IV drip beside me was half-empty.
And Jaymie was still there.
He hadn’t moved.
Hewas slumped in the chair beside my bed, too tall for it, arms folded over his chest, chin tucked low. My hand was in his. His thumb was resting against the inside of my wrist, the soft pad of it brushing lightly against my skin like he hadn’t realized he was still touching me.
