Page 127 of Burnout
“I don’t know. Maybe her knee.”
My heart pounds in my chest and my stomach twists. No, no, no. She’s worked too hard to have this kind of setback. The gym goes quiet until Tristan and another guy help her off the floor. Concerned applause follows her as they take her out of the main area through a door on the other side of the gym.
“I’m gonna…” I start to say to Brogan.
“Go,” he says.
It doesn’t occur to me that she might not be excited to see me, especially now, until I’m hovering in the doorway.
Avery is lying back on a makeshift exam table while a guy in a blue polo shirt and khakis looks over her knee. My lungs finally let in a little air at the sight of her. I can’t see her face. She has both hands up over her eyes.
My heart is in my throat when she lets her head fall to the side and looks right at me. She blinks away the tears in her eyes. “Knox?”
FORTY-FOUR
He lingersin the doorway while Coach Weaver and one of our trainers check my ankle.
“I’m fine,” I tell them as I sit up. “I think I just rolled it.”
It scared me more than it hurt. As soon as I came down on it wrong, I panicked. Too aware of how every injury could take months or years off my training, maybe even end it.
My nerves are shot, and I can’t stop my hands from trembling, but I don’t think I injured it. It hurts, but it doesn’t feel broken. Thank goodness.
Adrenaline is still surging through me as I try to relax and let them look me over. I hold out my hand toward Knox and he rushes forward like he’d been waiting for any signal from me to move closer.
“Hi,” I say quietly as his fingers wrap around mine.
“Hey, princess.” His deep voice and that familiar nickname soothe something inside of me. “You scared the crap out of me.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask him.
Before he can answer, the trainer jumps in. As I thought, it’s not broken, but he and Coach Weaver think it would be best if I sit out the rest of the meet.
“No.” I shake my head and move to stand.
Everyone moves toward me at once like they think I’m going to fall over. I ease myself down on my left ankle to test it out. It’s tender and there is some pain, but I can put weight on it.
“Beam is our last rotation. I’ll be fine by then.”
Coach Weaver’s brows pull together in the middle, and she studies me closely. Whatever she finds must convince her I’m telling the truth because she nods. “After it’s wrapped, test how it feels with some light warm-ups, and we’ll decide then.”
I smile, knowing she’s going to let me. I won’t push it if I think I could make it worse, but I need to go back out there for reasons I can’t explain.
Knox holds my hand, squeezing my fingers tightly while his thumb brushes over my knuckles the entire time the trainer works on me.
When I’m ready, Knox helps me to my feet, and we walk back out to the floor. A few of my teammates send questioning looks, but I hang back with Knox a few seconds longer.
“I thought you’d be back in New Mexico,” I say.
“Me too.” He faces me, meeting my gaze head-on. “I had to see you before I left.”
My heart wants to shatter into pieces at his feet. He’s here to say goodbye. We never did actually say it before he left the last time. I know it’s going to hurt to watch him walk away, but at least I told him how I felt. I don’t have any regrets. I’d do it all again even knowing the outcome.
“Thanks for being here.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I better test out this tape job.”
“Yeah, right. Of course.” He clears his throat. It seems like something is bothering him, but maybe this is just the weirdness that’s going to be present between us now.
“Are you staying until the end?”
