Well, he certainly hadn’t expectedthat. “I broke my back on purpose?” He asked, incredulous.
“Yes,” she said. “You’ve never been all the way in this thing with me, and this is the perfect excuse for you to cut ties and run. Well fuck you, Mitch. I’m breaking up with you!”
Mitch laid there, blinking slowly at her, stunned. “Get out.”
“What?”
“Get out of this room right now. I can’t believe you just accused me of breaking my back to get out of this relationship. Get out, and don’t ever come back.”
Kiera at least had the sense to look embarrassed, the blush creeping into her cheeks until they were sunburn red. After one last long look at him, as though she were gearing up to say something, she spun on her heel and left, the door slamming shut behind her.
Mitch closed his eyes, suddenly exhausted, but the door opened again moments later.
“What the fuck did you do to her?” Someone asked.
Mitch opened his eyes to find Cally and Gabe standing at the foot of his bed, Cally staring expectantly at him.
“I could ask you the same thing,” he said. “That nurse out there had been a nightmare since I got admitted.”
“Ahh, yeah…” Cally said, trailing off. “Black pixie cut? Blue eyes? Looks like she eats men for breakfast?”
“That’s the one,” Mitch said.
“So…I might have slept with her a while back and then never called her again,” he said, a sheepish grin overtaking his features.
“Turns out she’s taking her anger at Cally out on all hockey players,” Gabe said. “She gave us a major attitude when we came in looking for you.”
“Sorry about that, man,” Cally said.
Mitch waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Just apologize to her or something. I don’t know how long I’m going to be here and I can’t have her trying to kill me in my sleep. What are you guys doing here anyway?”
“We came to check on you!” Cally said brightly.
“Plus I brought you some stuff.”
Gabe held up a duffel bag and set it next to Mitch.
“Is my phone in there?” He asked.
“Sure is.”
“Thank God,” Mitch said. “I had to ask that nurse to borrow hers so I could call my mom, and she was really mean about it.”
His teammates laughed, and Mitch chuckled with them. “What’s the prognosis anyway?” Gabe asked.
“L2 fracture. At the moment I…” Mitch’s throat closed up, choking off the words he’d been about to say.
“You what?” Cally prompted.
Mitch swallowed hard and croaked out, “I can’t walk.”
Tears pricked his eyes, and he threw his forearm over his face lest he start crying in front of his teammates.
“Holy shit,” Cally breathed. “Like…not at all? Ever again?”
“I don’t know about ever again,” Mitch said, voice muffled by his arm. “The doctor seemed optimistic that in a few days, when the swelling around the break goes down, I’ll regain feeling.”
“So you’ll be back on the ice in no time,” Cally said, reaching out to punch Mitch on the arm. Gabe reached over and smacked him upside the head.
