Tamara’s still wide-eyed and clutching my arm, trying to make sense of my panic. But I’m already fighting her grip, tugging my arm free as my heart hammers out of control. Every part of me is screaming tomove, to bolt down the stairs, to get to him laying motionless on the ice.
The medics reach him fast, and my nails bite into my palms as I watch one kneel by Logan’s head, while another waves for the boards to open. Logan doesn’t move. The entire arena’s breath is held, all eyes trained on him.
Then—thank god—he stirs. But barely. Blood on his lips, eyes glassy as they haul him upright with a medic under each arm. He’s not skating so much as stumbling, dragged inch by inch toward the tunnel. The crowd roars anyway, on their feet again, thundering his name.
“MILL-ER, MILL-ER, MILL-ER!”
I start sobbing, and can’t stop. My hands are over my mouth, and my body shakes so hard it feels as though my bones might rattle loose.
“I need to get down there.” My voice breaks as I repeat it, trembling but resolute. I turn wildly on Zoe. “Youcan get me down there. You’ve got the pass—take me.”
Her eyes flare. “Lulu, you can’t—”
“I don’t care!” The words rip out of me louder than I mean them to. “I swear to god, Zoe, if you won’t—”
“Lulu!” Tamara’s voice cuts in, tight and disbelieving. She opens her mouth but then falters, glancing at Zoe, then back at me. “Oh my god. You’re actually… You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not just—” My chest heaves, panic clawing at my throat. “I love him!” The confession spills out before I can stop it. “I fucking love him, okay?”
Charlie’s jaw drops, and Tamara’s lips part in shock, the color draining from her face. For a beat, the world goes quiet, as if the noise of the arena has been swallowed by my panicked confession.
Zoe exhales a long, low whistle, shaking her head. “Well, shit. Guess subtlety just died a violent death. You may as well rent a plane and skywrite it at this point.”
“I don’t care who knows!”
Tamara stares at me, unable to process what she’s hearing. “You… You’re serious.”
I nod and twist toward Zoe, frantically clutching her shoulders. “Please, Zoe.Please.You have a pass. You’re the only one who can.”
Zoe groans, scrubbing a hand over her face. “Unbelievable. Absolutely un-fucking-believable.” She glances down at her shoes, then back at me with a sigh. “Fine.Fine.You’re insane though, you know that, right?
“I know,” I breathe.
She jerks her chin toward the stairs. “Then let’s go before you actually jump the boards and make SportsCenter.”
She shoves me toward the stairs, cussing as she goes. Tamara and Charlie stare after us, stunned, but I don’t care. I’m alreadymoving, half-dragged, half-running, every nerve in my body locked on one thing.
Logan.
When we get to the tunnel it’s chaos, staff hustling everywhere, skates clattering as scratched players are herded off for intermission. Zoe’s pass gets us waved through, though the security guy shoots me a look.
The medic room is just off the entry, door hanging open, and my heart seizes when I see him.
Logan’s slumped on a stretcher bed, his jersey half peeled up, shoulder pads hanging awkwardly. Blood streaks along his jaw, his eye already swelling. He looks both too big for the narrow cot and frighteningly small all at once, with his head tipped back and lashes fluttering. He’s clinging to consciousness by a thread.
The medic moves toward us. “Christ, Zoe, what are you—”
“She’s his wife,” Zoe says flatly, cutting him off with a shrug, as if that declaration trumps everything.
My head snaps toward her. “What—”
Zoe’s elbow digs into my ribs. “Go. You've got about two minutes before someone calls bullshit.”
The medic groans but waves me through. “Fine. Just stay out of my way.”
I don’t even nod. I’m already moving, sinking onto the edge of the bed, gathering Logan’s hand in both of mine.
It’s warm and heavy and not nearly as strong as it should be.
