“Sorry, sweetheart. So sorry.” His eyes scanned over me. “Those things really hurt?”
I nodded and he laughed, shaking his head. “Badass.”
Jack sat on the step next to me and put an arm around my shoulders. His beard brushed my temple as he kissed me there. “Just breathe.”
“I’m,” I pulled in some air, “trying.”
The sirens got closer. “Keep trying, baby. They’re almost here.”
The next few minutes were a blur. Jack insisted he was coming with me. The EMTs got my ID and insurance card. I told Jack to take care of the kids.
But what stands out the most was Jack, eyes welling, hand pressed over his mouth as the ambulance doors shut, leaving him outside.
TWENTY-THREE
MARA
NOVEMBER
“Miss O’Connell, you have a visitor.”
My eyelids felt cemented shut from all the Benadryl, steroids, and whatever else they had me all hopped up on. I opened to Jack standing at the end of my bed with a beanie bunched in his fingers. I’d never once seen him look so unsure of himself.
The nurse bustled around the room, gathering supplies and making notes on the computer. Through a thick drug haze, the details started to set in. “Who’s with the kids?”
“Obi and his girlfriend. They love kids. Everyone on the team trusts him with their kids.”
My brow furrowed. “The magic trick guy?”
Jack cracked a smile. “Yes, our goalie. I’ll tell him you said that.” He took in my concerned look. “You think I’d leavemykids with some kind of creep?”
I didn’t answer as the nurse connected the blood pressure cuff living on my arm to the machine next to my bed.
“Is her arm supposed to look like that?” Jack asked, crowding the nurse and pointing to the lace pattern under my arm.
“I get marked easily,” I said. “I’ve been wearing this cuff since I got here.”
“Are you hurting her?” Jack demanded.
“Jack. I’m fine.”
The nurse snorted and curled her lips into a grin, not affected by Jack’s bravado. “How long have you two been together?”
“Oh, we’re not,” I said.
The nurse just lifted an eyebrow as she moved to the computer to put in the blood pressure reading. “Can I get you anything else, Miss O’Connell?”
“I’m great, thank you.”
“I’ll leave you to it,” she said breezily as she left the room.
Jack leaned on the edge of the bed, looking me over anywhere visible. “How’s your leg where I stabbed you?”
He lifted the sheet to examine my thigh. He smirked a sad little smirk, tracing his finger over my tattoo, two skeletons facing into each other like those found in volcanic ruins. “Is this a Fall Out Boy reference?”
I chuckled. “You’re good.”
“Didn’t peg you for an emo kid.”
