And sends me down to the ice.
Twenty-Five
Ky
I gasp and lurch to my feet as Colt goes down in a heap.
From next to me, Damon curses, then he’s up too, leaning over the barrier in front of us, more curses tumbling from his lips as action explodes on the ice below.
Lake and Storm have launched themselves at the player on the other team, the player who just swung his stick like a baseball bat at Colt’s head. The other defenseman—I think his name is Bear—is exchanging blows with a big, scarred enforcer from the Rattlers. And Riggs…
My lungs hitch so violently it’s painful.
Because Riggs is standing over Colt, protecting him from the crush of players as the linesmen try to get the brawl under control. But it’s chaos, absolute chaos as they work, as Riggs shoves players from both teams back, some who are trying to get him to fight, others who are too involved in their own scrums to realize they’re getting dangerously close to Colt’s prone body.
His prone, bleeding body.
“Oh, my God,” I whisper, eyes tearing up.
“Breathe, Ky,” Damon says, drawing me into his arms. “He’ll be okay.”
“He’s b-bleeding.”
“Shh.” His hand settles on the back of my head, turning my gaze from the ice, pressing my face into his chest. “He’ll be okay.”
“How do you know?”
God, there’s so much blood.
“Don’t look, baby sis,” he says, turning his body—and me too—away from the view.
But I pull out of his arms, turn back.
I have to look. I have to see.
The fights have been broken up, the players sent to the boxes or respective benches.
All except for Colt, who’s lying so damned still on ice stained red, the training staff and team doctor gathered around him, all working frantically.
But it’s when they bring the stretcher out that I can’t keep watching.
And it’s only then that I allow Damon to lead me away.
Thirty-six stitches.
A dislocated shoulder from when he fell, unconscious, to the ice.
A Grade Two concussion.
And a man who’s quickly making a place for himself in my heart not yet awake.
It’s been twelve hours since the egregiously dirty hit and he’s still not awake. His MRI and CT scans don’t show anything of major concern and the doctors keep saying that sometimes it just takes a while for patients to wake up.
But I know they’re getting worried.
I saw it in their eyes the last time they came in to check on him.
“You should go back to the hotel and get some rest.”
