Holy fuck, the dejected sound of his voice gutted me.
“If you rest as much as possible, drink lots of water, dim the lights, and have very little to no electronic time, I’m hoping you’re back on the ice in ten to fourteen days. Pushing too hard and fast will only keep you off the ice longer.”
“We will follow the instructions to the letter,” I said, and Aiden nodded, his eyes closed.
Dr. Amos continued, “Thank you, Dr. Ramadi. I’ll get you transferred upstairs, Aiden. Coach Storm can stay if you’d like. According to the police, your parents are on their way.”
“Yeah, they are. They called Coach Storm.”
She walked forward, patted Aiden’s shoulder, then said, “Alright, then. Take care of yourself, Aiden.” She turned to me,held out her hand to shake mine. “Coach, it was nice meeting you.”
“You as well.”
Dr. Ramadi mimicked Dr. Amos, and then they were both gone. As soon as we were alone, I moved toward my beautiful, distraught boy.
“Aiden, we’ll get you through this,” I said, sitting on the side of the bed next to his hip, slipping one hand in his silky hair and leaning the other across him on the bed.
Lip chewing and nodding were all the response I got. Until a tear dropped and splashed on the back of his hand. The slight tremor I felt turned to full-blown trembling when the first sob erupted from him.
“Oh baby, it’s gonna be okay. You’ll see.”
“I feel like everything I’ve worked for is hanging by a thread.”
“If anyone knows that feeling, it’s me, baby boy.”
“Oh! Daddy, I’m sorry. This isn’t…”
“No need to be sorry, and just because your injury isn’t as severe as mine was doesn’t take away from how you feel about it or the fact that it’s devastating to you in the moment.”
“I wish you could hold me,” he whispered.
“I do too, but with them transferring you and… my best friend, also known as your dad, on the way, that might not be the best idea.”
Aiden nodded, but I knew as much as he understood he wanted it, anyway. Same as me. He was my best friend’s son. I should still be freaking the fuck out, but Aiden being hurt and upsetmade Aiden the priority, not Mikal being his dad. I’d once loved Mikal as a brother, but we lost touch after I told him to go fuck himself the day he gave me Hawk.
Maybe the time we spent not speaking to each other was why my boy being his son wasn’t fucking with my head more?
Or maybe I was just an asshole who didn’t give a fuck.
Whatever the reason, I didn’t care. If the guilt got to me, I’d deal with it.
The door pushed open, “Alright, Mr. Mercer, I’m Marco. Your friendly neighborhoodUberdriver. I’ll be chauffeuring you upstairs.”
I quickly slid from the bed, thankful to see the hospital staff member backing into the room with a wheelchair in front of them. Aiden’s eyes widened with a smile, drawing a lip-twitching smirk from me.
Hawk jumped from the bed, and Marco transferred Aiden to the wheelchair. Hawk and I followed after them as Marco pushed Aiden from the room. Marco chattered away with Aiden and me about Hawk and hockey from the ER to the room they put Aiden in for the night. A couple of nurses met us there and got him settled like a well-oiled machine.
Marco and one of the nurses slipped from the room, but the other nurse, an older woman I could tell took shit from no one, unplugged the television, then said, “Coach Storm, I hope you have some games on that phone if you’re serious about staying, because Aiden needs rest.”
“No games. Just books, ma’am. I’m a reader. There’s an entire library on this phone.”
Her eyes squinted and her lips pursed while her gaze traveled from my eyes to my toes and back. “Humph. You’re smarter than you look, then.” She patted Aiden’s lower leg. “Sleep. Or make this coach of yours read to you so you can rest your eyes.”
She left with another glance in my direction. Aiden sat in the hospital bed on the verge of hysterics, which burst from him the moment the door to the room closed behind the nurse.
“She doesn’t like you, Daddy.”
I stalked over to the bed, leaning over, my hands wrapped around the bed rails. “I don’t give a shit as long as you like me. You’re all that matters.”
