It wasn’t a nurse, though. It wasn’t any hospital staff at all.
“Vasily?” I managed despite my broken facehole.
Ryan gave an exasperated sigh and said, “He’s discharged, but he’s been asking to see you as much as you’ve been asking to see him. So…”
“Thanks,” I said, still dazed to see Vasily.
The man in question offered a tight smile as Ryan pushed the wheelchair closer to my bed. “You look like shit.”
It hurt too much to laugh, but I could give him the finger easily enough.
Ryan locked the brake on the wheelchair. Once Vasily was situated, Ryan cleared his throat. “I’ll, uh, go check on yourdischarge papers.” He nodded at Bower, who’d been sitting in one of the chairs, and they both left the room.
I peered at the door, then at Vasily. “Does he know about us?”
Vasily chuckled, lacing his fingers between mine. “Yeah.”
“Did you tell him?” I wasn’t mad, just curious.
“No. You did.”
I blinked. “I did?”
“Mmhmm. When you beat the shit out of that guy for dropping me.” A blush rose in his cheeks as he sheepishly added, “Annnd he said he’s noticed us looking at each other, so… maybe we haven’t been so subtle.”
“Oh.”
He laughed softly, but then he sobered. “Taylor. You didn’t have to…” He gestured at his face and grimaced.
“Yeah, I did.” I squeezed his hand weakly. “He fucking slew-footed you. I wasn’t letting that go unanswered.” I paused. “Probably good I didn’t know how bad it was—I might’ve fucked him up.”
Vasily laughed soundlessly. “No need for that.” He brought my hand up and kissed my palm. “I think you made your point.” From the mischievous sparkle in his eyes, I wondered if he meant that the point I made was that I felt something for him that made me want to throw down with anyone who hurt him. Not just because he was my teammate, but because he was my boyfriend. Lover? Something.
Or maybe I was just high as balls.
My mind cleared enough to remember again how we’d ended up here, and the mental image of Vasily going down sent a shudder through me. “How badisyour leg?”
His grimace made my heart sink. “Torn ACL.”
I closed my eyes and pushed out a breath. “Jesus.”
“They said I’ll be out the rest of the season. Probably part of next season too.”
“Fuck. That sucks.”
“It does. But… I guess we’ll have downtime. To be together.”
“We will, but it sucks that neither of us can play hockey.”
Vasily nodded. “There isn’t much to be done about it, though.” He paused, and when he spoke again, he sounded a little shy. “Maybe we can take care of each other. It won’t be the most romantic time together, and everything from last night will probably be on hold for a while, but…”
“I don’t know,” I slurred. “Sounds pretty romantic to me.”
His eyebrows rose. “How many drugs are you on?”
I let my eyelids slide closed. “Not nearly enough.”
Vasily laughed and patted my hand. “Get some rest, baby.”
