Elliot and Blaine share another hug before they let the doors close. We head down the hall to Elliot’s apartment. He leans against me as I unlock the door, then lead him inside.
I grab two bottles of water from the fridge and follow him down to his bedroom. The moment he turns around and he gives me his sweet smile, the control I had on my emotions snaps. The bottles land on the floor with a thud, and I step into his open arms.
“Hey, I’m okay,” he says, hooking his arms around my shoulders.
Wrapping my arms around him tightly, I tuck my head into his neck and let the dam break.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” he whispers.
“Don’t be sorry. You listened to your heart, and I don’t ever want you to apologize for that.”
“I love you.”
I kiss his neck over his pulse point, reveling in the feel of it beneath my lips, a reminder he’s still here. Lifting my head, I press a kiss to his lips.
“I love you too. So fucking much.” I kiss him again. “Please don’t ever leave me.”
“I won’t. I promise. You’re stuck with me now, Lieutenant. I’m going to cling to you like a koala.”
Smiling, he slides his mouth over mine again, and I melt into him. The kiss is comforting. Calming. Grounding me in a way I desperately need.
He’s here.
And I’mnever letting him go.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Elliot
My hands are sweating by the time I reach the conference room. I wipe them on my T-shirt, then tug the fabric away from my skin. It’s like I’m aware it’s touching my skin, and it feels like it’s burning me.
I tap my knuckles on the door, and when I step inside the room, I see the team doctor, the team’s psychologist, and the psychiatrist who has been doing my assessment. They’re sitting around the large wooden table, notebooks and tablets placed in front of them.
It’s like I’m a child again, and I’m about to get a rundown of everything I’ve done wrong in my life.
“Elliot, hey. How are you doing?” Dr. Chris asks, getting up to shake my hand.
“Good,” I say stiffly, even though I’m far from it.
The team doctor gives me a smile, and then I shake hands with the others before taking a seat opposite them.
I had two one-hour meetings with the psychiatrist while I was on short-term IR for my knee, and with the hectic schedule now I’m back on the ice, today was the first day we were able to meet to go through my results. Only for the last two days, I’ve been feeling out of sorts. There have been so many things running through my mind, wondering what the outcome of this meeting will be. I had to go into so much detail about everything. About my childhood and my late-teen years up until now. I opened up wounds I had fought hard to ignore over the years, dug deep into my big box of emotions on how certain situations affected me. How my parents made me feel and how I’ve felt overshadowed by Blaine for most of my life.
It was exhausting. After each session, I’d go home and sleep for hours, only waking up when Hunter would use his key to let himself in.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s very likely I have ADHD. I’ve accepted that, and the thought of having it acknowledged doesn’t scare me, but what terrifies me most is what if they say I don’t have ADHD? What if I don’t have a name to give as the reason for the way I am, and I’m just this defective, weird person? What if they think I’ve made it all up?
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I wipe my damp palms down the front of my sweatpants and look at the wall behind their heads.
“So…” My voice comes out all shaky, so I clear my throat. “Do I have it, or do I just fit the weird goalie stereotype?”
The team’s psychologist, Dr. Adams, sighs at my self-degrading tone, but it’s the psychiatrist who replies.
“I have reviewed the reports following on from our two assessment sessions, and I can confirm you do meet the criteria for ADHD-C, Mr. Olsen.”
Heat immediately spreads across my face, and a tingling sensation travels up my neck. I automatically begin to pick at theskin around my nails under the table, my pulse pounding in my ears. “What does that mean?”
“You present signs for both inattention and hyperactivity subsets. So, what that means is…”
