Nat wouldn’t want his teammates beating themselves up about this. He wouldn’t want me to beat myself up either.
I square my shoulders and face the giant athletes. “It wasn’t Theilan.”
All the men turn to look at me.
“Nat has been having pain in his leg for a while now.”
“What?” Chance McLanely stares at me with eyes narrowed.
Max frowns and steps forward. “What do you mean?”
At that moment, a nurse strides into the hallway. Expression stern, she glances around. “Which one of you is Riley Carter?”
“That’s me.” I raise a hand and scramble in front of her.
“The patient is asking for you.”
As we make our way to an elevator, I ply the nurse with questions. “What happened to Nat? What did the doctors say? Why is it taking so long?”
“They took him for some tests, ma’am. He requested that you be there for the consult.”
I hold my breath until we arrive in the doctor’s office where Nat is waiting alone.
He’s wearing a hospital gown and his leg is slightly raised. I see the wicked scar and tattoo that weaves around it for the first time. My eyelashes start fluttering in an attempt to keep the tears back.
“Hey, Riles.” Nat’s face is pale, but at least he doesn’t seem to be in extreme pain anymore. He flashes me a crooked grin.
“Nat.” Falling into the seat next to him, I croak, “Are you okay?”
“Better now. The doctors gave me a pain killer. Not sure how long it’s going to last, but I’m grateful for it.”
“Do you know how scared I was? I hated seeing you like that.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Taking my hand in his, Nat stares into my eyes. “Like I told you in my text, Max and the team were counting on me, and I couldn’t let them down. But now…”
“But now?”
Nat pushes one of my tendrils behind my ear. “Now, I’m grounding this plane myself. No more hockey for me, Riles. I’m coming to you.”
I sniff. “You had to be shipped to the hospital in an ambulance. I don’t know if that counts as voluntarily coming to me, Nat.”
He pouts. “I was planning on going to the hospital with you after the game. The timeline just kicked up a notch.”
I shake my head. “Easy to say now.”
“Fair enough.” He nudges my chin up. “I’m sorry for scaring you, Riles.”
“Do you really think this is the end of your hockey career?” I whisper, glancing at his leg.
Nat’s smile fades and he admits in a low voice, “Yeah. I do.”
“But we don’t know what the doctors will say yet. Maybe they can fix it. They already did a miracle once.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think I qualify for the ‘unlimited miracles’ package. I got one miracle in my lifetime and that’s more than I could ask for.”
“Nat…”
“Come to think of it...” He grazes his thumb over my cheek. “I’m one of the lucky ones. I actually got two miracles.” He smiles. “The first was walking away from that accident mostly intact and getting the chance to play hockey again. The second…”
