“I’m not. If I hadn’t been injured, your mom wouldn’t have come to help me rehab and keep an eye on me, and I never would’ve realized that we were meant for each other.”
“Really?”
Dad nods. “Really. Best fucking thing to ever happen to me. If it weren’t for that asshole who took me out again during the game, I might never have realized how much I love your mother.You and Piper wouldn’t be here, and that’s not a world I want to live in. You, your mom, and your sister are everything to me.”
Closing my eyes, I try to hold back the tears. I knew that my dad’s injury brought them together, but hearing how much he loves her? Loves us? It’s more than I can stomach right about now.
My heart is bruised and battered more than my head and shoulder. Because in my moment of need, the man I was falling for pushed me away.
I have no idea how he’s feeling because I haven’t seen him since that fateful night. Sure, I’ve gotten a few texts checking in on how I’m feeling, but that’s it.
Or so I’m told. Because Mom took my phone away and won’t let me have it.
Even though he pushed me away, I still want him here for the exact reasons my dad just said. I want someone to hold my hand and tell me it’s all going to work out. That I’ll be able to rejoin the team next season without missing a beat.
Even if it doesn’t feel that way right now. Everything is too raw and uncertain. Taking a deep breath, I try to push down those feelings and give my head a break.
“I think I need sleep,” I mumble, not opening my eyes.
“We’ll be here when you wake up.”
The warmth of my dad’s hand covering mine is the balm I need to keep my frayed nerves in check. Everything about these last few days has stirred up more inside me than I ever cared to admit.
I was falling for Graham. Hell, I fell harder for him than any man I’ve ever met. So much for keeping it to a friends-with-benefits situation.
Muffled sounds hit my ears as the room door opens and closes.
“Is he sleeping?” Mom’s voice is there, but I don’t hear the answer. Only my dad’s words to her.
“I love you, Tenley. More than you’ll ever know.”
Those are the last words I hear as sleep once again takes me under.
Chapter Twenty-Three
NOAH
“Are you ready to get out of here, Noah?” The door to my hospital room swings open and the doctor and his interns walk in.
“Fuck, yes.”
“Noah!” Mom chides me.
The doctor laughs. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t want to be cooped up here any longer.”
“See, Mom? Even the doctor agrees.”
“Mainly because I wouldn’t be able to survive on the food.”
“I’m ready to get home to my place and make my own food.”
“Wait.” A panicked look comes over Mom’s face. Something I’m very familiar with these last few weeks. Any time I shifted, she’d start hovering to make sure I was okay. “Who is going to take care of him?”
“Mom.” I don’t roll my eyes at her—only because I don’t want to get my ass handed to me. “I’m thirty-one. I can stay on my own.”
“Actually,” the doctor starts, “for the next few weeks you should have someone with you. In case you have any setbacks, you want someone to be able to take you to the hospital.”
Oh, fuck me. The exact wrong words to say to my mother.
