Jace reached out and rubbed circles on Noah’s back with the palm of his hand. After a few moments of that, Noah managed to get his breathing back under control, desperate, sobbing gasps turning into deep breaths that made his chest pull, but made him feel less as though he was likely to pass out. He took his mouth guard out to sip the water Jace had given him, swirling it around his mouth before swallowing. The last thing he needed was for the nausea to come back and make him throw up in front of both teams and the crowd.
“I know you wanna go straight back out there, but my medical opinion is that you should take a breather,” Jace said.
“You’re not my real dad,” Noah responded automatically.
Jace chuckled. “Are you saying you won’t call me daddy?”
“I will have to file for divorce if you tell me you’d actually enjoy being calleddaddy.”
“Can’t get rid of me that easy.” Jace patted Noah’s back and then took his hand away, but stayed close. “Scared me when I saw you not moving, man.”
Noah took a bigger mouthful from the water bottle, considering his response to that. “Scared me to go down. It was good to hear your voice. Thanks.”
“Anytime. In sickness and in health, remember?”
Noah nodded. “I remember.” Noah took a deep breath and let it out slowly, wincing as he did so.
“You’re really not okay, huh?”
“I’ll be fine,” Noah said, fighting the urge to grab his chest. He wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like, though he knew that wasn’t what was happening. He couldn’t imagine it being much worse, though. “This gives the newer guys a few minutes to show us their stuff, anyway.”
“I guess. So what happened?”
Noah sighed. “I came around the corner too fast. I figured Rafe would see me, but he’s not like you with your weird spidey-senses about where people are. His elbow came out hard as I came up behind him and hit me square in the chest. I wasn’t expecting it, or I could have braced, I guess.”
Jace hummed. “Rafe’s not exactly your good luck charm lately, is he?”
“We work closely.” Noah shrugged. “It’s a hazard of the game. And I’m not as young as I was.”
“A whole two years ago.” Jace laughed. “You’re not thinking about retirement, are you? Because injury aside, you were killing it out there.”
“No. God, no. This is the only thing I do with my life that isn’t work. I’m not quitting.”
“Good.” Jace nodded. “Good to hear. We all have off days, I guess. And this wasn’t your fault.”
“I still feel like an asshole for letting it happen. That assist was awesome, though. Did you hear the crowd cheering?” Noah grinned. He liked being able to impress the crowd. It wasn’t the only reason he did derby, or even the main one, but it was a nice bonus.
“Yeah, I heard. That was pretty cool.”
“We make a great team,” Noah said.
His brain reminded him of what he’d realized earlier. He was falling for Jace. Maybe he’d fallen for Jace a long time ago and was just beginning to see it for what it was. He couldn’t pinpoint the moment when friendship had crossed over into something else, that was for sure.
It was also definitely not something he was about to tell Jace. Not now, probably not ever. They’d just gotten over the discomfort of their new lives and settled into a new normal. Noah didn’t want to upset that, especially not with something as big as this.
“We are pretty great together,” Jace agreed. “No wonder everyone believed we were married.”
“I haven’t forgotten that you slapped my ass, by the way.” Noah sipped his water again. “So you’re our designated driver tonight.”
“I was gonna offer anyway,” Jace said. Noah wasn’t sure if that was true or not, though it did seem like the kind of thing Jace would do. He was a sweetheart, and spent most of his life thinking of other people. Noah wondered how the hell he did it, gave so much of himself away. Even after seeing him break down earlier, Jace’s ability to just get on with things was amazing. Jace was amazing.
“Best husband ever.”
“And don’t you forget it.” Jace nudged his shoulder.
Noah stood from the bench, stretching his arms high above his head to test his chest for injury. The spot Rafe had hit still twinged, but he was as good as he was going to be without a hot shower and a night’s rest.
“Coach?” he called out. “I’m ready whenever.”
