“Sounds great.” Mav smiles weakly.
I hastily wipe away an escaped tear, but I don’t think anyone is watching me until I blink around and meet Maverick’s hazel eyes, warm and watching.
“Sit tight, and they’ll be right with you.” The doctor nods at each of us before leaving the room.
“Maverick Murphy,” Haddy playfully scolds, wiping the tear from her cheek, “I’ve never been so happy to hear your voice.”
His hand moves to hers on the bedside. “Don’t worry, Hads. I’m good.”
“Yes, you are.” She puts both her hands over his. “Your mom is going to be so happy to hear you’re okay.”
“Shit, you didn’t tell Mom.” His eyes squeeze shut, and he presses his head against the pillow.
“Bruh, she called me.” Knox steps forward. “They were watching the game. She lost it.”
The radiology staff enters the room, surrounding the bed. “We’re going to need you all to step into the hall now,” one of them says.
As they’re wheeling him past, he points at Knox. “Call her now, and tell her I’m fine. Tell her I’m walking around, talking, everything’s good.”
“Okay, okay.” Knox holds up his phone. “As soon as you get back. You know she’s going to want to talk to you.”
Maverick leans back on the bed again with a growl, holding the bridge of his nose. Knox’s shoulders drop as they wheel him away, and I look from him to the rest of the group.
Austin chuckles. “I’d say that’s a good sign.”
18
MAVERICK
“Amonth off the ice? Is he fucking kidding me?” It’s been a week since the accident.
Two nights and two CT scans later, they finally let me leave the hospital under strict orders to stay in bed for another two days.
Now this.
The doctor’s order just came through on my phone, followed by a text from Coach Leek.
Coach
Sorry this happened. Take the time. Heal. We’ll be ready when you are.
My lips twist, and I guess once again, his decision to bring in other players was smart. They’ll pick up where they left off, which puts a hot fist in my chest.
I slowly roll over in the bed, stepping into a pair of gray sweatpants, and pulling them over my hips.
Thankfully, I’m already wearing a white tee, because asmuch as I don’t want to admit it, whipping shirts over my head still makes me a little dizzy.
Knox and the guys extended their stay an extra week, but I’m back in my own bedroom, because they’ve been forcing me to stay in here all day every day—which is about to make me fucking climb a wall.
Haddy meets me in the foyer outside my door. She’s still wearing her business suit from work, and her blue eyes level on mine. “He saidup to a month, and no, he’s not kidding. You got a really bad hit. You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
“It wasn’t worse.” I’m impatient with all this treatment. “I’m a hockey player. Shit happens. Most of us are missing teeth.”
“Listen to your doctor, Mav,” Austin calmly orders. “It’s ultimately not that long, and you don’t need to be out there taking hits or getting into fights. You don’t want to be hurt worse.”
“A month is a long fucking time to be out of the game, and you know it,” I counter. “I was just getting back.”
He grips my shoulder. “In a month you’ll be back. And they won’t even remember you were gone.”
