"I'm his mentor. It's my job to watch him."
"Right. Your job." Hayes stood, grabbing his towel. "For what it's worth? Morrison had it coming. The kid took that hit to protect you—I saw the whole thing. Threw himself in the way when Morrison was lining you up."
My vision tunneled. I replayed the hit in my head—Morrison’s angle, Theo’s position, the way the rookie had thrown himself sideways.
Not to avoid the hit. To intercept it.
My hands started shaking.
"Where is he?" My voice came out rough.
"Med room, last I saw. Trainer wanted to do a full concussion protocol." Hayes paused. "You good, Cap?"
"Fine."
I finished undressing on autopilot. I showered in record time and dressed in my suit without registering any of it. The locker room had mostly cleared out by the time I grabbed my bag and headed down the corridor toward the medical facilities.
The door to the training room was half-open. I knocked once and pushed through.
Theo sat on the examination table in his base layer compression shirt and hockey pants, holding an ice pack to his ribs. The Storm’s head trainer—a woman named Vicki who had seen everything in her twenty years with the organization—was making notes on a tablet.
"Captain." Vicki glanced up. "He's clear. No concussion, just some deep bone bruising in the ribs. I am holding him out of practice tomorrow as a precaution. He'll hurt like hell, but nothing serious."
"Appreciate it."
Vicki gave me a look that suggested she knew exactly why I was here, but she left without comment. The door clicked shut behind her.
Silence flooded the room.
Theo looked at me with those bright eyes that saw too much. His expression was wary.
"You didn't have to do that."
"Do what?" My voice came out too sharp.
"Fight Morrison. Drop the gloves. Risk a suspension." Theo shifted the ice pack, wincing slightly. "I am not made of glass, Moretti. I can take a hit."
"He was targeting you."
"He was targetingyou." Theo set the ice pack down carefully. "I saw him line you up. I saw what was coming. So I... intervened."
The shaking in my hands got worse. I shoved them in my pockets before Theo could see.
"You threw yourself in front of a two-twenty enforcer." I heard my voice rising but couldn't stop it. "Do you have any idea how badly that could have gone? If he had caught you in the head instead of the chest, you would be in the hospital right now. What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking you are the captain and the best player on this team and we need you." Theo slid off the table, moving stiffly. "And that Morrison has been headhunting all game, and if he had taken you out, we would have lost."
"So you decided to play hero."
"I decided to do my job." Theo stepped closer. "You protect the team. I protect you. That is how it works, right?"
No. That's not how it works. That is not—
My chest felt like it was splitting open. The careful walls I'd built, the distance I'd kept—all of it crumbled under the weight of Theo standing there, bruised and defiant and so goddamn brave it made my throat close up.
"Don't do it again." The words came out strangled.
"Can't promise that."
