“Right, well, let’s get a better look at the damage,” Topher says.
When he takes away the gauze, it doesn’t start bleeding right away, but it only takes a second before it slowly pools inside the open gash and across the bridge of his nose.
“How is it?” Reid asks, and Topher laughs.
“You’ll be totally fine.”
“Great. See, rook, no worries. I’m totally fine.”
“Not to disagree with the professional or anything, but it’s not fine. You’re not fine. I can already see the bruises forming under your eyes, and your nose is still gushing blood.”
Reid shrugs.
“Yeah, but I’m still pretty, right?”
Topher presses fresh gauze over the wound and turns to me, both of them waiting for my reply.
“Sure,” I say, shaking my head. “You’re still the prettiest belle at the ball.”
“Good, now that’s settled, is there blood on the ice?” Topher asks.
“Yeah,” I reply.
“I’ll get the guys onto it. Now, you need to get out of those gloves, they’ll need to be cleaned. Your shirt too,” Topher says, nodding to where Reid’s blood is starting to dry on my sleeve. “Reid, hold this.”
Topher strips off his gloves, tossing them into a biohazard bin, and grabs the phone on the wall.
“Code pink, can you sort it out?” Topher asks the maintenance team on the other end of the line as I pull off my gloves.
“Here, put them in this,” he says, handing me a plastic bag. “Shirt too.”
“Here?”
“Yep.”
I turn my back and pull my shirt over my head. I don’t know why I’m being all shy, both these guys have seen me almost nakedon numerous occasions, but somehow, in this room alone with them—more specifically, with Reid—it just feels different.
“You okay, rook?” Reid asks, and I glance back and find that Topher has already cleaned the blood and placed a solid Band-Aid over Reid’s nose. How long was I just standing here shirtless with my back to them?
“Yeah, sorry. I should take care of this,” I say, holding up the bag, and then I’m out the door before Reid gets a chance to look in a mirror to see the real state of his face. Looks like my whole plan to Luka love-bomb the captain is a complete dumpster fire. Well, on the upside, I guess things between us couldn’t possibly get any worse.
Chapter ten
Reid
“Youhavetodoit,” Benji says as I dish out the roasted vegetables onto their plates, careful not to give David any sweet potato or Benji any broccoli. I swear these boys are pickier than I ever was.
“The first day I tried it, I broke my face, remember?” I reply, pointing to my nose, which is still covered by a Band-Aid and will be for at least another week. My nose is still massively swollen too, but at least the pain has started to dissipate and I no longer have panda eyes. There is still a little bruising in the middle, but it’s way less noticeable now than it was.
“Yeah, but you’ve gotten better since then, right?”
“I guess. We’ve been practicing every day this week.”
“And you said you were getting it today, right?”
“I said that I got it, singular. I made it workonce.”
“Once is great. Now tomorrow you just repeat that a few times and you’ll be good to go next time you get a power play. The other team won’t know what hit them.”
