Page 81 of Her Player

They shouldn’t have had to take him anywhere.

“Rhett!” I bellowed until someone snatched my arm, yanking me up onto my feet and away from Rhett.

“Hey!” Coach bellowed.

But when the person who gripped me whipped me around, I came face to face with Jett’s shoulder. “Come on, Miss Caldwell. You can ride with me to the hospital.”

The fights were broken up, the penalties were divvied out, and the game was called. Our win, fair and square. And yet, I couldn’t enjoy it as I kept eyeing the speed at which Jett drove. Fifty miles an hour. Sixty. Seventy-five, heading down the backroads.

At least someone had a fucking pep in their step.

Everything passed in a blur until I stood in that hospital room. Rhett was hooked up to all sorts of machines. Doctors hovered over him with care. And he still hadn’t opened his eyes. I chewed on my thumbnail, watching Jett as he perched in the corner, his eyes never leaving his friend. I turned away from the scene and peered out the hospital window. I gazed down at the crowd gathering around the hospital’s side entrance that sat a few floors beneath the room where we were. The town gathered. Reporters and newscasters gathered. And as Colton prepared himself for a press conference, I watched my daughter step up beside him.

I saw her mouth moving with answers. I watched her stand confidently at Colton’s side, not cowering behind him like some girl that had been accosted by the same media that now looked to them for answers. My daughter was so beautiful, and so strong, and so intelligent. She flourished at Colton’s side, and even I couldn’t deny that.

I was beautifully astounded by the woman she had grown to be.

“You’re gonna make a wonderful mother someday,” I whispered.

If that’s something the two of them wanted.

“Miss Caldwell?” Jett asked.

I whipped around at the sound of his voice and found a doctor standing next to the lanky string bean of a man. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt the cool air of the hospital whip against my cheeks. I sniffled and quickly wiped my eyes. Jett grabbed a tissue box and walked over to me, bringing the doctor with him.

He held out the box and I plucked a few from its confines, giving him a thankful look.

He just nodded his head before he sat the tissues down on a chair next to me.

“How is he?” I asked breathlessly.

The doctor looked between the two of us. “Rhett is going to be fine.”

I sighed so heavily that it forced more tears to my eyes. “Yeah? He’s okay? I mean, he hasn’t opened his eyes or anything yet. Does he have a concussion?”

The doctor simply shook his head. “No, he doesn’t. He didn’t actually hit his head. The full force came down against his neck, so we’ve taken a lot of scans to make sure there are no fractures. He’s knocked himself out pretty good, but there’s no lasting damage. No brain swelling. No vertebrae fractures.”

“Oh, thank fuck,” Jett said breathlessly as he linked his hands and locked them behind his head.

“He’ll need rest for the next week,” the doctor said as his eyes volleyed between the two of us, “no practices, no sprints, no weight room, no games. But outside of taking a decent hit, the bruises that come with it, and the fact that he jammed his neck a bit, he’s fine.”

I should’ve been relieved, but when I looked over at Rhett, he still wasn’t looking at me. He wasn’t smiling, or smirking, or chuckling, or trying to make a joke out of things. He just lay there, unmoving, with tubes flowing out of him and wires bunched around him and machines filling the air with endless beeps and hisses.

Then, he grunted.

“Rhett?” I asked.

“Can we get some blue Jell-O in here?” Jett muttered behind me as I quickly clopped to Rhett’s bedside.

I heard the doctor’s voice, but I had no clue what he said.

“Rhett, can you hear me?” I whispered as I perched on the edge of his bed.

He groaned and shifted around, and relief pushed tears to the surface.

“Rhett, honey?” I asked breathlessly as I reached out and smoothed his sweaty hair away from his forehead. “I just need you to open your eyes, okay? Can you do that for me?”

He answered me with a grunt before he slowly peeled one eye open. That’s when I realized they were crusty, and that probably didn’t feel very good.