Page 27 of Dirty Play

She waits for a moment before a tiny smirk appears on her lips.

“Be here at midnight.”

I smile, relieved she’s not fighting me more.

“But you’re leaving right now.”

“What?”

“You’re going to walk back over there with me and tell them you need to leave, something came up, and you need to go. Do you hear me? You. Need. To. Go,” Gwen huffs.

“Whatever you say, Tink,” I smirk, letting her grab my arm and pull me back to the table where the girls are now enjoying their milkshakes. The one Kennedy ordered for me sits next to Gwen’s.

When we get back to our spot, Gwen stops at the edge of the table, looking up at me expectantly, but when I see Kennedy smiling, I can’t risk upsetting her by not taking her offer. After everything that girl is going through, the least I can do is sit and drink a milkshake with her, even if it unleashes Gwen’s wrath on me.

“What flavor did we get?” I scoot past Gwen to sit right next to Kennedy, forcing Gwen to sit across from me, next to Denise.

“Chocolate peanut butter. It’s my favorite,” Kennedy says, her milkshake already half gone. “Are you going to sit down, Gwen? Your milkshake is melting.”

Gwen shakes her head, snapping herself out of whatever daydream or voodoo spell she was trying to cast on me before finally taking the seat across from me.

You’d think spending an evening with a fifteen-year-old wouldn’t be the highlight of my week as a twenty-eight-year-old professional hockey player, but damn, this girl is funny. She’s got the right amount of dry humor mixed with immeasurable kindness, and I can’t help but adore her already.

If I’m being honest, it’s because she reminds me a lot of my sister, Veronica. Yeah, of course, them both needing a kidney is definitely a similarity, but it’s more than that.

Veronica was feisty, bossy, and took no shit. Most of the time she had the driest sense of humor, but the other ten percent was just pure silliness with the stupidest jokes I’d ever heard in my life, but I always ended up folding over in laughter. What I would give to experience that even just once more.

Hell, I’d give my left kidney if it meant I could hear one of those stupid jokes again.

By the time I’ve finished my milkshake, it’s close to nine, and Gwen is standing up, ready to go back to work.

“Thanks for hanging out with us,” Denise says as Kennedy and Gwen start tidying up. “This made her day… it was a rough one, and she was struggling to find joy.”

She looks… worn out. Not in a bad way, but in the kind of way I remember my mom looking when my sister was sick. Beautiful as always, but a deep exhaustion that can only be seen in their eyes.

But this memory gives me an idea.

“Hey, no pressure at all if this doesn’t work out. I understand hospitals have rules, but Miles happens to be one of my best friends, along with Trevor Adams and Harris Danielson. Maybe we could come visit sometime? We could bring Kennedy a signed jersey, cheer her up a bit?”

Her eyes start to well up as she nods, covering her mouth as she mumbles yes. “Sorry. She would love that. We would love that. But if you come when my husband isn’t here, he might actually perish. Could we…” she pauses, glancing over to Gwen and back to me. “Could we have Gwen coordinate with you?”

“Of course you can.” Gwen looks at Denise before turning back to me. “I’ve gotta get back to work. Midnight. Don’t be late, I won’t wait.”

With a salute and a smile, I turn around and walk out of the hospital feeling lighter than I have in weeks, with the memory of my sister fresh on my mind.

I make sure to be at the hospital fifteen minutes before midnight in case Gwen decides to test me and leave early or something. I know for a fact that she wouldn’t hesitate to leave if I wasn’t here the moment she was ready to go.

“Hi,” she says as she walks right up to me. “Is my bodyguard ready to chaperone me home?”

“I wasn’t late, was I? So, I’d say that answer is pretty obvious,” I joke back, but she just glares before turning and starting to walk away.

“What’s got you so grumpy, Tink?”

She turns to me, her eyes narrowed. “Where should I start? I have parents who don’t seem to want to actually know the real me, a guy I hooked up with was a total prick and just up and left like it didn’t fucking matter, and I have a patient who’s going through a really rough time, so my apologies if I’m not all cheery and shooting rainbows out of my ass all the time.”

I just stare, eyes wide, shocked she opened up so much. I was expecting her to yell at me, call me an asshole, or tell me she didn’t want to be around me, which she basically did, but… there’s so much more in that answer. So much truth, so much pain.

I want to know more.

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