Page 103 of A Whole New Trick

The two bodies collide. Dane is shoved into the wall. His helmet hits the glass, cracking the sturdy material, and then it flies off. Dane falls to the ground, his head smacking the ice with a sound that will haunt me for weeks to come.

He doesn’t get up.

33

DANE

The first thingI feel is an intense throb across my skull. It feels like Carter’s best friend, Cory, took a baseball bat to the back of my head. Or maybe it was Joshua, Morgan’s friend, who I know would love to date her if she ever gave him the chance.

But that ship has sailed. Morgan is mine. And I’m not going to let some good-looking twenty-something-year-old steal her from me.

Shouts and cries fill my ears, but I can’t make sense of the sounds. Bright lights shine behind my eyes. I try to open them but immediately abandon the attempt when it sends a fresh wave of agony through my skull.

My body shifts. I’m lifted onto a hard surface. Cheers grow louder. My thoughts are sluggish. I’m wearing my uniform and pads. My helmet is missing. I try to raise a hand to feel for my helmet, but my limb doesn’t respond.

What the fuck happened?

The bright lights disappear. Footsteps replace the sound I now know must have been a crowd. I was in the middle of a game. What game?

Voices talk above me. I hear my name and something about a concussion.

Even in my disoriented state, I acknowledge that’s what’s going on.

This wouldn’t be my first concussion, but it’s the first one I’ve experienced when I couldn’t open my eyes after being hit. That can’t be good.

The smell of lemon cleaner fills my nostrils, and the surface I’m on comes to a stop. Whoever’s in the room with me begins to free me of my uniform and pads. I groan when someone tugs my jersey over my head.

“Dane!” A man’s voice speaks, sounding close. “Dane, can you hear me?”

I try to say yes, but it comes out as a groan.

“Don’t worry, Dane. The neurology team is on the way. They ride with you in the ambulance.”

Ambulance?

Frustration curls in my chest as I try, once again, to open my eyes, but I can’t do more than part my eyelids before the pain demands I close them.

Hockey is an aggressive sport. I’ve been hit countless times, but my protective gear has never failed to save me from sustaining a debilitating injury.

I wasn’t so lucky this time.

I try to fill in the missing pieces of what caused me to be in this condition, but I’m unsuccessful. My brain isn’t working, and all I can register is the here and now.

“Please, let me through! I’m his girlfriend.”

My heart skips a beat. I know that voice.

“Morgan?” I croak.

The man above my head hears. “What did you say, Dane?”

I focus all my effort on saying one more time, “Morgan.”

“Dane!” She cries out when she hears me. “I’m here!”

Voices discuss whether or not to let her come into whatever room I’m in. I hear jostling and Morgan snapping at someone tolet her pass. Then, soft, delicate fingers wrap around my hand that lies on the solid surface beneath me.

“Dane,” her words are soft. Her breath brushes the hair sticking to my temple. “How are you feeling?”

---