Page 73 of Weak Side

I hadn’t been in a hospital since the time I slipped on the ice without my helmet on and busted my head, needing stitches. My mother was livid, but my father only shrugged and asked her what she expected from Rachel’s son—Rachel being my real mother, the one we never brought up. It was a loss that the entire family mourned and continued to mourn to this day.

“What are they saying?” Ford’s voice was distant on the phone, and I was pretty sure I was on speaker.

“They did a CT, making sure she doesn’t have a brain bleed. I haven’t been back in the room. I’m not family, so I can’t go in, which is fucking ridiculous because they let Taytum in.”

“Well, I hate to admit it, but she’s prettier than you.”

“You’re not funny.” I rolled my eyes as I leaned against the wall in the emergency room waiting area. There were only a few people here, but their eyes were moving to me every few minutes, probably because I was wearing my jersey but wasn’t at the game.

“Um, I hate to ask but…when you gettin’ here, Wolf?” There was some jumbling on the phone, and I knew that Ford had taken me off speaker. “I can only stall Coach for so long. He’s gonna start throwing shit soon.”

I dangled Aasher’s keys in my hand, spinning them back and forth several times to calm my nerves. “When I know Claire is okay.”

Ford stayed silent, and I ignored the throbbing in the back of my skull as I angled my head up to the ceiling. “I’ll be there before the whistle blows.”

“You know Tom is still here, right?”

Fuck.

“I know.”

“Where the fuck is Theo?” I cringed at Coach’s gruff voice in the background and quickly hung up and began pacing back and forth, holding my phone with a death grip.

The door swung open, and I stopped in my tracks, landing on Taytum.

“How is she?” I asked.

I loved hockey. I breathed hockey. My future was hockey. But nothing seemed important in this moment except for Claire, and I would be fucking damned if I made her feel as insignificant as she had in the past. I wouldn’t leave this hospital until I knew she was okay and she knew that I was out here waiting.

“She’s tired. A little dizzy. She has a concussion, but they don’t think it's anything more serious than that. Still waiting for the results, though.”

“Does she know I’m out here?”

Before Taytum could answer, the air in the waiting room turned to ice, and she began to glare. I spun around, and suddenly, I was back on the ice, ready to tear down my opponent.

“Leave.”

Chad’s shoulders straightened, and he leveled me with a scowl not even close to as intimidating as the one on my face. I was seething. My chest was beginning to fill with hot rage, and if I didn’t feel the presence of the security off to the left, I would have pummeled the shit out of this fuck-boy.

“Do you feel good about what you did?” I took a step forward and shook my head, getting straight to the point. “Why do you keep fucking showing up? Every time I turn around, you’re there, fucking something up for Claire. I don’t understand.”

Chad cleared his throat. “You wanna know why I keep showing up?”

Taytum stepped forward. “Chad, just leave. Nothing good can come from you being here right now.” Taytum turned toward me. “And you have a game to get to. You need to go too.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I see her.”

Chad laughed, and I snapped my attention over to him.Is he purposely egging me on?“I think I can take it from here, bud.”

I tilted my head and the step toward him was menacing at best. “You think you can take it from here? You couldn’t even take care of her when she was yours.”

“Was?”

I knew that Chad thought that he was above a guy like me, someone who was using their physical strength and skill to progress in their future versus someone who was using their prestigious last name and Daddy’s money, but I wasn’t as stupid as he thought I was.

“Yes,was.She isn't yours anymore. Trust me.”

His grin pissed me off, and if I was the type of guy who couldn’t control his emotions, I might have actually wound my fist back and punched him, despite the security guard getting closer to us.

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