Page 80 of What If I See You

Not that it mattered anyway.

We lost.

I guess we can’t win them all but then again yes, we fucking can.

And we should.

Darius whistles, taking a quick look at the result of getting sliced by a skate blade. “Yeah that’s going to hurt for a few days. Let me get this cleaned up and then it’s going to need a few stitches.”

He takes his time cleaning the wound and then numbs it a little before he starts stitching.

“Hey Griff, you all right, man?” August raps on the open door to the exam room.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Scared me there for a minute.”

“You’re telling me.” I huff a laugh. “If I had my head down any lower he could’ve gotten my fucking neck.”

It’s the first thing I thought of when Chetlikov’s skate made contact with my skin. It didn’t hurt the moment it happened, but once I was able to tell myself it was just my wrist and not my neck, reality snapped back into place and it hurt like a fucking bitch. Once I got off the ice, I took one look at Darius in the tunnel and told him to wrap as much gauze around it as he could as fast as he could because I needed to get back out there. Stephens grabbed me a new pair of gloves and a fresh jersey, helped me out of my bloodied one and into a new one and off I went.

“August?” a female’s voice rings out from outside the door. “How’s Griffin? Do you know?” August leans out and gestures with his head in my direction. “Hey babe. He’s in here.”

Ella leans her head in, the rest of her still in her costume, her forehead creased with worry. “Hey! Heard you got cut. You okay?”

“Nothing my man Darius here can’t fix.”

Ella brings her hand to her chest. “Phew! I didn’t get to see what happened. Just heard you got hurt. Glad you’re okay.” Her smile grows and her brows wag. “Guess your wife’s going to have to take great care of you now, huh?”

“Hmm.” I grin. “Now that you mention it, I don’t think I can use my arm much so…yeah I think I’m going to need her help.”

“Ella!”

Speak of the devil…

I’d know Scarlett’s voice anywhere. And my guess is, where there’s a Scarlett, there’s a Layken.

“Have you seen Griffin yet? His wife is hella-worried about him.”

“Oh, my God, you guys,” my wife scoffs, but I can hear the tremble in her voice. “I am not hella-worried.”

Always trying to be the brave one.

I take one look at Darius and quickly say, “Whatever I’m about to do, just go with it.”

Darius doesn’t even get to respond before I’m screaming from the exam room. “Ah, fuck! That fucking hurts!”

“I know man.” Darius nods immediately playing along. “Just a few more. I’m sorry Griff. They fucked up your arm bad!”

Layken comes shooting around the corner and into the exam room, her eyes wide with panic. “Griffin? Oh, my God! Are you okay?”

Darius looks up at my gorgeous wife and tells her, “I’m stitching it up so you can say goodbye, but in my professional opinion, I think it’s going to have to be chopped.”

She stares at Darius unreactive and then cocks her head, glances down to where he’s putting stitches in my wrist, and then looks up at my face.

And then she whacks my other arm.

“Son of a fucking bitch, Griffin Ollenberg! I thought you were seriously hurt!”

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