Page 91 of What If I See You

“You alright, Griff?” Ledger’s down on one knee over my body trying to assess the situation and I can’t even tell him what’s going on. All I can do is look at him in sheer panic as I try everything I can to take a deep breath.

Ledger sees the fear in my eyes and grabs my arm. “It’s going to be fine. You’re okay. You’re okay man. I got you.” I see him waving his hand toward the bench and know he’s frantically waving for Darius.

In two seconds, Darius is at my side. “Talk to me Griff.”

I make a motion to my chest where it fucking hurts and take teeny tiny breaths, anything to fucking keep myself alive. I don’t want to black out.

This isn’t how I go out.

This is just temporary.

I’m going to be fine.

But fuck! It fucking hurts!

Breathe dammit!

Darius rolls me slightly and somehow by the grace of God, I can gasp a deep breath and when I do, I scream in pain louder than I think I ever have on the ice.

Darius does a quick assessment and finally I can talk enough to tell him what’s going on.

“My ribs. My lungs. Fuck, Darius.”

“All right. I’ve got you, man. We’ve got to get you off the ice and into the exam room. Can you make it or do we need a stretcher?”

My mind immediately goes to Layken.

Her beautiful face.

Her smiling at me this morning after the orgasm I gave her.

And then her fear when I cut my arm a couple nights ago.

“No stretcher.”

I don’t want to scare Layken.

She’s seen me get hurt twice now.

“Get me up. I’ll make it happen.”

Darius nods and then glances up at Bodhi and Ledger already at my side. They both help me to my feet and escort me, hunched over, off the ice to the applause of the arena. Knowing where Layken and the girls are sitting, I lift my arm in their direction in hopes they’ll see I’m okay and tell Layken not to worry.

“Looks like you lucked out with a few bruised ribs,” Darius tells me after a full exam and x-ray. “It appears when you got checked, he rammed right into your ribs and then you hit them again when you went down. The one-two punch did you no favors, Griff, I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “Hey, bruised ribs are better than broken ribs. I’ll take it. When can I get back on the ice?”

Darius gives me a stern glance. “You’re out for at least two weeks and then we’ll reevaluate.”

“Two weeks?” I scoff, wincing with the pain. “Come on, you’ve got to get me out there faster than that.”

He pins me with his stare. “You want broken ribs on your next fall?”

My shoulders slump and I let out a painful sigh. “No.”

“Then two weeks. And two weeks is the best possible outcome. It may be more. In the meantime, you’re not working out either. You can take an ice bath and you can walk and then you can relax as much as possible. Try to take deep breaths when you can. No strenuous exercise.”

I nod and start to climb down from the exam table when he puts his hand on my shoulder. “Griff?”

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