Page 47 of Falling for You

The door to my room opens, and I look up to see Ezra walk in. He gives me a head nod, confirming that my sister is safe in her room with Kaylah. Then he goes into the bathroom, I look back at Pen, who is still looking over my features with concern.

“Ezra is going to keep an eye on me tonight, Firecracker, so don’t worry and my mom will most likely call him several times,” I reassure her as Ezra comes back out of the bathroom and sits on his bed.

Pen’s eyes tear up again, and I can’t help but comment, “For someone who is adamant we should be friends, you are showing a lot of emotion.”

She sniffles and lies, “It’s hormones,” Ezra hears her and chuckles under his breath.

I get serious, though, and state, “You can’t use hormones anymore, baby. Tonight, you showed me and my family exactly how you feel about me, and it’s okay if you’re not ready to admit to them. Just know I’ll be right here waiting for when you are ready, and once you do admit them, I won’t ever let you go.”

Her tears falls and she wipes her cheeks and instead of commenting or lying about my statement she instead shows me and my best friend the love she has for me when she asks, “Can we stay on the phone?”

I nod, and rasp, “Anything for you,” With that, more tears fall down her cheeks.

She sniffles, places her phone on her side table, plugs it in, and lies down on her bed, the dark blue sheets surrounding her.

I can see our son sleeping peacefully as my girl gets comfy and then looks at the screen.

“I’m right here, Firecracker. Close your eyes,” I murmur, and she sniffles again before doing as I say. Within minutes, she’sasleep, the evening catching up with her, and fuck me am I glad she’s off tomorrow.

“Is she asleep?” Ezra asks, I nod as I put the mic on mute so we won’t wake her.

“Yeah, this evening has completely torn her emotions apart,” I admit.

He sighs, “I should have just fucking answered your phone, but we were all too concerned for you, and now I’m regretting it, and so is your family,” I look at him to see him run his hand through his hair before tying it up and he groans before he continues, “Her fucking sobs gutted me so God knows how they felt for you.”

I look at the screen and watch as my family sleeps peacefully, and I admit, “I felt like I was being suffocated. Over the months, when we tried finding her, honestly, I thought it was all over lust at first, but the longer it took to find her, the harder it got to function. Then, seeing her again, I realized,” I look at my best friend and admit, “She’s my home.”

His jaw ticks at my admittance, and he promises, “If anything like this happens again, whether she’s in the rink or across the state, I’ll ensure she’s put first. Dylan has said the same.”

I nod and look back at the screen again, and he says, “Don’t ever fucking let her go,” and I murmur, “I don’t plan to.”

And I mean it, I’ll never let this girl go again.

Chapter 19

Penelope

I swallow the lump in my throat as I check the time; my nerves shot.

Taylor should be coming home today, and everything inside me needs to lay eyes on him and not just on a screen.

Three days, that is how long it’s been since he was knocked out. Every night since he has FaceTimed me where I’ve fallen asleep. Even when Hudson woke during the night, the connection was still there, and he was awake every time and spoke to me until I fell asleep again.

He soothed me and settled the ache in my heart after watching him go down like that.

The other team, the Sparks, got disqualified for the rest of the season and has been put on probation. The defenseman who hit Taylor not only received a hefty fine but is now undergoing aninvestigation along with Elena; the allegations the players are making about her, and the lies that she told to rile them up are all over the media.

He could lose his spot or be demoted while she will lose her license, but it isn’t enough in my book.

He could have killed him!

My heart thumps in my chest, my gut tightening at the thought, and my tears well up yet again.

Seeing him go down like that, hearing the announcers claiming repeatedly that no news was given on his condition, all while his phone kept ringing, I thought I was going to be sick and even hearing his voice, it wasn’t enough, I had to see him.

I take deep breaths as I count all the syringes on the shelf, write the total down on the clipboard, and move over to the bedpans.

This was well overdue, and with how I’ve been feeling since Taylor’s hit, I quickly volunteered myself, especially with me being put on light duty work since he went down on the ice. My feet hurt and my back aches after doing this for three hours – this storage room is the sixth one I’ve been in – but it helps keep my mind occupied.

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