Page 53 of Their Perfect Daddy

I’m not sure because a blinding level of pain tears through my body, leaving me immobile on the field. The player spits on the ground by my head, chuckles, and then jogs off.

Left alone, I try to push up, but every tiny movement has my body crying out for me to stop. When Bellport comes into view through my helmet, his face is grim.

“Keep still, bud. The medic team is coming. Don’t try to move.”

I hear Merry shouting in the background. “Hurry the fuck up before I kill that bastard. Ref, did you see it?! Watch the fucking playback!”

Merry never gets this heated. At least not to the point where I worry he’ll get a penalty flag for shit talking. Plus, he’s usually mic’d up for the cameras. Hopefully they sensor him enough.

Why am I thinking about that? I’m injured.

Dammit.

I’m injured.

Reality comes crashing down around me with that realization. If I’m hurt bad enough, I’ll miss the Super Bowl. Hell, if it’s as bad as it feels, I could wind up missing a lot more than that.

The doctors and medical team arrive as my mind starts to sink into that dark place. It’s a flurry of them stabilizing my leg—which really fucking hurts—and then getting me on the stretcher. We ride to the sidelines as the crowd cheers. I raise my hand to wave, though I don’t feel like comforting any of them.

I’m pissed off at the player who decided it would be easier to take me out than to be smarter about their plays. He got desperate enough to cheat in the worst way possible.

It’s underhanded.

I hope the footage shows what he really did. With the way they cover the field, I have no doubt he’ll wind up in a shit ton of trouble.

By the time we make it to the medical room, there’s a crowd gathered. I spot my brother in the mix. He’s too far away to speak to, not that I could find words anyway. The ache in my leg is more pronounced with all the jostling from the ride.

As I’m staring at Micah, Jett appears behind him and wraps his arms around my brother. I send up a thanks to the big guy for coming. I know Micah well enough to know his empathy has to be going through it seeing me like this.

I just wish my own Daddy was here right now.

It’s hard being alone and in pain.

Even surrounded by all these people, I don’t feel the comfort a single word from Skye or Danny would bring. Thinking of them makes me wonder if they’ll find out about this before I get the chance to call them.

My guess is yes.

“He’s got a bone sticking out. We need to get him to the hospital pronto. He’ll likely need surgery,” one of the men beside my leg announces.

No shit, doc. I could have suggested that without even looking.

Another voice chimes in with, “Get the ambulance ready. We’ll take him straight there.”

I don’t speak a word as I’m lifted yet again and rushed into the back of the vehicle with the EMTs. Two much friendlier faces greet me. The young woman’s eyes sparkle as she takes in my mostly naked form as her partner hooks up an IV and takes my vitals.

“I’m spoken for, darling,” I tell her with a smile.

She snaps her fingers dramatically. “Of course you are. All the good ones seem to be.”

Thankfully, she does truly listen to me and spends the rest of the short ride to Bellport General telling me about her weekend plans. It’s distracting enough to get my mind off the pain. It probably also helps that the IV is pumping something nice and relaxing into my system. I kind of want to ask where I can get some for later since I have no doubt this pain is here to stay for a bit.

When we get to the hospital, there’s more rushing around and shouting. It’s then I hear the words that settle everything inside me.

“Someone page Dr. Gellar. We need him for this one.”

CHAPTER 17

SKYE

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