Page 74 of Slew Foot
Mickey pointed at a bottle of hand sanitizer. “Use this.”
Rafe did.
“You’re going to practice?” Mickey asked.
Rafe nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I feel like shit but I’m pretty sure it’s just a cold.” He’d certainly played with worse.
Mickey nodded. “You might have Doctor Pope take a look to be sure.”
“Okay.” He sneezed again, reaching for the sanitizer before Mickey could remind him. He helped himself to a tissue too.
“Instead of coffee, I made you tea with honey and ginger,” Mickey said, holding out a travel mug. “Is your throat sore?”
Rafe nodded and took the drink.
“That’ll help.”
Rafe let Mickey bundle him into a coat, put a hat on his head, and wrap a scarf around his throat. He leaned against the wall, the world swimming a little as Mickey helped him put on his shoes.
In the hallway, he stumbled getting into the elevator, and Mickey let out a huff and tucked an arm through his to steady him.
“I’m sorry,” Rafe croaked, blowing his nose again. He felt especially guilty about this after the conversation they’d had the other day. He didn’t want to hurt Mickey or lead him on or any of that.
He also felt the draw to be closer to him, to lean against him, to let Mickey take care of him.
But every time he thought about it, thought about what dating Mickey would be like, he froze, remembering the way it had felt when Logan’s door had swung open to reveal him in nothing but a pair of unbuttoned pants and Kelsey wearing one of Logan’s shirts hanging half off her shoulder.
Worst of all, it had been the blue and white striped shirt Logan had worn on the first real date he and Rafe went out on, once they were officially together.
Rafe had stood there, staring dumbly at them, his world crumbling around him as the wind whipped up and Logan put an arm around Kelsey to keep her warm.
There had been no one to keepRafewarm. Just a cold trudge back to his SUV and tears on his cheeks on the drive home, his fist still smarting from where he’d punched the steering wheel.
Now, as Mickey steered Rafe out of the elevator and through the lobby, he remembered the way the locker room had felt after Logan had stood up and told the team he and Rafe were no longer dating. Things hadn’t worked out and he was seeing someone new, but it was no big deal, and they were both adults about it and it wouldn’t impact the team.
Rafe had sat there, unable to look at Logan or anyone else on the team because he’d been breaking inside and he didn’twantto bean adult about it. He wanted to go back in time to when Logan loved him and saw a future with him and …
He’d wound up in the equipment room, while his friend Zach—who worked for Minnesota as an assistant equipment manager—crouched beside him and awkwardly patted Rafe’s shoulder as he cried hot, angry tears about it all.
And Zach had been a great friend, but Rafe missed having aperson.
And the stupid thing was, Rafe KNEW Mickey could be that person. He knew it as surely as he knew he was hurting Mickey by saying no.
“You shouldn’t have to take care of me,” he whispered as he let Mickey tuck him into the passenger seat of his car.
Mickey shrugged. “That’s what friends do.”
Rafe wasn’t so sure. Logan had pretty much stayed away when Rafe got sick last year and he’d been his fucking boyfriend then, but well, look howthathad turned out.
But Rafe was too tired to argue so he sipped his tea on the ride to HCI and let himself be marched to Doctor Pope’s office.
“Well,” Dr. Pope said with a frown, after he’d examined Rafe and asked about his symptoms. “It looks like an upper respiratory infection. So far, it seems to mostly be your sinuses and ears impacted, but keep an eye out and let me know if you start coughing up any gunk. With your balance impacted and a low-grade fever now, we’ll definitely keep you out of the game tonight as a precaution.”
Rafe made a weak noise of protest. “I canplay?—”
“And get the rest of the team sick?” Dr. Pope asked with a snort. “No thank you. We don’t need a highly communicable infection spreading through the whole team. There’s a particularly virulent strain of this going around at the moment, so there’s no reason to risk it. We have other guys who can fill in and this isn’t a make-or-break game, by any means.”
“True.” Rafe deflated.
