Page 61 of Pivot Point

“Yeah. But I’ve dealt with that before. No big deal.”

I put on a smile that might have been a bit sickly, but as soon as I started walking, the agony lanced through my chest again, making me sway.

Rafael caught my arm. “Take it easy. Come on, I’ll carry you.”

My dignity wanted me to argue with him, but I had enough brains to realize he was right. As he swept me off my feet into his bulging arms, my eyes caught Jasper’s again, and the hint of panic I saw there reverberated into me with a sudden chill.

If Ihadbroken a rib, how the hell was I going to perform in two weeks’ time?

Sheeran’s thugs hadn’t succeeded in killing me, but they might have killed my career before it’d even really begun.

TWENTY-THREE

Luciana

There wasnothing on the TV but daytime soaps and talk shows, both of which were full of drama so much more banal than my own life that it bored me to tears.

I groaned in annoyance and slouched on the sofa—and then winced at the flare of pain the movement sent through my ribs. We’d determined they were only bruised, not outright broken, but they still hurt like a mofo less than twenty-four hours after the attack by Sheeran’s men.

The ache was a lot duller than it’d been last night, at least. More like a burn than knives being jabbed through my chest.

Niko walked by behind the sofa, stopping to tease his fingers over my hair and press a kiss to the top of my head. “I know you’re not good at sitting still, but try to get a little more rest, Angel.”

Jasper looked over from where he’d been prepping lunch in the kitchen. “Can I get you anything else? Glass of water, pillow, ice pack?”

The worry in his tone had a slightly frantic edge, which brought a totally different kind of ache to my gut. My guys had been hovering around me ever since I’d made it home, doing whatever they could to ease my pain and keep me comfortable, with no thought for their own needs.

“I’m good,” I said. “And I’m coming over to the table to join you for lunch.”

Rafael, who was already sitting at said table, stood up abruptly with a scrape of the chair legs. “You stay right there, Lou.”

I made a face at him over the back of the sofa and pushed myself to my feet. The burn of the bruising coursed across my torso, but after a few steps I could mostly tune it out.

Not that my stoicism made any difference to the three men. By the time I’d taken those few steps, they’d all rushed to my side.

“You’ve got to know your limits,” Rafael growled.

Niko nodded in emphatic agreement. “If you push yourself too hard, you could injure yourself worse.”

I glared at the bunch of them. “I’ve had bruised ribs before. I know what I can handle. I’m just walking ten feet to the fucking table.”

They took my grumbling in stride, helping me over to the nearest chair since they could probably tell it’d be more of a struggle trying to force me back to the sofa.

Jasper set a plate with the turkey sandwich he’d made for me on the table at my spot. “We wouldn’t have minded joining you in the living room. I know you’re tough, Punk, but you look like a truck slammed into you.”

I grimaced, thinking of the vast purple-brown blotch I’d seen stretching across the side of my chest in the mirror this morning. “It doesn’t matter what I look like. No one’s going to see through my training clothes—or my costumes.”

All three of the men froze in place. Rafael jolted back into action first.

He set one hand on the back of my chair and glowered down at me. “There’s no way you should be skating when you’re banged up this badly.” He raised his head to glance at Niko. “Right? You’re the professional—you tell her.”

Niko’s mouth had tightened. “With an injury like this, I’d never expect a skater to perform. Doctors would recommend a recovery period of at least a few weeks, and then—”

I sputtered a laugh. “Finals is in two weeks, so forget about that.”

Jasper reached across the table and grasped my hand. “It’s okay, Lou. I’m not going to blame you at all for what happened. Those shitheads fucked us over, and that’s on them. You need your time to recover, and then we can take on the competition next year.”

I shook my head with a jerk. “No fucking way. I didn’t come this far to let some shitty gangsters ruin everything I’ve been working for. Everythingwe’vebeen working for.”

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