Page 78 of Defining Us

“Don’t ask any questions, otherwise we will just keep going in circles, but it’s quite simple. I was carrying you up the stairs while you were asleep or passed out, I’m not sure which.”

Already I can feel my stomach dropping.

“You shifted in my arms as you were waking and there was no way I would let you fall, so I tried to catch you with my arms too far from my body. I felt a pain, and the rest is history.”

I gasp and slap my hand over my mouth. I know the shoulder he has the ice on is his throwing arm. He is one of the rare left-handed quarterbacks.

“Fuck, Jordan, I’m so sorry. Show me where it hurts. Can you lift your arm, did you hear anything tearing, can you still rotate your arm?” The words are rapidly falling from my lips and I’m not even giving him time to reply. “Did you call the team physio?”

“No! No one can know about this. You need to keep it between us. Not even Xavier! No one, do you hear me?” Shoving his chair back from the table, he is up and pacing, still holding the ice to his shoulder.

“Jordan, but you need help to fix it. We don’t even know what you did. We need scans so we can assess and get you fit again.” All of a sudden, my vow of not touching him is thrown out the window as I walk to him and place my hand on his arm to try to calm his agitation.

“You don’t understand, Nat. No one can know this has happened. I’ll be benched, and I can’t afford to give an inch to the rookie that is on my heels.” He runs his hand through his hair, and I can tell he’s frustrated.

“Maybe so, but if you ignore it, things just get worse. You know that. You don’t need me to remind you.”

“It’s okay, I’ll rehab it myself. I’ve been a player long enough to know the ropes of an injury and what to do.”

“I see, so you’re a qualified physio now, are you, with the knowledge of a doctor who has X-ray vision to see what’s going on inside. Don’t be an idiot.”

He pulls his arm from my hand and gets back to pacing the floorboards.

“End of discussion, Nat. It’s my problem, and I will sort it out. I just need you to keep the secret, please. I’ve never asked anything of you but I’m asking this. Please.”

What can I say? I want to keep telling him how stupid he is, but I can tell it’s going to fall on deaf ears at the moment.

“Besides, don’t you want to know what happened last night? I’m surprised you haven’t lost your shit over that yet, if I’m honest.” It’s like he is shutting down the conversation about his injury with a solid moving-on look.

“Jerk.” My adrenaline starts to spark up again. I’m not really sure how much of this I want to hear now. “Sorry for being more worried about your shoulder than what disgrace I made of myself last night.” I’m trying to put up the tough talk when really on the inside I’m crapping myself at what I did. I’ve never met Sasha, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect that she is his wife, and he made the sacred vow to her.

“Why don’t we sit. I’m sure movement is not fun for you this morning.” Jordan tries not to laugh at me, taking his seat at the end of the table.

“Enough of the smartass comments. Just get it out. What did I do?”

Dropping down into my seat again, I pick up my lukewarm coffee cup. I don’t think I can stomach it unless it’s piping hot.

“It’s simple, really. You drank too much. We decided it was time to cut you off and I brought you home on the way to my hotel. But there was no way I was leaving you alone when you were that out of it. Instead, I stayed to check on you. I just couldn’t lie on the couch with my shoulder, so I had to share the bed with you.”

“Why do I get the impression there is more to it than that? Don’t spare me the messy details.” I pull my satin robe a little tighter around me, as I feel self-conscious about what I’m about to hear.

Jordan stops and his eyes lock on mine, so intently I can’t look away.

“Nat, who hurt you?” That is not what I was expecting, and the seriousness of his question has me so confused.

“What?” I don’t even know what else to say.

“It’s okay, you can talk to me. We might not be as close as we were, not my choice, but I will always be here for you.”

“That’s great and all, but I have no frigging clue what you are talking about, Jordan. You need to stop with the riddles and tell me what you mean.” I’m a little rattled by what is going on, and it came out harsher than I meant.

“Last night you were very clearly drinking away your sorrows. Talking about not being beautiful, which is utter bullshit, and how he doesn’t want you, he never knew you were there…”

Oh crap, what the hell did I say? Think, idiot, think! Why did I drink so much? It was just supposed to take the nervous edge off seeing Jordan, not make me blurt out all my inner feelings.

Fuck, he’s looking at me waiting for an answer. This is bad, like really bad.

“Umm, did I mention a name? I don’t remember much…” I hope I managed to keep my lips sealed on that vital detail.

---