Six weeks, best case, assuming things heal as they’re supposed to, no one missed anything, and I don’t need surgery. Surgery.
It’s been the word humming in my ear since I woke up in the hospital. They say it’s ‘unlikely,’ but can’t rule it out. Unlikely is doctor-speak fordon’t make plans.And hockey is nothing but plans: game schedules, playoffs, travel. Plans. Lots of plans.
As much as I want to be present for my guy, and I really do, a combination of the simmering pain and panic in my body has pulled me out of the moment. Six weeks takes us into March. If recovery runs even later, I won’t be back on the ice for the playoffs.
Like everyone else, I stare at my Arte, waiting for him to speak, but the tiny voice at the back of my mind is yelling at me that it might be time to consider what I am—whoI am—without hockey.
A shiver snakes up my spine at the thought, but at the end of the day, hockey isn’t a forever career. I’ve always known that. And this injury is just another reminder of the fact.
I can’t take the silence in the room for another moment. Everyone’s waiting for Artemis to get his poop in a group and speak, but he’s just… staring. His jaw works, muscles in his face feathering, but he’s not speaking.
Come on. My foot taps before I can stop it. I need him tomove. To choosesomething. To saysomething.
Scott sits on the other side of me and nudges my knee with his. “Before we get into the annihilation of your asshole father, Arte.” He clears his throat like the words are sticking. “I need to apologize.”
I didn’t think the room could go any stiller, but somehow even the air itself holds its breath. I suddenly feel very aware ofhow visible I am—the sling, the bruises still blooming on my shoulder and face, the fact that I’m not just Artemis’s boyfriend but his current liability. It’s all crushing my bones and making it harder to breathe.
Do I look at Scott? Do I let him say his piece? Artemis has turned his head to look at his best friend but still hasn’t spoken.
“I was a dick.”
Athena snorts at Scott’s declaration.
Scott drags a hand over his jaw. “Fine. A really, really big dick.” He gives her pleading eyes like she’s busted his balls a time or two over this already. “You’re not helping, Bright Eyes.”
She smirks. “Good. It’s not my job to help you, Gizmo. You dug this hole all by your really, really big dick self.”
I feel vaguely out of the loop, but for Scott to take the stage in the middle of this crowd—including Thiago, Mathias, and Alejandro—Artemis’s half siblings who arrived while Gabriella was chatting to Artemis—it must be important.
“I was a dick to both of you.”
I must have hit my head harder than I thought because I have no memory of Scott Raine being a dick to me.
“I know I told you that Xavier wasn’t good for you. Wrong time, wrong guy.”
My stomach tightens. Artemis hadn’t told me. I mean, I didn’t get ‘I’m so happy you’re banging my best friend,’ vibes from Scott, but I also didn’t get ‘back all the way up, you’re bad for my boo thang,’ either.
“Truth is, I was jealous. Not seeing you in college every day…” His face turns a dark shade of red, and Athena does little to hold back her award-winning eye roll.
“Bromances are so fucking pathetic.” Athena practically sneers. “He misses you, Hermano. He’s too up his own ass tospit it out but he doesn’t shut the fuck up about how he never sees you anymore.”
Scott throws a glare her way. “I was getting there.”
She flicks her wrist. “Not fast enough. We have real problems to solve here, so hurry your kiss-and-make-up shit along, sí?”
Artemis’s sister is fucking terrifying, but Scott just flips her off and turns his attention back to us. “She’s not wrong. I do miss you. Seeing you every day, hanging out together, studying together, playing together, practically living together... To go from that to hardly ever seeing you… I was pissed, embarrassed even. I had no idea you even liked Xavier, let alone were so fucking gone for him.”
Artemis’s lips twitch as I turn to confront him. “You’re so gone for me, Pumpkin?”
Artemis shakes his head, his hair kissing his face as he does. “He doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.”
I pinch his heating cheek. “You’re totally gone for me.”
Athena groans, and Ares stage whispers behind his hand “so fucking gone.”
Scott holds his hands up. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t like the idea that anyone was getting more of your time than me. We’ve been joined at the hip for all of college. I’m not proud of it, but there it is. I think you two are great together, and I’m fully on team…” He looks at Ares. “What did you decide on?”
Ares grins. “Xartemis. Like Fartemis.”
