“It’s fine.”
“Uh-huh. Get a medic to check you out before you go.”
“I’mfine,” I repeated, but Christenson ignored me, patting my shoulder before getting up. Huffing, I turned right back around to go out of the locker room and down to the med bay. He was being overly cautious, but if I went now, I could avoid Brooker’s betting ring harassment.
“Kean!”
My shoulders tensed as I turned to see who was shouting at me, figuring it was some staff member berating me for my bad play or to make sure I was going to the medics.
But it wasn’t anybody on staff. It was Kodi.
Though I suppose she was technically staff, too.
“Are you all right? That was a nasty ringer,” she said, jogging through the hall and stopping in front of me. Then she grabbed my face and pulled me down to her level.
My heart stopped.
Kodi’s fingers slid up my face and into my hair and I suddenly thought maybe Christenson was right. I very well might have a concussion. Because a hallucination was the only explanation for Kodi pulling me in for a kiss.
Unless after telling that story, she realizedIwas the one who attended that game with her. Then it would make sense. Then I could believe she’d run down and kiss me.
But then my head tilted and I was suddenly looking down at her shoes. She was wearing the same plum pair from the other day.
“Damn, that’s a nasty-looking knot. When’s the last time you iced it?”
Oh. She wasn’t trying to kiss me.
Heat crept up my neck and I pulled away from her.
“I’m going to the medics now,” I grumbled and started back down the hall, choking down my embarrassment.
“Good. Do you have somebody to keep you company for the next few hours? A neighbor? Friend? Just to make sure you don’t fall into a coma,” she said as she followed after me.
“That’s a myth. Besides, I didn’t hit my head that hard. Coach would’ve pulled me if I had.”
“He should have,” Kodi said, raising her voice just enough that it made me wince. “Sorry. But if that hurt, it kind of proves my point.”
“It’s just a little headache. I’ll be fine.”
Kodi hummed, but otherwise remained quiet as she followed me down to the medics. And she stayed by my side while Dustin sat me down on one of the beds.
“I won’t keep ya long, Kean, we’ll just run through a basic assessment. It’d be pretty hard for you to jump fast enough to give yourself a concussion, but better safe than sorry. Can you tell me today’s date?”
“Saturday, June 27th.”
“Great. Months backwards starting with October.”
“September, August, July, June —”
“Good. Follow the pen cap.” Dustin grabbed a pen from his front pocket and slowly moved it back and forth in front of me, then close to my face.
“It feels like you’re rushing this assessment,” Kodi grumbled to my left and Dustin pulled back, raising an eyebrow.
“Ignore her.”
“Well, ma’am, it’s just that the likelihood of a concussion is considerably low. Especially since he was able to play throughthe rest of the game without issue and he’s not showing any sympt—”
“Yes, he is, he’s got a headache,” Kodi interrupted and Dustin’s eyes snapped to mine.
