Page 56 of Scoring Chance

His face lit up, and I was grateful for the distraction. “Oh, Madi. The one that got away.”

I laughed. “Still pinning after her? I thought you tried to set her up.”

He mumbled something about hockey players, but I didn’t catch his words. “What about you?”

I glanced up from his knee and met his stare. “What about me?”

“Are you going to date any of these guys? I know you want Kevin, but unfortunately, he’s recently taken. I can set you up with someone else, though.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Unless you like what you see?”

I fought the urge to slap him with the extra tape. He’d probably take that as flirting and think I wanted him. “No thank you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why not? You don’t have a ring.”

My gaze darted to my empty ring finger. “I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

“Nah, that’s a terrible excuse. You’re just scared, but don’t worry, I got you, girl. How about Tony or James?”

I shook my head. “You’re done. Go win a game.”

“If I win will you go on a date with someone I set you up with?”

I put my hands on my hips. “No.”

He walked backward out of the room with a sly smile. “That’s cause you know we’re going to win.”

He was right. I knew the odds of them winning against the team from central Florida were high. I just shrugged and waved him out of the room.

“I’ll wear you down, Tiny.”

I groaned, not loving that the nickname had spread. He turned down the hall, and I could hear him laughing at me. I blew out a breath before moving around the room to clean up. No matter how many times Madi warned me about his teasing, I wasn’t prepared for the back to back to back onslaught of these guys.

The TV in the corner was showing the pregame activity and I realized I was missing the Fury game. I pulled out my phone and set it on the counter so I could keep track of both.

During the second period Tony went for a lay-up and landed wrong. He wobbled into the training room a few minutes later and threw himself onto a padded table. The pain had been evident on his face, so I was ready.

“That didn’t look fun.” I placed two ice packs on either side of his knee and wrapped them to stay in place.

“Not really.” He groaned and dropped his head back.

“Do you feel like you tore anything?” It was too soon to know how bad the injury was. The area was already swelling, so I couldn’t tell by looking.

He shook his head with a grimace. “I just tweaked it real good.”

Hopefully that was all, but his pain made me think it was something worse. Darrin walked in at halftime with a tight expression.

“How you doin’, Tony?” he asked as he pulled the ice packs away a bit.

“I’m okay,” Tony said with a huff.

Darrin met my eyes and shook his head. “We’re taking you to the hospital to get imaging done.”

Tony didn’t reply just gave a tiny nod. He wasn’t arguing or teasing and it made my stomach sink. Over the past few weeks he’d worn me down until I considered him a friend. I hated seeing him in pain.

“Let me go check where the wheelchair is.” Darrin walked out, and Tony reached out a hand.

I stepped forward and took it. “You okay?”

He squeezed it and whispered something I couldn’t hear. I leaned down. “What?”