Page 28 of Enemy Games

“Presley!” one of the girls cried at the same time a scream rattled my bones.

I ran to the other side of the car and found Presley on the ground, clutching her arm to her chest.

Oh no. No. No. No injuries. We were done! We were supposed to be headed to campus and putting this whole disaster behind us.

“What happened?” I asked while bending down next to her.

“She slipped on a patch of ice.” One of the girls pointed to the slick surface of the sidewalk.

I cursed and reached over to help her sit up. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

Hockey players weren’t strangers to injuries. Most of us had gone through all the major breaks and sprains before we reached the college level.

“I really hope it’s a sprain, but I caught myself with my hand like an idiot.” She shook her head, looking completely pissed off.

“Jackson, get out.” I lifted her up and wrapped my arm around her torso so I could help her to the passenger seat of the truck. “Hospital or trainer?”

Jackson jumped out and held the door open so Presley could slide in.

Her head dropped with a sigh. “Hospital.”

I cursed again. “It’s broken.”

Once she was in and had her seatbelt on, I turned to face everyone. “I’ve got to run her to the emergency room. I’ll drop off you three.” I pointed to my guys. “Can you make it back okay? You know the way?”

One of the girls stepped forward and nodded. “Don’t worry about us. Just take care of her.”

“I will.” I went around to the driver’s side and grabbed Jackson’s arm. “Tell Matthew what’s going on. I’m not sure if he’ll want to be there, or her coaches.”

“Got it,” he agreed, then climbed in behind me.

Presley didn’t let out a single sound as we drove the short distance to campus to drop off the guys, then continued on to the hospital. Her gaze was locked straight ahead.

I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, but I knew how annoying that was to hear when you were facing an injury. She would probably miss a few games, at minimum, but she would be back soon enough.

I nearly slammed on the breaks when I remembered what she told me in the library. She was a replacement player for the Olympic team. This could ruin her dreams completely. A few weeks might not mean much over the course of the season, especially since she was a junior, but the Olympics started in less than a month, and the hockey team only played for two weeks.

If this was a break instead of a sprain, her dreams could already be over.

Hopefully that wasn’t the case. It could be something minor, but she knew her body well enough to know the difference.

But she wasn’t crying. That was a plus.

Unless her pain tolerance was just super high. Which it probably was. We were used to at least one body part hurting or aching at any time.

“Doing okay?” I asked lamely. The hospital was close, but we still had a few blocks to go.

“Yeah.” Her voice was small, so I didn’t push her.

We drove the rest of the way in silence, and I dropped her off at the entrance to the Emergency Room.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said as she climbed out.

“I’m not leaving you. I just wanted to drop you off so you didn’t have to walk across the parking lot and risk falling again.”

She really thought I would just abandon her? We didn’t know each other well, but she had to have more faith in me than that. We might not be friends, but we were teammates. Kind of. Team adjacent? Anyway, there was no way I was going to leave her alone to wait for who knew how long.

“Go check in, and I’ll meet you inside.”