Page 77 of Enemy Games

“That's right. Do you remember anything else after that?”

“No.” Was that bad? Had there been more? I should know how I got from the ice to here, right?

“We’re about three minutes out,” another voice from behind me said.

“We’re on the way to the hospital,” Matthew explained. “You were hit and lost consciousness. We're not sure what your injuries are, so we left all your equipment on in case there are any breaks.”

I was knocked out? By who?

“Can you tell me if anything hurts?”

My entire body was throbbing, but I managed to whisper, “Everything.”

Matthew looked over to where I assumed the paramedics were seated.

“Hunter?” My voice broke.

“He’s following us with Coach. You need to get checked out first. We need to know what injuries you have, but then you’ll be able to see him.” He winked at me, and I stared back at him.

He knew we were dating. Or at least, I was pretty sure he did. Oops. We hadn’t talked about telling the teams, but we didn’t hide our relationship either.

I didn’t care if everyone knew. I just wanted him. I needed him to tell me things would be okay. I needed his calm reassurance.

But I didn’t have much control over the situation or when he could get to me, so I just lay there trying not to move anything.

“Pulling in,” the same voice from before called.

This was my last chance to ask the question I wasn't sure I wanted the answer to. “How bad is it?”

I watched Matthew’s face for any reaction, but he just offered a small smile. “We’ll make sure you’re okay.”

That wasn’t even close to the truth I wanted. He said he didn’t know my injuries, but he could see more than I could.

“Will I be able to go?”

He frowned for a second before catching himself. “I hope so.”

I closed my eyes as the doors opened, and my stretcher was pulled from the ambulance.

The second we rolled through the ER doors, things went lightning fast, while also moving in slow motion. I couldn't keep track of everyone around me, the doctors and nurses speaking to one another.

Matthew answered what questions he could before they tried asking me. I was only able to give them one-word answers, but it didn’t seem to matter. The team around me were working on autopilot.

My gear was stripped off, and a nurse changed me into a gown before I was rolled from one room to another and another as different tests and scans were performed.

All I could do was keep my eyes open when they told me to, and the rest of the time, I tried to block everything out. If I accepted the reality going on, I would have to admit just how scared I was, and right now, I wanted to pretend this was happening to someone else. Like it was all a crazy dream.

Maybe I should have listened to Hunter. Just because I was careful didn't mean that everyone around me was. I couldn't predict the movements of others, especially our opponents. Just because I was in a good mind space didn't mean that they were.

I paid the price. I just had to hope that there was a chance that the injuries weren't as bad as I thought. That I might be able to still go to the Olympics, but deep down, I knew this was bad. I'd been taken to the hospital during a game before, but I’d never lost consciousness. I wouldn’t know how bad things really were until the results came back.

At least, I was finally in my own room. Matthew was with me and said that visitors would be allowed in soon. Once the doctors had a better idea of what was going on and how to treat me. He stayed silent next to me, but his presence was a comfort.

I let myself close my eyes but didn't fall asleep per the doctor's request. Even though, all I wanted to do was slip away into a world where this wasn't happening.

Finally, a doctor strode into the room and looked down at the clipboard in his hands. “Well, Presley. It looks like you got very lucky tonight. Very lucky.”

We had drastically different ideas of what that word meant.