Page 115 of Three Hockey Hotties

But I’m emotional as fuck this weekend. I want to control things that are out of my control, and this isn’t helping.

It makes me feel even more helpless and I already feel pretty damn helpless over Abby being an entire hour away at her parents’ house.

An hour later I’m staring at my brother in the ER.

“Did we win the game?” he asks. “Doubtful without me there.”

Not even a concussion can tamp down his ego. Amazing.

“No, we lost. Dash just texted me the final score. He’s on his way.”

“He doesn’t need to come here,” Kane protests. “What, so we can all just sit around and wait for the doctor who still hasn’t shown up?”

“The doctor came ten minutes ago. You were asleep.”

“No, I wasn’t.” Kane looks over at the monitor next to him. “Look at my stats, man. Top notch vitals. The nurse told me that.”

I snort. “There are no points scored for best vitals in the ER.”

Kane looks pale and he was, in fact, dozing, even if he wants to deny it.

But the doctor wasn’t concerned. Just told me to follow standard concussion protocol.

I’ve been wrestling with whether or not I should call Abby.

Dash enters the room, his hair damp from his shower. He looks relieved to lay eyes on Kane and see he’s okay.

“What was that?” Kane asked him. “That puck went by you like it was in fucking slow motion. My mom could have blocked that.”

“And you tripped over your own fucking skates and went face first into a wall. No one was even around you,” he growls back.

“Guys, cool it,” I say. “I know we’re all having a rough time today without Abby but let’s not take it out on each other.”

“Did you call her?” Dash asks.

“I was waiting for you so the three of us can decide together.” I shake my head. “I was wondering if I should or not. Is that manipulative to call her and tug on her heart strings when she asked for space or will she be upset if we don’t call her and tell her Kane was injured?”

“I think she’ll be upset if we don’t call her,” Dash says.

“And I’m perfectly willing to play up my injury if it brings her home,” Kane says, with a grin. “I didn’t like today. Today sucked. Being without Abby is stupid.”

“Eloquently put,” I say, wryly. “Fine, if you guys agree, I’ll call her.”

I’m not even sure if she’ll answer.

But thankfully, she does.

“Hey, sweetheart, I’m sorry but–” I’m actually not sorry at all. The sound of her voice was like a punch to the gut and I need her. “I felt like I should let you know that Kane is in the ER.”

“What?” Abby gasps. “Oh my god, Benjamin! Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. He just has a concussion. I’ll put you on speaker.” I hit my screen. “Kane, tell our girl you’re fine.”

“Hey, Lollipop, I picked a fight with the wall, and I lost but I’m all good. No worries.”

“Are you sure?” she asks. “Oh God, Kane. You must be in so much pain.”

“Nah. Had much worse than this.”