Page 134 of Forever Offsides

“Your foot?” the nurse questions. “Which foot?”

“Well, my toe.” She holds up her left leg that’s encased in a tan compression sock and a white sneaker.

“Did you hurt it?”

She shrugs and clutches her bag that’s sitting on her lap tighter. “I can’t remember, dear. At my age, I’m lucky if I remember to put on underwear.”

I hold in my snicker, and the nurse throws me a grin and a wink.

“We’ll get you all fixed up.” She wheels her into a curtained area and helps her up onto the bed. “The doctor you saw yesterday is here, and he’ll be in with you in a bit. Another nurse is going to come over and check your vitals, and then we’ll get you registered.”

The woman pats the nurse’s hand. “Thank you so much. You always take such good care of me.”

“Of course.” She pulls the curtain closed around the gurney and nods her head for me to follow. “I swear, she’s here more than I am. Anyway, I’m Braelyn. I’m one of Quinn’s best friends.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Braelyn. Quinn’s told me about you.”

I get a cheeky grin. “And she’s told me about you. Come on.” She waves her hand over her shoulder, then points to the elevator by the nurse’s station. “I’ll take you up to her, but you should know her family is there too.”

I swallow and nod as we step onto the elevator. “How is she?” I swallow thickly. “Can you tell me? Please,” I tack on, unable to hide my desperation.

“Not technically, but I will because Quinn would want you to know.”

I nod my head but I’m barely holding it together and something about how she said that has me even more afraid than I was moments ago.

“They have her sedated,” she starts as we ride up. “She came in after the accident with a bad concussion and some internal bleeding. It was touch and go for a bit, but we got her up to the OR.” She pauses. “They had to remove her spleen.”

I gasp and cover my face with my hands, shaking in a way I never have before. “Can she live without that?”

“Yes,” she tells me gently. “Many people do. The surgery was successful, and from that standpoint, she’s doing very well.”

My hands drop to my sides, and I stare at her. “What does that mean? From what standpoint is she not doing well?”

Her lips twist ruefully. “We’re watching her head injury closely. Her intracranial pressure or ICP as we call it, went up when she was under anesthesia. It’s not uncommon for that to happen, but that's why we have her sedated. We’re giving her medication to bring it down.”

My hands go to the top of my head. “Intracranial? As in her brain? The pressure in her brain?”

“Yes.”

Jesus fucking Christ. I can’t even…

The elevator doors open, and I charge out, needing to move, unable to breathe in the elevator where the walls were closing in on me. I pace to the wall and kick it before I drop my arms to it and bury my head.

“You love her, don’t you?” she says from behind me.

I twist my head and peer down at her. I haven’t even told Quinn yet. Not really. I’ve told her that I was falling for her, but it’s not the same. Still, right now, there’s no holding anything back.

“Yes. I love her.”

She smiles softly. “Good. I think she loves you too. She has a glow.”

A glow?

“Sky?” Braelyn calls out, and a blonde woman who looks familiar walks out of a patient room. “This is Rhett. He’s in love with Quinn. He just told me.”

Great. She’d better not hear it from them before she hears it from me.

Her eyes brighten as she takes me in. “Yes, we’ve met. I was at training camp.”