Page 52 of Broken As Puck

I frowned. “You’re going to stay and keep working?”

Wouldn’t it be better for her to go home and rest her foot?

She looked at the physiotherapist. “Unless Lewis says I shouldn’t.”

He glanced from her to me and caught on to the tension between us, if the slight tightening of his features was anything to go by. “If you use another chair to elevate your foot, I see no reason you can’t stay. Of course, rest is always beneficial, but if you don’t plan on running around the stadium, you should get plenty of that as it is.”

“I’ll be at my desk for the remainder of the afternoon,” she assured him, crossing her heart. “No need to worry.”

Lewis turned to me. “Then she’s right; you might as well head to the gym.”

With a sigh, I scanned Chelsey one last time to make sure no new injuries had manifested and strode to the door. I paused, my hand on the doorframe. “Text me if you need help getting around.”

She didn’t agree, but she didn’t shoot me down either, so I took that as a win and made my way back into the main stadium. I circled the edge of the rink, passing Kim and one of the documentary crew’s camerawomen.

“I know the hockey players are strong,” a female voice said, slightly hushed but loud enough for me to make out every word, “but I didn’t realize they were that strong.”

I froze, my muscles immediately becoming rigid. My jaw clenched and a low fury simmered in my gut as I slowly turned toward them. It felt like I’d been plunged into that moment years ago when Cory had insulted Chelsey and I’d just stood there and said nothing.

Except this time, I wasn’t about to let her down again.

By now, both women had stopped talking. Kim’s lips were twisted with distaste, and the other woman’s eyes were round, her hand covering her lips.

I marched over to them and stopped a few yards away. Yes, I was mad, but I didn’t want to physically intimidate someone who was much smaller than me.

“That better not have been a comment about her weight.” I snarled, ready to defend Chelsey’s honor. “Because that would be unacceptable, especially with you here in a professional capacity.”

She squeaked and backed up a step.

“We expect you to behave like professionals,” I growled out, knowing I was probably making a scene but unable to stop myself. Hopefully, I wasn’t about to cause the kind of trouble the team had been trying so hard to avoid. “Chelsey is perfect. She’s beautiful exactly how she is, and if you—or anyone—imply anything else, we’re going to have a problem.”

The woman lowered her hand, her cheeks splotchy and red. “I d-didn’t mean anything by it. I could have said the same thing about anyone. Lifting a whole person isn’t as easy as you made it seem.”

“That better be all there is to it,” I growled.

Someone grabbed my arm and I tried to tear it away from them, but their hold on me was firm.

“Matt.” The voice was low and urgent.

I snapped around, coming up short when it was Drew standing less than a foot from me, gripping me like he was prepared for me to take a swing at him. After the way I’d goaded him the other day, I wouldn’t be surprised, but he didn’t look like he was eager for a confrontation.

His dark green eyes locked on mine. “Going off on the doc crew is a bad fucking idea.”

I was tempted to say I didn’t care. I didn’t care what anyone said or did; I was going to defend Chelsey no matter what. But yeah, yelling at members of the crew filming a documentary about the team because the commissioner had mandated it probably wasn’t the best idea for my ongoing job security. Or for the team’s future.

“She said something about Chelsey,” I muttered, needing him to understand.

He pointed somewhere off to the side. “You mean, that Chelsey?”

I glanced over and realized that at some point, Chelsey had emerged from the examination room and was using a crutch to make her way toward the stairs. Fuck, I hoped she hadn’t overheard any of this.

“I don’t think she heard anything,” Drew said, as if reading my thoughts. “But if you make any more of a scene than you already have, she’s going to find out what was said about her.”

I blew out a rough breath, frustrated. I didn’t like it, but he was right. The camerawoman’s comment had been in passing, and there was little chance it ever would have gotten back to Chelsey if I’d kept on walking. Unfortunately, now that I’d drawn attention to the situation, there was a higher likelihood of her somehow hearing about it.

I forced myself to relax, so that if anyone looked this way, they wouldn’t realize how close I’d come to losing it. “Thanks, Drew.”

Drew’s eyebrows flew up. “No problem. Just please don’t make me have to be the voice of reason again. It doesn’t come naturally.”