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“You fucking better.”
I startled, and the man let me go when the boards shook with the force of Lucas banging on them. “Get your fucking hands off her,” he growled, and I was pretty sure the only thing stopping him from attacking this guy was the glass between us.
The fan looked between Lucas and me and let me go. Lucas ignored him completely, his eyes catching on me. “You okay, babe—”
A player slammed into Lucas from behind, driving his head directly into the glass. It snapped back with the impact, and my heart stopped as his eyes glossed over and he collapsed in front of me. The force of my pulse came back with a vengeance, pounding in my ears with each second that Lucas didn’t move.
“Get up. Get up. Please get up.” I chanted it over and over again, but he didn’t move. My eyes burned, and my ribs felt like they cut into my lungs when the medics got to him and he didn’t respond when they flashed light into his eyes. “Please, Lucas.”
The crowd was silent as we all watched them lift Lucas’s unconscious body onto the gurney. I focused on his chest, trying to make out any sign he was breathing, but the layers of padding he wore made it nearly impossible.No, no, no, no.This couldn’t be happening. I just got him back. I sucked in a wet breath and begged him to stay with me, but my words were lost to him.
Distantly, I could feel Misty wrap me in her arms and whisper in soothing tones, but I couldn’t focus on anything but the scene in front of me. My strong, smart, wonderful man was laid out, and there was nothing I could do to help him.
The medics lifted the board between them and carried him carefully off the ice. I was running before I could process it and was pushing through the doors that led to the dressing room before anyone could stop me.
They were already hauling him toward the open exit door, and the night flashed bright with the red and white lights of the ambulance. I had to get to him. I pushed my way past his coach. “I’m coming with you.”
The medic raised a brow. “I’m sorry, miss, but only immediate family can come in the ambulance.”
“I said. I’m. Coming. With. You.” I growled out each word.
Before I could step forward, I was hauled off my feet and pressed against a solid chest. “We’ll go right to the hospital, Pips,” Jax said in my ear, and my heart rate started to calm.I turned in his arms and met his wet eyes.
“He has to be okay, right? He has to be.” I buried my face into his shirt, and he tightened his arms around me. He must have ripped off his clothes to be in his hoodie and joggers already.
“He’s going to be fine. Just another day for a hockey player.” He tried to make a joke, but we’d both been around the sport long enough to know that a blow to the head had serious consequences.
Jax grabbed my hand and led me toward the front. “Wait. You didn’t drive.”
Misty popped around the corner and held out her keys. “Let’s go.”
If the drive to the hospital felt like torture, the wait felt like purgatory. It had been at least two hours since we’d pulled into the emergency room only to be told no one could go in. My head snapped up every time a nurse came by just in case they had news, but no one stopped.
“Here, I thought you could use this.” A coffee came into view, and my gaze snapped to River’s. I didn’t even realize he and Alex were here.
I took a small sip of the coffee. “Thanks.”
“I grew up here and know one of the nurses. She said Lucas is stable, and once the rounds are done, she’ll let you go in there.”
I jumped to my feet and wrapped my arms around his waist, barely avoiding covering him withscalding liquid. “Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you.”
He stepped back and met my eyes. “Piper, there’s something you need to know. He still isn’t conscious, and they don’t know what state he’ll be in when he wakes up.”
My gut clenched, but I didn’t have the energy to comprehend what that meant. I just needed to get to him. “Take me.”
River walked me over to a woman dressed in blue scrubs who was giving me a sad look. She reached out and squeezed my hand. “I can take you to see him.”
I followed her into the room, my body on complete autopilot as my brain struggled to keep up. It wasn’t until I saw him that I took a breath. He looked better—the ashiness that had taken over his face had been replaced by warmth. I walked forward and interlaced our fingers before looking back to the nurse. “Do you have a guess on how long he’ll be out?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything more, but the doctor will come by as soon as he wakes up to explain everything.” The nurse left us alone, and I dragged a chair to his bedside. The lights were dimmed in his private room, and I tracked the graph of his heartbeat as it skipped evenly along the screen.
Resting my head on the bed, I quietly sobbed. I needed him to wake up. I had so much I needed to say. Fingers grazed my hair behind my ear, and I gasped, shooting up off the bed. Lucas searched my eyes for several seconds. “What happened? The last thing I remember was some asshole pushing you. “
I collapsed back in my chair, letting out a breath. “You were hit from behind and slammed into the boards. Lucas, you scared the crap out of me.” My chin wobbled, and Lucas interlaced our fingers.
“You’re here,” Lucas said, eyes still searching mine, and tears spilled over my cheeks as a sob escaped my chest.
“Are you kidding me? Don’t you ever do that to me again.”
