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His brows rose as realization washed over him, and I wondered who else was coming to the same realization. With hershoulder tight against me, I tried to stand without jostling her. Eva hissed and burrowed her face into my chest.
Leon reached like he wanted to help, but I swiveled away from him. “I’ve got her,” I repeated.
No one else was touching her.
Eva raised her head with a wince. “Gavin, stop growling at people and get me out of here.”
I took her home.On the way there, her coach sent her a text with instructions.
Coach: Eight hours of observation, if you still have no signs of a concussion, you can sleep and/or resume light activities. I’ll have the trainer look you over at the next practice. Rest until then.
I felt like she was a little blasé about one of her athletes getting injured, but she wasn’t my coach. Cheer wasn’t my sport. For all I knew, falls like that were normal, though I doubted it based on Mac’s reaction.
Cole echoed my concerns after depositing Henry next to Eva. “Why isn’t she at the hospital?”
Reece draped a throw blanket from… somewhere… over her shoulders then met us in the kitchen. “Yeah. Isn’t someone supposed to be watching her in case she passes out or something?”
Eva piped up from the couch. “Shecan hear you, asses.”
I smiled at the arm she threw up flipping all of us off. “I’m watching her.”
Cole frowned. “What about pregame?”
“I’ll stretch here. The pregame is optional, and I got my time in this morning.”
“What about the actual game?” Reece asked with his eyes on Eva.
“By the time I have to leave, Mac will be done playing. He’ll sit with her while I’m gone.” I hadn’t organized that part yet, but I had no doubt he’d be willing. “Go on. I’ll meet you at the rink.”
We were taking separate cars because they were leaving directly from the game to go to the party. I’d planned to spend my free time before the game with Eva anyway, but I was still a little unsteady from those couple of seconds of fear before I’d seen her grimace up at me. The thought of losing Eva tore me up, and I was having trouble settling the panic.
Reece hollered for Mase down the basement stairs, and all three of them touched Eva’s head on their way past, like some kind of good luck charm. Hockey players were a crazy superstitious bunch, but I was in that group too. After they’d left, I brushed Eva’s hair as I walked around to join her on the couch.
I opened my arms, and she crawled right into them, laying her head on my shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want to have a medical professional look at you?”
“No,” she mumbled. “The pain is already going away, and my head stopped hurting before we even got home.”
I stroked her back, trying to find the right way to put my chaotic thoughts into words. “You scared me.”
She laughed. “It was pretty scary for me too. If Leon hadn’t gotten his arm under me, it would have been much worse.”
“I can stay,” I said quietly.
Eva sat up to study my face. “You’d skip your hockey game?”
I nodded, tracing her jaw with my knuckles.
She turned to kiss my fingers. “No. Don’t let this slow down your momentum. You need to go out on the ice and show Dallas why they drafted you. It’s only a couple of hours.”
“How would you feel about Mac coming over?”
“Like I don’t have a choice, but I’m fine with it. Mac is stubborn. I think seeing me will help him get the urge to cart me to a doctor out of his system.”
“What about my system?”
Eva scooted closer, dropping a soft kiss on my jaw. “I have other ways to get it out of your system.”
I turned my head to kiss her properly, pouring all the fear and relief coursing through me into showing her how much she meant to me. When she reached for my waistband, though, I caught her hand and pressed it flat.
