Offside (62 page)

“No, that’s not . . .” Zach pressed his eyes shut, nodding slowly. “You’re right. I just don’t ever want to be like your husband. I won’t get into a screaming match with you. Not now. Not ever.”

“You don’t need to scream at me to be angry with me.” Becky scowled. He might say she was right, but it wasn’t much better than the dismissive “Yes, dear” Patrick used to give her whenever he didn’t want to discuss things anymore. “I’m not always right. I
know
that. But I need to know you care enough to tell me. That you care enough to let me know you’re angry or hurt. Let me know that I’ve made a mistake, but you still love me.”

“I do still love you. I never stopped.”

“But you didn’t forgive me. Not really. So you saying you love me doesn’t mean much.”

A rustling of sheets from the bed brought both their eyes to Scott, who was trying to sit up. Zach rushed to his side, speaking quietly, trying to get him to lie back down.

Scott groaned and dropped back onto his pillow. “I’m dying here, and all you guys can do is fight?”

“You’re not dying, Scott.” Zach paled, looking at Becky for reassurance. She quickly shook her head and went to Scott’s other side. Zach cupped Scott’s cheek and gave him a shaky smile. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. The press blocked my car in the parking lot, asking me about my leg, about the game.”

“You’re here now, so it’s all good.” Scott’s eyes drifted shut. “But you two have to make up. It’s my last request.”

“Stop it, Scott.” Becky stroked Scott’s arm. “You have some kind of virus.”
Let it be something small. Something that he’ll recover from.
She wouldn’t think the worst until the doctors gave her a reason to. “Zach and I will work out our issues. You focus on getting some rest so we can get you out of here.”

Chuckling, Scott let his head flop over, facing her without opening his eyes. “So we can have our hot threesome? It’s on my schedule.”

Becky rolled her eyes. Then laughed. He must be feeling a bit better to be talking like that. “We’ll see.”

“Not a no. I’ll take it.” Scott huffed in a breath. “Did we win?”

“In overtime. Hunt saved us in the shoot-out,” Zach said.

“Good. He’s a good kid.” Scott’s words were getting slurred, like he was fighting to stay awake. “What about Akira? And . . .” He let out a soft laugh. “My girlfriend? Did you know I have a girlfriend
and
a wife, Zach? I’m the fucking man.”

The fucking dead man if you don’t shut up.
Becky checked his forehead for a fever, deciding to forgive him since he still felt a bit warm.

“Your
wife
might disagree if you keep talking like that.” Zach gave her a hesitant smile. “Akira made captain. The compilation shown of Amy’s last few weeks as one of the nominees for captain wasn’t . . . flattering. She didn’t even make the team. Sahara was already on, but she made a close second for captain even though she wasn’t nominated. A lot of fans put her name up.”

“I like that.” Scott settled into the bed. “She’ll be happy here.”

“Yes, she will.”

“Do you think she’ll be too busy to take care of me when I go home? Can you ask her if she can stay with—”

Okay, that’s enough.
Becky made a rough sound in her throat, putting her hands on her hips as Scott’s eyes shot open. “
She
won’t be taking care of you. I will. And you will do everything I say, Scott Demyan. You will sleep, and drink plenty of fluids, and we will follow the doctor’s orders to the letter. Understand?”

Scott’s lips parted. He nodded. Then shook his head. “Becky, you’ve got Casey to take care of. And work. You can’t—”

“When I’m not with you, Zach will be. We aren’t discussing this.” She paused, tonguing her bottom lip, not sure she should assume Zach would agree to that. “If that’s all right with you?”

“It is. But Scott’s right. I’m here if you need to go home to your daughter.” Zach pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. “We can take turns.”

“Jami has Casey. My mother came down to help out when Casey got sick, but she had to leave today. Jami’s great with her, and Casey loves visiting Sebastian’s house so she can play with Luke’s puppy.” Becky stepped away from the bed to fetch her own chair. She’d called Casey earlier and her little girl had made it perfectly clear that she’d be fine as long as she could come visit Scott tomorrow. “It’s Saturday tomorrow, so I don’t have to work. I’m not sure the doctor will like us both being here all night, but . . .”

“Well, since you’re Scott’s wife, he’ll probably ask me to leave.” Zach’s jaw hardened. “Which I have no intention of doing.”

Was he angry about the whole “wife” thing? Becky watched Zach pull the sheets from under Scott and spread them over him as Scott fell asleep. Zach fussed with Scott’s pillow, then watched the heart monitor, then stood to pace. He went out to talk to the doctor. Came back and settled into his chair for a few minutes before getting up to pace again. He seemed to favor one leg, not quite limping, but tensing a little when the weight hit his left side.

“I wish someone would tell us something. What’s taking them so long?” Zach rubbed the back of his neck, stopping near the window to stare out into the darkness. “They’d know if it was just a virus, wouldn’t they?”

“They’ll tell us when they know, Zach.” She left her chair, hesitating before finally deciding just to go to him. She hated seeing him so upset, but at the same time, it made him easier to approach. She didn’t need him being a Dom now, all controlled, shutting down his own feelings to take care of her. It was nice to know he needed her strength once in a while. “I haven’t gotten a chance to ask how your leg is. Does it still hurt?”

“Just a bit.”

“Why don’t you sit down . . . actually, I could open up that chair for you.” She gestured to the large grey armchair in the corner. “It turns into a bed.”

He shook his head, but then went still. Smiled at her. “Are you trying to take care of me?”

“I am. It helps calm me down . . . Sir.” She bit her bottom lip, bracing for him to tell her he wasn’t her Dom and didn’t want to be. They still hadn’t figured out if they had a relationship. Never mind one like that. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t—”

His features softened. His hand curved around the side of her neck. “It’s all right, little doe. We’ve both made some mistakes, but we can work on fixing them. I like knowing you still want to call me ‘Sir.’ That I haven’t screwed up so badly that I’ll never have you looking at me the way you are right now.”

“Damn it, I hated not speaking to you. It was hard. I missed you and I kept wanting you to show up and tell me I had to talk to you.” She fisted her hand in his shirt. “I waited for you to call, and when you didn’t, I told myself it was over.”

“I did call, Becky.”

“It was too late. I was too angry.” She pressed her eyes shut. “And hurt.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” He bent down, brushing his lips over hers as he spoke. “I promise, I’ll never hurt you again.”

“Don’t promise that, Zach. You’ll hurt me. And I’ll hurt you.” She tugged at his shirt, kissing him hard enough to bruise her own lips against his teeth. “We can promise never to go to bed angry. I’ve always liked that one. Patrick and I never made that promise—not that any of our promises ever meant anything to him anyway. Our fights usually ended up with me sleeping on the sofa if I couldn’t let it go.”

“One of these days, I think you and I should sit down and have a little chat about this fucktard you called a husband.” Zach kissed her again, smiling against her lips. “I want you to feel comfortable talking to me.”

“I’m getting there. And I think I understand a little more why it bothered you that I wasn’t more open about things.” She moved away reluctantly, then opened up the chair for him. She rubbed her arms as he sat on the makeshift bed. “Scott . . . he was out of it for a while, but something he said really got to me. He doesn’t want his ‘family’ to ‘take him.’ I’m not sure what he meant. He said they weren’t real. There’s something he’s not telling you or me, and I wish he felt like he could.”

“Maybe he needs time too. I do know that his relationship with his brother is strained. Not so much anything Scott said, but the way he talks about him. He worries about his foster sister, but that’s the only family he speaks of.” Zach massaged the bridge of his nose. “Between the two of us, I’m sure we can find a way to make him feel comfortable sharing that part of his life. He’s never been in a serious relationship. Never had people he
could
talk to. This is new to him.”

“I think this is new to all of us, Zach. But I really believe . . .” She wasn’t sure saying it out loud was a good idea. It could jinx everything. But looking into Zach’s eyes stole the urge to hold anything back. “I believe we will be good together. All three of us. It’s not just trying it out anymore. It feels right.”

“It really does.” Zach laughed, pulling her with him as she tried to get him to lie down. He kissed the top of her head as she curled up in the small space next to him. “Different, but right.”

For most of the night, she lay there with Zach, half asleep and too comfortable to move. At one point a nurse came in and Becky carefully slipped away from Zach, whispering to him when he reached for her without opening his eyes. She’d hoped he would go back to sleep, but his eyes were on her and Scott as she spoke to the nurse. The nurse checked Scott’s vitals, then assured Becky that he was doing well. She clucked her tongue, letting Becky know that only one person should be in here.

Then she leaned close to Becky, letting out a soft laugh as she spoke too quietly for either of the men to hear her. “I won’t make him leave, but I will say you’re one lucky woman. Let me know if you ever get tired of either of them.”

Becky gave the nurse a shocked look, then gave up the pretense and just shook her head, grinning. “I won’t. Ever. These two are mine.”

Mine.
Long after the nurse left, and Becky was snuggled up to Zach, her eyes on the steady rise and fall of Scott’s chest, that same word echoed like a sweet melody playing over and over again in the back of her head. One she would never get tired of.
These two are mine.

Z
ach met with the rest of the men in the lounge the next morning, sure he looked like crap but not really caring. He’d slept decently, all thanks to Becky. She’d gotten up a few times, ever the mother, such a light sleeper that the nurse just had to touch the doorknob to get her awake and alert. He’d tried to stay awake for a bit so she could get some rest, but it wasn’t until the doctor had arrived for morning rounds and delivered the diagnosis that Scott stopped needing to be checked on every hour.

Carter barked out a laugh after Zach shared everything he knew. “Chicken pox? Are you serious? I had that when I was two!”

“Shut up, Carter.” Vanek pulled away from Chicklet, his eyes narrowed. “My mom got it a few years ago. She never had it as a child either. It was pretty scary.” He looked at Zach. “Is he gonna be okay?”

Nodding, Zach put his hand on the kid’s shoulder after a glance at Chicklet to make sure it was okay. The boy may be cocky as hell, but he cared about his teammates. “He’ll be fine. The doctors gave him a vaccine, so he should recover pretty quick. They’re keeping him for another day—mostly to make sure his fever didn’t do any damage. He’s miserable because the spots have started cropping up all over, but other than that, he’s not doing too bad.”

“He’s welcome to come back to Tyler’s place once he gets out,” Chicklet said, stepping up behind Vanek, kissing his cheek and smiling at the boy. “It’s probably better if he’s not alone.”

Zach inclined his head to show he appreciated the offer, even though Scott didn’t need it. “He won’t be alone. Becky wants him to stay with her. She and I will take care of him. He’ll be happy to see you all, but . . .” He looked from Chicklet, to White, to Mason, who stood near the door. Then glanced over at Tim as he returned with coffee for them all. “I hate to ask this, but could you come back later? Becky is finally sleeping and—”

“Becky noticed you were gone.” Becky came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “He’s awake and he wants more details about the game than I can give him. The nurse said no more than two people at a time, so you’ll have to take turns.” She paused as Hunt slipped into the lounge. “He heard about how well you did in the shoot-out. He wants to congratulate you.”

“Yeah, well . . .” Hunt stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, hunching his shoulders. “Let his friends go in first.”

Carter snorted and went over to shove Hunt toward the hall leading to Scott’s room. “You’re one of them, stupid. Come on.”

“
Nino
.” Ramos gave Carter a level look. “Behave yourself.”

“Absolutely, Sir. On my best behavior.” Carter grinned, then leaned close to Hunt. “Demyan is a big pussy when he’s sick. We’ll have some fun with him.”

“You will not, Luke!” Becky groaned and trailed after the two young men. “I swear, they need to hire this team a babysitter. Luke, you better not—”

Her last words were overpowered by the laughter of the players who remained in the waiting room. Tim waved Zach over and they walked down the hall, Tim asking a few questions about Scott’s condition. His reaction was closer to Vanek’s than Carter’s.

“It’s good that Demyan’s straightened up, but I’m glad he finally got that contract. He’s been pushing himself too hard.” Tim gestured to the door leading outside and Zach nodded. Some fresh air would nice after long hours spent breathing in the hospital air that always had the faint odor of sickness under all the disinfectant. Tim found a bench away from the small group of smokers and sat with his hands braced on his knees. “I’ve been trying to keep an eye on him ever since Casey’s party, but with so much going on—”

“Casey’s party?” Zach frowned, trying to remember anything that had happened at the party that might concern Tim. He came up blank. “That was over two weeks ago—probably when he caught the virus. Casey got it from a kid at school, but she’d already had the vaccine, so it was fairly mild. Becky hadn’t thought to mention it until the doctor brought it up. But . . .” He shook his head. “Scott wouldn’t have been feeling sick then.”