Playing the Game (The Renegades) (Volume 3) (24 page)

“
No shit!” Matt yelled.

“
Wow, surfer boy is going to be a
daddy.” Kaden laughed.

“
This baby is still going to be a
better surfer than you, Kaden,” Sam retorted.

Matt chuckled. “Good luck teaching him to surf around
here. These three rivers aren’t going to be much help.”

“
That’s what beaches are for,” Sam
said. “But seriously guys, Trina isn’t very far along and we didn’t
want to tell anyone yet. So keep it to yourselves,
please.”

“
So that’s why you can’t drink at
home? ‘Cause she can’t?”

“
Yep. And I’m okay with that, most
days.” Sam shrugged. “So are you guys coming to Mannie’s or
what?”

Tyler really didn’t want to go. That was where he
used to pick up his nightly thrill, and those days were gone.
Surely random girls wouldn’t approach him if he was with the team?
Maybe Marco could get them a private corner.

“
I’m in,” Kris said. “We have to
celebrate Sam’s news. Ty? You in?”

He wasn’t sure why he was hesitating. No, he knew
why. One misstep tonight and he could ruin things forever with
Paige.

“
Sure Ty’s in. We’re a team, and we
support each other as a team,” Patrick said.

Somehow Pat sounded more like he was there to support
Ty, knowing what he was struggling with. They all finished getting
dressed and headed out to Mannie’s.

“
Wow! The whole team tonight?”
Marco commented as they walked in the door.

“
Yeah, do you happen to have a
table or something that’s back out of the way?” Kris
asked.

“
I do, right over here.” Marco led
them to the back corner. “It’s pretty empty back here tonight, and
I’ll make sure the girls don’t sit anyone else over here. I’ll be
back with some beers.”

“
Thanks Marco,” Tyler called.
People seemed to respect their privacy as they toasted Sam, and
told stories and laughed. Tyler had his back to the room in the
hopes that no one would notice him.

The evening was going well, and all worries had left
him. Until two female voices sounded behind him.

“
Tyler Kidd!”

“
Uh-oh,” Patrick
muttered.

Tyler echoed his sentiment. His body tensed, as both
girls draped themselves over him. He used to crave that seductive
touch, that dangerous lust that dripped from them. But not tonight.
He didn’t want them anywhere near him, he didn’t want their hands
on him, and he didn’t want their breath in his ear. He didn’t want
them, period.

“
Ladies,”—they turned to look at
him with their eyes bright—“you’ll have to excuse us. This is a
private party.”

“
Oh, but Tyler…” One girl
whined.

“
Please, this is a private party.”
Then even to his surprise, he added, “And I’m not
interested.”

They backed off and scowled at him. “Not interested?
Not interested in
this
?” The other girl ran her hand down
her body.

“
Did I stutter?” Tyler retorted. He
wasn’t lying; he had no interest in them. They weren’t affecting
him the way the girls normally did. His body used to run hot with
desire and need. But tonight, he felt nothing but annoyance. Paige
was the only one who made him feel
need
.

Both ladies scoffed at him with disgust before they
stomped off.

Patrick gazed at him. “Wow, you handled that
perfectly, Ty.”

Tyler shrugged. It wasn’t something he had to think
about; he just didn’t want them touching him. Everyone was right.
He was different now, and it was all because of Paige.

CHAPTER 28

The Renegades were on a three game losing streak, and
tonight’s match-up wasn’t looking any better. Detroit was leading
4–1 in the third period. Paige went through paperwork at her desk
while she listened to the game, occasionally glancing up at the
screen.

The roses in the corner of her office kept catching
her eye and were a stunning distraction. She still hadn’t responded
to Tyler’s many attempts to ask her out. Her heart ached to say
yes. But her head always put a stop to the idea. The conflict of
interest hadn’t gone away, and so she didn’t know what to say to
him. Melanie had stopped asking who the flowers were from, and
thank goodness for that.

Crowd noise from the television made her look back at
the game. Tyler rushed the net with Kris following on his right. He
passed the puck to Kris and glided behind the net. Everyone’s
attention, including Paige’s, was on Kris as he put the puck into
the back of the net.

GOAL!

“
Way to go Lafleur! Maybe these
guys can come back and win this one.” Paige cheered and lowered her
gaze back to her papers.

The announcer broke the excitement with frantic
yelling that caught her attention. “Refs, can’t you see he’s down?
Kidd is hurt!”

Paige’s breath caught in her throat. Pushing her
paperwork aside, she focused only on the television.

The cameras zoomed in on Tyler lying in a ball on the
ice behind the net. The arena was hushed, but the announcers
bickered back and forth, discussing what they thought had happened.
Not until they showed the replay was anyone sure.

After passing the puck to Kris, Tyler had skated
behind the net. Skating forward, he turned his head to see Kris
shoot the puck. As the puck crossed the goal line he raised his
hands in celebration. What he didn’t see was the Detroit player
coming at him from the right. Jansen left his feet, throwing his
shoulder into Tyler’s. Ty’s head snapped back in a whiplash motion
before he fell backwards to the ice, his head bouncing off of the
ground.

“
Tyler!” Paige gasped. He lay on
the ice until the team trainer came out to check on him. Quiet fans
looked on in silence. He rolled onto his stomach and lay there
motionless for a few moments. The trainer was talking in his ear
until finally he helped him sit up. Ty looked dazed. “This isn’t
good,” she whispered.

The trainer and Kris lifted Tyler to his feet and
helped him off of the ice, as the arena roared with cheers and
clapping.

“
Off to the quiet room for Kidd,”
the television announcer said. “That was a nasty hit. I wouldn’t be
surprised if we don’t see Kidd again tonight.”

“
Shut up,” Paige muttered. He
wasn’t wrong; that hit looked bad. Ty’s head snapped hard, and the
way his head hit when he fell was scary. Looking again at all the
roses he sent her, she felt sick. She couldn’t deny she cared about
him, and now fear filled her body. He needed to be okay.

She didn’t know what to do. Should she sit here and
wait till they updated his condition? Maybe he’d be back on the ice
after getting checked out, but she doubted it. If they had any
sense they would keep him out. She stared at the television,
waiting. Then they dropped the puck, and there was no longer any
talk about Tyler. But he wasn’t back on the ice yet.

Knock-knock.

Melanie stuck her head in the door. “Paige, Tyler
just got hit… oh you saw. It looked ugly.” She bit her nails,
frowning anxiously.

That’s it. I’m going to check on him.
Grabbing
her purse, Paige moved towards the door. “I know. I’m heading down
there now to check on him.”

Melanie softly smiled at her as she pushed by. It was
weird that Mel didn’t come with her, but there was no time to worry
about that. She needed to make sure Tyler was okay. Her fast strut
turned into a jog to the locker room area. It had probably been
five or ten minutes since he’d been taken off of the ice.

The locker room door was closed, and some team
representatives were standing around in the hall. Paige searched
the crowd for a familiar face, and rushed to Assistant Coach Sal;
her breathing was so hard that she couldn’t speak.

“
Paige, they still have Ty in
there.”

“
Sal, what does that mean for
Tyler?” she quickly asked, just as the door opened. EMTs wheeled
Tyler out on a stretcher. He was alert but looked in a daze. Pain
pulled in her chest as she pushed through the crowd. Her eyes
locked with his for only a moment as they hurried by.

“
Sal, he’s going to the hospital
for further testing,” the team doctor said, as he paused before
them. “He answered all my questions on the ice, but very slowly and
he’s still complaining about a headache and dizziness.”

Panic ran through her. This wasn’t the time to
analyze why she was so worried about him. It was more than just
being worried about the player; the ache in her chest was something
stronger.

She needed to do something. She couldn’t just stand
here. “I’m going with them.”

“
They’ll call us,” Sal said. “You
need to let them do their job, Paige.” He turned to go back to the
bench.

“
You don’t typically go?” Paige
stood there dumbfounded at his laid-back response to the
frightening situation. People jostled her as they made their way
back to their offices, and her body felt heavy and her head
dizzy.

“
No. Just go wait in your office.
They will call us.” Sal disappeared down the hall.

They want me to just sit here and wait
? Her
heart was pounding and her mouth was dry. Before her brain could
figure out her next move, her feet started carrying her to the
garage. She pulled out her keys, jumped into her car, and followed
the ambulance to the local hospital. The city traffic did little to
get them there in a timely manner, but she tried her best to keep
up.

Once at the hospital she just sat in her car. She
couldn’t follow them into the emergency room, so finally she went
in the main entrance and asked at the desk where he would be. After
convincing the nurse that she worked for the team, she was finally
told where she could wait.

Sitting in the empty waiting room, her mind buzzed.
What was she even doing here? Nurses and doctors took sideways
glances at her as they passed by. At the very least she could work
while she figured out her plan. Was she going to go in and see him
or just sit here like a stalker? She flipped through social media
to see what was being said about him.

To her surprise there was nothing bad, nothing that
she had to clean up. The posts were all worry and well wishes. She
wanted him to see this; she wanted him to know how loved he was in
this city. After taking screen shots of the messages, she emailed
them to him. At least he would get to see them once he was home and
feeling better.

“
Excuse me. Are you waiting for
Tyler Kidd?” a young lady in a nurse’s uniform asked.

“
Um, yes. I’m Paige
Martin.”

“
They took him for tests. I can let
you know when he’s back in his room if you’d like.”

“
Yes, that would be great, thank
you. Oh, one more thing… is he going to be okay?” She knew the
nurse couldn’t answer that question, but it didn’t stop her from
asking. Her heart was overtaking her brain.

“
I really don’t know the answer to
that. They’ll know more after the tests. But I wouldn’t worry too
much, sweetie.” She nodded and left.

Paige sat back on the couch and watched the clock.
She was scared for Tyler, but sitting here felt more productive
than waiting in her office. She checked her text messages to make
sure Melanie wasn’t looking for her. None. Her nerves were on edge,
and a numbness washed over her. Maybe she should go back to the
arena. But her body didn’t budge. More well wishes flooded Twitter,
so she took screenshots of them all and sent them to Tyler. It felt
like forever before anyone came out to talk to her.

“
Ms. Martin?” That same young nurse
called her.

“
Yes, here I am.” Paige hopped up
off the couch and hurried to the nurse.

“
Well, he’s out of testing and the
doctor just finished talking to him. What I can tell you is he is
suffering from a headache and some blurry vision with some
dizziness. The doctor wants him to rest. Once he gets some sleep
they will probably release him if he still feels okay. But he
should be just fine.”

Paige let out a long breath. “Good. Thank you for
letting me know.” She picked up her purse and looked around,
wondering if she should leave now.

“
Ma’am, you can go in and see him
if you want. He’s in room two twenty-two.”

Should I? He has asked me out a couple times now and
I’ve never responded. Is it really my place to be here?

“
Thanks.” Paige sat back down as
her brain raced. Finally after arguing with herself, she stood up
and slowly walked to his room. Her heels clicked on the shiny
linoleum floor and echoed down the quiet hallway. Trying not to
draw attention to herself was obviously not going to
work.

Turning the corner to his room, she peeked in. He
looked like he was asleep. Quietly she approached his bed, and just
as she thought, he was sound asleep.

This might be even better. He’ll never know I was
here worrying about him.

“
Ty, I know you’re sleeping and
probably can’t hear me. Which is a good thing, since I’m not
exactly sure why I’m here. But, I’m glad you’re going to be okay.
You gave me quite the scare when you were lying on the ice.” She
reached over and gently set her hand on his, rubbing her fingers
over his rough skin. A warm calm washed over her. Just seeing him
was all she needed to appease her worries.

CHAPTER 29

Tyler glanced at his cell phone. No messages. It had
been almost a week since he sent Paige the flowers, stuffed
animals, and mix-CD—which he still thought was a cheesy idea. Maybe
she did too, since she hadn’t seemed overwhelmed with excitement
when she’d thanked him. He’d expected something more, like maybe
her agreeing to go to dinner with him.