Curveball(37)

The ride up to Mark’s floor is awkward, to say the least. Considering Luca has known Victoria since he was a kid, you can cut the tension with a knife. Sammy hasn’t said much since we last spoke, too busy consoling her semi-drunk mother who reeks of booze and is stinking up the elevator. I haven’t said much to Luca either, mostly because I feel stupid that he’s my student and that I made my relationship with Mark public by showing up at the hospital and sitting with his friends, as if I were one of them.

When we walk into his room, Mark has a cast on his right arm and bruises and cuts on his face—some of them closed over with tiny bandages while others are left open and looking raw—as a nurse finishes with his sutures. She places instruments on a metal table next to her, but Victoria practically lunges herself at Mark, hovering over his bed.

“My baby,” she says as she reaches out to touch his hand.

“Please stand back,” the nurse scolds, giving Victoria a look so sharp, it could cut through glass. “You can see him when I am finished.”

Luca grips Victoria by her skinny biceps and helps her into a chair near the door. For someone who was such a bad mother to Mark, her sudden outbursts shock me. And Luca seems just as irritated with her behavior as Sammy is, who sits next to her mother with a scowl.

The nurse threads the last stitch on Mark’s handsome but now scratched up face and then tucks the blankets into the sides of his bed before rolling the metal cart she used for the sutures to the opposite side of the room.

“He’s all yours,” the nurse says to Victoria with a wave of her hand.

Now that I have a better view of Mark, I feel sick to my stomach, seeing how bad his face looks with all the stitches and bandages. His mother leans down to kiss his forehead, his sister standing next to her and holding on to the metal rail on his bed. A few minutes pass with his mother whispering things to him, almost falling over the rail as she leans into his ear. It’s not until she switches places with Sammy and she takes Mark’s hand in hers that I finally see some movement.

His sun rises and sets with that girl, which is why I’m not the least bit surprised when his eyes flutter a little as she rubs her thumb on his skin. She softly tells him that she’s here and to wake up because she needs him and can’t do this without him. From her sweet gesture, tears well up in my bottom lids, and when I see Mark open his eyes for the first time, my heart leaps from my chest.

“Sammy,” he says, a flicker of concern in his eyes, “where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital. There was a car accident.”

He scans the room for a few seconds before he looks down at his gown, his eyes widening in shock when he sees the tubes coming from his body and the cast on his right arm. The pain on his face rips me to shreds. I want to be the one to comfort him, the one to take away his pain.

Mark still hasn’t noticed me and turns his head to the side, facing the exterior wall with his back turned to us. It didn’t take him long to realize his season is finished and that his career is most likely over. His car was also totaled in the wreck, and he loved his Mustang more than anything.

“Mark, baby,” his mother says, “it will all work out. We’re here for you.”

He turns over, his face twisted in anger, the blush spreading to his cheeks. “You have never been there for me.” His hateful words are like venom. “If you had been a better mother, I never would have done the things I did to support you and Sammy. I wouldn’t be lying here in this bed, unable to sit up without being in pain. Just go!”

Mark rolls over, dismissing his mother.

“C’mon, bro,” Luca says to Mark as he comes around to the other side of the bed, so they are facing each other. “Don’t be so hard on your mom. She’s right about one thing. We are all here for you. You have your family. Our brothers are here, pounding beers in the parking lot, and so are your coach and the team. Olivia is here, too.”

“Where is she?”

Luca points behind Mark and to me. “On the other side of the room, dumbass.”

Taking that as my cue, I walk over to where Luca is standing and take Mark’s hand in mine.

He runs his fingers along my skin, leaving a trail of heat in his wake. “Get in here with me,” he orders, scooting back until his back hits the rail on the other side of the bed, making room for me.

“Mark, you have broken ribs. Lying in such an uncomfortable position will not help them heal.”

“Can I have some time with my girl?” Mark says to Luca. “Take my mom and sister down to the cafeteria or something.” He winks.

The corner of Luca’s mouth turns up into a devious grin. “Sure. I got you, bro.” He walks away, telling Sammy and Victoria to follow behind him, commanding a presence.

“Shut the door, lock it, and hop in bed,” Mark says as he flattens onto his back.

I do as he instructed and then climb into bed with him, trying my best not to hurt him when I accidentally brush up against his broken ribs.

“How do you feel?” I place my hands on the sides of his face, our eyes locked. “You scared me to death when the call got disconnected, and then I found out hours later that you had been in an accident. Your injuries aren’t bad—at least, not anything fatal—but—”

“I won’t play ball again.” He glances down at the cast, his pain over the loss of his career evident in his eyes.