Delayed Penalty (Crossing the Line, #1)(9)

After I went home and couldn't sleep, I took two showers, and then sat in my living room watching highlights from the Eastern Conference games. When nothing took my mind off her, I decided to go back to the hospital.

When I got there her doctor wasn't around, but they said he lived only a few minutes away. Now that I thought about, I had recognized him. He lived in the same building as me.

The poor nurse on call Christmas Day had said the doctor had to go back in last night and perform another surgery. He ended up leaving her skull flap open to allow pressure relief. I understood none of it but did a lot of nodding.

They let me see her again, and the same gut wrenching feeling came over me. I was relieved a little to see that she was still alive, but then a nagging sadness crept in. I It was Christmas, and she had no one but me.

Knowing Leo wouldn't be traveling this Christmas, I called him.

When I told him what happened, he immediately came to the hospital. He claimed I shouldn't be alone.

"I wonder who did this to her?" Leo said, sitting next to me in the waiting room. His usual curly, light brown hair was matted to one side. Judging by his tired, bloodshot eyes, he must have had a long night, but probably nothing like mine.

"I don't know, but every time I think about it I want to f*cking kill the guy." I shook my head, staring at the tile floor. Leaning back in the chair, I crossed my arms over my chest, shifting my weight to the side. "What the f*ck possesses someone to do that shit?"

Leo's eyes caught a nurse as she walked passed. "Not sure, man. Hey, would it be weird if I asked that girl to exam my dick. It's itchy."

"Yes, that would be weird. Don't do that."

"Fine. You look at it. Tell me if I'm dying." Leo stood reaching for the button of his jeans, his dark flannel pushed up showing me his stomach. "I'm really worried."

Before he had the chance to unbutton his jeans, I punched his stomach with a good amount of force behind it.

He fell over, clutching his gut, sputtering out, "You're such a jerk sometimes."

"Well, I'm confused. At what point in our relationship did you think it would be okay to show me your dick?"

He coughed for a while and then got back in the chair beside me.

"Oh hey, look!" Leo nudged my ribs, still a little winded, pointing toward another nurse walking our direction with a handful of gray files stacked in one hand and a cup of Starbucks coffee in her other. "Isn't that Natalie?"

My eyes squinted, and I remembered her, well her lips anyway. They gave me some good memories if I remembered correctly. She walked right by us until Leo whistled and she stopped. "You really gonna ignore two Blackhawks?"

Natalie stopped, glanced over her shoulder, and then gave a half smile and walked over to us. "Let me guess, waitin' on Remy?"

Leo laughed, reaching for her badge, and then snagged it from her scrubs, sticking it in his pocket. "No, Mase here is stalking a girl in the ICU."

"Leo!" I smacked him again, this time on the side of the head.

Natalie reached for her name tag back, and Leo put his hand over his pocket, waving his hand at her, simultaneously flipping me off. "If you want this you gotta check something for me."

"What?"

"Wrong question to ask," I told her, watching the snow fall from the window behind her.

"My dick." Leo once again reached for his jeans, this time getting the top button undone before Natalie kicked his shin. "It's red," he defended as if that would make dropping his pants in a hospital okay.

"I'm not that kind of doctor."

"You're a doctor?"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Yes. I'm a pediatrician. Why?"

"I thought you were a nurse," I said, looking to the snow again.

"No. I never said that." Natalie seemed offended that I thought she was a nurse, her weight shifting from one foot to the other. She set her coffee down to reach for her badge again. "Give me that, Leo."

Leo chuckled, shaking his hand at her. "Check out my dick and you can have your badge back."

With a groan, I left the two of them bickering over dicks and badges to find the vending machines. Wandering around, I tried to ask myself what the hell I was even doing here.

It was Christmas. Shouldn't I be with my family?

My parents weren't happy with me missing Christmas, but when I explained the situation, they understood. Growing up, values held a lot of importance in our house. My parents had tried to instill their beliefs in me and my sister. As far as I was concerned, they had. Among those beliefs were honesty, loyalty, respect, love, and hard work. You worked for what you wanted.

Maybe sometimes you got lucky and didn't have to work as hard, but still, you worked hard.

I liked to think I still had those qualities, despite my lifestyle, and maybe that was the reason why I was here waiting for this girl to wake up.

When I got back to the waiting room Natalie was gone, but Leo was asleep in the chair I left him in. I kicked his left leg, and he jumped, looking around and glaring. "What the f*ck was that for?"

"Oh sorry. I tripped." I had just sat down when a nurse wearing navy scrubs came over to us.

"Which one of you is Evan Masen?" When she said my name her eyes lifted from the clipboard to meet mine and then back to the clipboard as if she had to be sure. A smile came over her. "You're Evan Masen with the Chicago Blackhawks, aren't you?"