Page 36

Cha pter 36

Chloe

I wake to incessant banging.

It takes a moment to realize somebody is banging on my front door.

I roll over, hoping they’ll go away.

When they don’t, I throw back my covers and drag myself out of bed.

The only thing I can think of is that one of my neighbors is having an emergency of some kind.

I hurry to the door and pull it open, nearly stumbling in the process.

I blink in surprise.

“Gunner?” In my current state, I forget to call him by his last name.

He does a complete onceover before stepping inside.

I step back to allow him entrance, even as I try to figure out why in the world Gunner’s here.

I frown, trying to remember what time it is or better yet, what day it is.

It all comes rushing back—the dairy last night, the throwing up and stomach cramps, the lack of sleep, the calling in to work.

And with it, comes the pain.

My entire body aches and feels like I’ve been through the war.

My knees buckle slightly, and Gunner reaches out a hand and steadies me with a hand at my waist.

“What’s wrong?” I’m finding it hard to think with his hand on my waist and him in my personal space.

But then I remember that I threw up during the night and haven’t had a shower yet.

I step back, and he drops his hold on me.

“Are you sick?”

I nod, incapable of saying anything more.

I should be mortified, standing before him in my pajamas and completely a mess.

Instead, all I can focus on is the fact that he’s here at all.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in practice?”

He runs a hand over the back of his neck.

“It’s finished. When did you get sick? Why didn’t you tell me? Was it something you ate?”

I blink and then blink again because I’m pretty sure that’s the most he’s ever said at one time.

My stomach cramps again, and I put a hand over my belly.

Gunner tracks the movement.

“I got dairy last night. I was sick all night, but I think it’s passing through my system now.”

“How’d you get dairy?” He looks mad, and I can’t help my smile.

“Easy, Big C. It was a mistake.”

“Who made something with dairy and didn’t tell us? We asked.”

I know I’m a little out of it still, but my heart can’t help but take notice of the us and the we .

“Don’t worry about it. She already called and apologized.”

“Who was it?”

I smirk.

“What are you going to do? Go take on Brielle? I’m pretty sure Aiden will have something to say about that.”

“What did she do?”

“Relax. She forgot she put sour cream in her dip. It’s not a crime; I should have known it tasted too good to be dairy free.”

His scowl deepens.

“How do you forget that you added something with dairy in it when somebody asks about it?”

“It was an honest mistake; let it go.”

“Yeah, well, you had to pay the price for it,” he grunts out.

“It is what it is. I’ll admit, I might have been cursing her name during the night when I was puking my guts out, but it’s not so bad now.” My stomach cramps again, and I feel like it’s mocking me.

He puts a hand on my elbow.

“Come on.”

I don’t pull away.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to bed.” My mind takes that the really wrong way, and I curse myself and try to come out of this weird stupor I’m in.

The smile drops from my face when my stomach cramps again.

Gunner opens the door to my bedroom and walks in like he owns the place.

I suck in a breath because my room is really not that big, and Gunner makes it feel ten times smaller.

He walks me right over to the bed.

“Wait, I need to take a shower.” He nods and redirects me towards the bathroom, never dropping his hold on my arm.

When we get into the bathroom, he lets go and walks over to my shower and starts it.

I watch with raised eyebrows, wondering how far he’s going to take this thing.

When he walks back to me, I meet his eyes.

“Uh, this next part has to be on my own.”

He scowls at me, like I offended him somehow.

“Where are your towels?”

I nod to the small shelf by the sink.

After grabbing two, he nods at the shower.

“It should be warm.”

“Okay,” I say slowly as I stare up at him.

“Why are you here?” I finally ask.

Several expressions cross his face, but they’re gone too quickly before I can get a full read.

“I was worried about you.”

“That’s really sweet, but as you can see, I’m fine.”

He scowls.

“You’re not fine.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he nods at the shower again.

“Get a shower; I’ll be here when you’re done.”

Without another word, he strides from the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I stare at the closed door for at least a minute before I move.

The shower does wonders for my aching body.

By the time it starts to get cold, I feel like a new person.

I wrap a towel around my hair and another one around my body and carefully open the door to my room.

When I don’t see any sign of him, I leave the bathroom behind and work on getting dressed.

I grab the comfiest sweatshirt I own and a pair of warm sweatpants.

After running a comb through my hair and brushing my teeth, I grab a blanket from my bed and head back out to the living room.

When I get out to the living room, Gunner is scowling at his phone.

“Everything okay?”

“Do you know how hard it is to find soup that’s gluten free and dairy free?”

I laugh, mostly to myself.

“Yep.”

“Chili,” he mutters.

“Nobody wants chili when they’re sick.”

“I second that.” I settle on the couch and pull the blanket over me while Gunner continues to scowl at his phone.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” I yawn and lean back against the couch.

I pull out my phone and check my email to see what all I’ve missed today.

It all feels like too much, and I toss it aside a few minutes later.

Gunner finally finishes on his phone and looks at me.

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better.”

He stares at me a moment, but it’s not uncomfortable.

I know he’s processing.

“You look better than you did earlier.”

“Thanks, I think.”

He finally sits down next to me, leaving space between us.

“When are you going to go to the doctor?”

I frown.

“For what? A dairy allergy?”

He sets those bright blue eyes on me.

“For the fact that you get sick, really sick when you eat.”

“No, I don’t—”

His intense eyes lock on mine.

“Yes, you do. Add to that, you’ve been losing weight; and you have dark circles under your eyes. And you’re always tired.”

My mouth falls open.

“Wow, you have a way with women,” I say dryly.

“I’m serious, Chloe.”

“I’m capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much.” Frustration burns through me; I’m not in the mood to get in trouble tonight.

“I know,” Gunner says, catching my attention.

“But you shouldn’t always have to.” I want to roll my eyes at that, but I don’t.

“Will you go get bloodwork done? I’ll go with you.”

“Why are you so fixated on this?” I’m trying to understand why he won’t let this go.

“Because I’m worried about you.”

“I already told you—"

“You’re fine, I know. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m worried about you, and Grandma May is too.”

My eyes narrow. “Don’t bring Grandma May into this.”

He smiles gently. “I’m not. I just remember the first time I went with you to see her, she wanted you to get bloodwork done. Please, for me.”

I turn to him fully. “You’re serious.”

He doesn’t look away. “I am.”

“Why does it matter to you?”

“Because you matter to me, and I don’t want you to be sick.”

“It’s just food allergies,” I remind him.

“Let’s just make sure.”

I stare at him a moment; my brain feels overloaded. I think being sick has killed some of my brain cells. “Fine.”

“You’ll make the appointment?”

“Yes,” I say with a sigh.

“And you’ll tell me when it is, so I can go with you?”

I shrug. “It may not work out with your schedule.”

“You know my schedule, probably better than I do. Schedule it when I can go with you.”

“You are so bossy. Sometimes I forget that you’re the captain, and then you do something like this, and I remember,” I grumble and lean against the couch, suddenly exhausted. The doorbell rings, and I make a move to get up.

“I’ll get it.” I don’t fight him; I don’t have the energy to.

He comes back moments later with a large brown bag. He walks back over to the couch and sits before opening the bag. When he opens the bag, I get hit with the smell of food. My stomach growls, and I realize just how hungry I am. “What did you order?”

“Rice bowls.” He glances over at me. “Does that sound good?”

“That sounds amazing.” He pulls out a bowl with a lid and hands it to me.

“I tried to keep it mild for you, in case your stomach was still bothering you. It’s brown rice, grilled chicken, shredded carrots, avocado, shaved kale, and a coconut curry sauce. It was the only one they had that was gluten and dairy free, but I had them put the sauce on the side in case it’s too much.”

I take it from him and take the lid off. With the fork he hands me, I dig in and take a bite. “That’s really good.” I take another bite. “I didn’t know what I was hungry for, but this is exactly it.” I don't bother with the sauce, just in case it makes me sick.

Gunner almost gives me a full smile. “Good.”

“What kind did you get?”

“Brown rice, shrimp, chicken, broccoli, peppers, onions, carrots, kale, fresh lime, and shaved parmesan.”

“Is it good?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

It’s quiet between us as we eat. When I can’t eat any more, I hand it to him. “I’m full. Do you want mine?”

“You sure you don’t want it?”

“Positive,” I assure him.

He finishes off my bowl as well, and I climb off the couch to grab us water bottles to drink. When I come back, Gunner is staring at me oddly. I hand him a water and take my seat before wrapping my blanket around me again. “Your hair really is curly,” he says, and shocks me by reaching out and fingering a curl.

“I told you it was.”

He smiles at me. “Yeah, but I wasn’t sure I believed you.” He gently fingers my hair. “But now I do, because I’ve seen it.”

“What? So now you can tell all the guys that I actually have curly hair?”

“Nah. I just like knowing.”

I have no idea what to say to that. “Do you want to watch something?” I don’t know what else to do with him, and I don’t really want him to leave just yet. I’m not clear-headed enough to carry on a conversation.

“Sure.” He picks up our trash, and I settle against the couch with my blanket wrapped around me as we watch hockey. “You know we can watch something besides hockey.”

My eyes widen in mock surprise. “We can?” I smirk at his expression and shrug. “I love hockey.”