Page 55

Javier

“It was that fuckwad.” Reid’s voice is tinged with an unfamiliar hard edge as he prowls all four corners of the hospital waiting room.

I’d slammed on my car brakes as we approached the arena parking lot, narrowly avoiding the insane idiot who’d been driving over sixty in a thirty zone.

Then I’d pulled into the parking lot, seen something on the ground feet from the entrance, and Reid had been out of the car and sprinting toward it.

I hadn’t known it was Caleb.

He got to Caleb before I did, yanking off his suit jacket and covering Caleb with it. I’d been a couple of steps behind him as he’d started yelling at me about my phone while trying to get Caleb to stay conscious.

We’ve all had enough accidents on and off the ice to know you never move someone injured in case you make them worse.

“We don’t know that.” I sit back in the hospital waiting room chair and rake a hand through my hair.

“The prick has had it out for us since Tobie became ours.”

“It could have been an accident,” I say, playing devil’s advocate.

Caleb punching the guy didn’t exactly make them the best of friends.

Reid had laughed and high-fived Caleb when he found out. Caleb had grumbled that he was just looking out for Tobie, but he hadn’t looked too cut up about it. We all remember what Marc said to Tobie at the party about her only being good for a fuck.

Reid looks at me, silently communicating his disbelief.

“Yeah. It was him,” I concede.

There was no reason for anyone to be speeding near the arena.

No one was there. Just Caleb waiting for us to pick him up.

A nurse walks past the waiting room door.

I’m out of my seat, Reid is across the room, and we nearly tackle the poor woman.

“Have you seen our friend?”

“We brought him in, and no one has?—”

The nurse lifts both palms, giving us a reassuring smile. “Hold up. No one has come out to speak to you yet?”

We shake our heads.

“Give me a minute. Let me go find the doctor and send him out.”

True to her word, within minutes of her leaving, a doctor, in blue scrubs and a white coat, is walking toward us.

“You’re his friends?”

“Teammates and friends,” Reid says. “We found him on the ground and called an ambulance. The paramedics said we could follow them to the hospital, and a nurse said we should wait here for news, but it’s been hours, and no one has told us anything.”

“Well, your friend is lucky,” the doctor says with a smile.

“He’s okay?” Reid asks.

“It looks like the car clipped him more than hit him. He has a few nasty bruises, a swollen knee from the impact, and a couple of contusions that needed some stitches. He’ll feel like death when he wakes up, but he’s lucky. We usually see a lot worse injuries from car impacts.”

Reid had rambled at the paramedics about a speeding car we’d seen as we were pulling into the parking lot. It sounds like they’d filled the doctor in on what caused his injuries.

“Can we see him?” I step forward.

“Unfortunately, not right now. He’s still unconscious, and we’d like to keep him in overnight just to make sure there’s no internal bleeding or concussion.”

“He’s a hockey player, the captain of our team,” Reid says. “Playing means more to Caleb than anything, and we have the biggest game of our season in a couple of weeks. Do you think he’ll still be able to play?”

“That is more of a question for him and his coach. He’ll be sore and bruised and hurting for the next few days, at least. But before we get to that, we’ll observe him for internal bleeding, make sure there’s nothing else wrong, and go from there,” he says.

We both sag against the nearest wall in relief. He’s okay.

The doctor leaves after he asks us to fill in some information about Caleb.

We look at each other. Things could have been so much worse. If that was Marc driving, and I can’t think it would be anyone else, he could have broken Caleb’s leg or even killed him.

“I’m going to call his mom and brother,” Reid says. “He was?—”

I straighten. “Fuck!”

“What?” A line forms between his eyebrows.

“ Tobie !” My eyes fly to the clock on the wall.

Eight thirty.

We were supposed to meet Tobie at the hotel lobby two hours ago.

“Have you got your phone?” I ask, frantically patting my pockets.

He shakes his head as he sticks both hands in his pockets. “I think it’s in the car.”

“Shit. Mine too.”

We bolt down the hallway, then stop and look at each other.

“One of us has to stay with him in case he wakes up or something.” Reid says what I’m thinking. “And the hospital needs us to fill out forms for Caleb.”

And Christian, his brother, will want to know what happened. Philly isn’t too far from us. Even if he turned around and came back to Lamont, one of us would still need to stay with Caleb at the hospital.

“I’ll bring up your cell and let you know what happens before I go to the hotel,” I say.

“I could go to the hotel,” Reid offers.

“And if you happen to bump into Marc on your way?”

He doesn’t respond.

“I’ll go. I may lay the guy out if I see him, but I won’t kill him like you will.”

I hurry out of the hospital and to the parking lot, where I dig out my cell phone from the center console of my car. It takes a little longer to find Reid’s. Eventually, I spot it wedged down the side of his seat, where it must have slipped out of his pocket.

We both have three missed calls from Tobie, and it’s a gut punch knowing she was there waiting in the lobby and not able to reach any of us.

A heavy weight presses down on my chest when I call her, and it goes straight to voicemail.

Maybe her battery is dead, but that doesn’t feel like what this is.

Not now.

On my way back inside the hospital, I call Caleb’s brother.

Christian takes the news well, probably because the news is bad but not terrible, promising to turn around and return to Lamont.

Reid is in the waiting room, a metal clipboard and pen beside him. “A nurse wants Caleb’s life story,” he says as I approach.

“I called Chris. He’s on his way back. He’s going to call their mom, so no need to do that.” I hand Reid his cell phone.

“And Tobie?” he asks, face blank.

“Three missed calls. I called her back, but…”

He checks his phone and hits dial. We watch and listen as his call goes straight to voicemail.

“It’s not good,” I add unnecessarily.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here?” he asks me, fingers tightening around his cell phone and making me think he’s imagining it’s Marc’s throat.

“Yeah.” I nod at the clipboard. “You get busy filling that out and keep trying Tobie. I’ll head to the hotel. Maybe she’s still there.” Unlikely. “Or maybe someone saw her and can tell us how she was.”

“Do you think we made her cry?” Reid does nothing to hide his devastation.

I squeeze his shoulder. “Marc is at fault here. Worrying about anything other than checking she’s okay can wait. I’ll call you later when I know more.”

We say our goodbyes, and I leave the hospital.

I head straight for the Carlton-Westlake.

There’s no sign of Tobie in the lobby. A small group of hotel guests stand near the check-in desk. Trying to get a straight answer out of half-drunk hockey players and their dates is a lesson in frustration.

“Tobie was here,” Hallie says, eyes glazed over. “She was waiting for you.” She blinks. “Wait. Did you just get here?”

“You can’t hold your alcohol for shit, Princess.” Theo ruffles her hair.

She elbows his side and yelps, face twisting in pain. “What the fuck are you made of?”

He smirks down at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I’m dancing,” she suddenly declares.

“He’s not going to say yes,” Theo says with a smirk. “You should give it up and stop embarrassing yourself.”

“ Embarrassing myself? Hold this.” She thrusts her glass of champagne at him and stalks toward the dance floor, weaving slightly.

So much for telling her how he feels about her.

I raise my eyebrow at Theo. “I’m going to assume you’re out of practice talking to a woman.”

“Yeah, I know.” He downs the champagne, passes the glass off to me, and follows her.

I shake my head and continue my search.

Tobie was here, waiting in the lobby for all of us, and none of us showed. One of the guys says he saw her talking with a guy in a tux, but didn’t recognize him.

She tried to call us all, more than once, and then what?

Did she go home?

I’m headed for the exit to try her dorm room when I stop.

There’s no one at the front desk now waiting to check in, and there are chairs right there. If Tobie were waiting for a while, she’d have sat down. Maybe someone remembers seeing her.

Thankfully, at least I know what she was wearing.

“Hi.” I greet the woman at the front desk. “I have a question about a woman who was waiting in the lobby. She was wearing a green dress.”

The woman beams at me. “Ah, I do recall seeing her.”

I smile, relieved, until the woman adds, “Are you a friend of the happy couple? I don’t believe anyone took photographs if that’s what you’re here for.”

My smile freezes. “ Happy couple ?”

She nods. “The proposal.”

There’s no question in my mind what Marc was doing now when he drove his car at Caleb—clearing the way to get to Tobie.

He knocked Caleb down, hoped we would rush to the hospital, and he would have all the time in the world to propose to Tobie.

“Did she say yes?”

“I believe so. They left together,” the woman says, smiling apologetically. “Unfortunately, I must see to a guest.”

I thank her and walk away.

My cell vibrates, and I pull it from my pocket. I don’t know how I feel. Shocked, angry, and numb.

“Caleb’s mom and brother called to say they’re on their way,” Reid says. “Did you find Tobie? I keep getting her voicemail.”

“She was here,” I say, my voice strange.

“What is it?” His voice rises. “Is she hurt? What happened?”

“He proposed to her.”

Reid is silent.

“Marc proposed to Tobie, and she said yes,” I say louder, and it still doesn’t seem real.

“How could you know that?” he snaps.

“Someone at the front desk saw it. They left together.”

Reid is silent for another long moment. “But maybe she didn’t. Maybe he forced her to go with him. And she’s not answering her phone. Maybe she’s in trouble.”

“We knew this would happen,” I say softly.

We all knew it was only a matter of time before Marc realized the error of his ways and went crawling back to her. “We should have told her how we felt before. Now it’s too late. We’ve lost her.”

She’s not going to want to talk to any of us.

In her eyes, we stood her up. She doesn’t know about Caleb. Doesn’t know what Marc did. “I’m going to her dorm to make sure she’s okay.”

“She wouldn’t marry the guy, would she?” Reid asks quietly.

They were together for six years. She must have loved him to be with him so long, and maybe he reminded her of those feelings.

I hang up.

I’m almost at my car when my phone vibrates. I nearly drop it fighting to get it out of my pocket, thinking it’s Tobie.

My jaw tightens when I see who’s calling. Mom. I can’t deal with this now.

I press the answer button. “Mom, this isn’t a good time.”

“I’ve been speaking with Daniela. I don’t understand why you don’t want?—”

“Mom, I have to go.”

Her voice is tight. “Practice? Hockey, even during spring break? What is your obsession with?—”

“It makes me happy,” I snap, my patience shot. “Maybe I would have been a little more patient if I knew where Tobie was and Caleb wasn’t lying in a hospital bed.”

“Who is Tobie?”

Shit. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.

I scrub a hand over my face as I stand outside the hotel. “Ever since I picked up a stick, I knew it was what I wanted to do. It felt like it was the thing I’d been created to do, Mom.”

She’s silent.

“But you had all these big plans for me and Nessa. We were going to make all our cousins and aunties and uncles so proud. We were going to be doctors and lawyers and achieve so much. I learned to shut my mind to the idea hockey would ever be anything more than a hobby, but I can’t do that anymore.

I tried, and I tried, and all it did was make me so miserable I dreaded getting up to go to my college lessons.

I dreaded picking up the phone when you called because I knew I would have to lie and act like everything was okay when I hated my life. ”

“ Javier …” She breathes.

“Then Grandpa died, and he said to do what made me happy. Told me not to let my life go the same as his did. He had all that money, but there wasn’t one day that he looked forward to work.

” I clear my throat. “Hockey makes me happy. Daniela wanted to be a doctor’s wife more than she wanted to be with me, but I thought you would understand why this is something I need to be happy.

If you can’t be happy for me, then I don’t know what else to say. I have to go.”

And I hang up and drive back to the campus.

Whatever happens now with my family, I’ve said it. I’ve dumped all the stuff in my head and heart out, and that’s all I can do.

When I peer up at her window from the quad, the curtains are drawn. And when someone lets me into her building, there’s no sign of Tobie in her dorm.

I knock on her door, and there’s no answer. Then I knock on Max’s door.

She has no love for hockey players, but she must know we care about Tobie.

Max could be with Tobie somewhere, or they could be inside, listening to my knock and refusing to open the door.

I knock a couple more times, wait another five minutes, and leave.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

Until I have seen with my own eyes that Tobie is okay, I will keep coming back.