A Love Like This (Mature Jocks Series #1)

Chapter 32 || The Ugly Secret

L I Z

"He's going to be okay," Nick rubs my back as I cry.

We've been sitting here for an hour, waiting for the doctor to see us. Nick, Diane, Yvonne, Kim, Terence, Hudson, Coach Mike, Ava—— who got here ten minutes ago after watching the game at home, and I. I got here in time to see them wheel him into the ward. He wasn't moving, his eyes were closed, blood splattered all over his hockey gear. I threw up twice, Diane and Nick rubbing my back. It hurts that there's nothing I can do but cry and cry until the damn doctor sees us.

He walks towards us, dressed in blue scrubs. When he reaches us, I shoot to my feet while he takes off his glasses.

"And you are?" He asks me.

"His girlfriend," I say in a rush.

"Where's his family——," He asks at the same time Nick interrupts,

"We're his family," He snaps.

"Alright, one person, he doesn't need to be inconvenienced," he says and everyone turns to me.

"Go on," Ava says as Nick rubs my back, "I'll talk to the doctor,"

A nurse gives me scrubs and a nose mask to wear as I enter the ward.

And there he is.

My boyfriend who was very optimistic about today.

His left eye is swollen, a purple ring around it. He's dressed in a hospital gown but you can still see how much bandages are on his chest and his legs underneath the covers. He has a cast on his left arm, and nothing on his right. His head is bandaged—— and I can still see some blood. He frowns in his sleep. On the way here, I heard the doctor say something to Ava about memory loss. I don't know what I'd do to myself if Aaron forgets me. The monitor is beeping, so that means he's still alive.

Tears roll down my cheeks as his eyes flutter open. He stares at the ceiling at first, then at me. I want to ask him if he can remember me but he beats me to it.

"Lizzie," he chokes out and more tears roll down. "Hey, what happened?" He croaks as I grab his free hand and kiss it.

"You were beaten up, Jason beat you up—— on the ice," My voice breaks as I watch him struggle to remember.

"Yeah, I remember bits and pieces of it," He groans. "Everything hurts," Then he pauses. "Jason——," and with that he withdraws his hand from my grip and I nearly choke on the tears.

"Go home, Lizzie," He grunts and my heart slices into two.

"Aaron——,"

"Go home, you don't need to be here," He continues, "Just go,"

"Aaron I——," I attempt to say something, but then the next thing he says breaks my heart into a thousand pieces.

"I don't need you here,"

"That's not true," I choke out. He doesn't even look at me, he keeps his eyes focused on the ceiling as he talks. "Aaron—— that's not true,"

"You're stressing me out, go home," I watch as his throat bobs and more tears drop as I make my way towards the door.

I'm almost at the door when I hear him behind me. "Elizabeth," He pauses, "Maybe we've been moving too fast, maybe we both need to take a break to figure things out, maybe I need to set my priorities straight, maybe I need to think about what is more important to me at this point in my life," He pauses again, "Maybe we shouldn't be together—— for a while,"

I freeze.

I try to remind myself that he just got the biggest shock of his life and that maybe he needs to think. But this—— I just want to hug him and tell him everything will be okay, but he won't let me, he won't let me do that, he just wants me to leave.