When two worlds collide at midnight in the empty halls of New Jersey Private Hospital, Jack and Parker learn that no matter what, the heart wants what it wants.
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"FUCK"
I groan loudly as my body slams against the boards of the rink, my ribs making a sickening crack and my shoulder straining in a way that shoulders definitely shouldn't. I'm not even sure what had happened, one minute I'm skating for the puck, my speed blinding, and the next I'm being shoved so hard it knocks the wind out of me.
Like most body checks in professional hockey, I'm supposed to get back up again and keep playing like nothing happened. That would not be the case here. My head had collided with the solid wood of the boards considerably hard, so forceful I was seeing spots despite wearing a helmet.
The whole crowd is going wild in the stadium, but I hardly hear a thing as my ears ring and my head spins. I have no idea checked me so hard, mostly because I can see eight of him, and fuck, I can't get up.
Rolling onto my side and then into a ball, shrinking myself as much as I can, my face contorts and twists in pain.
Everything is loud but the sound of skates hitting the ice is unmistakable, especially when they're right by my head. I hear a whistle blow, and flinch at the sound of it. I don't want to come across as a pussy, but there's no way I'm getting off the ice by myself after that bowl. I clutch at my shoulder, feeling what I can only describe is a thousand knives being shoved into my joints and ligaments.
I was pissed, just getting over an injury from the season before, and the 23-24 NHL season had barely begun. I would definitely be off the roster for a while. Fuck.
It was easy to throw the blame on the player who'd slammed into me, but hockey was a dangerous sport, I knew the risks the second I signed up for my first professional game, so I shouldn't be surprised.
I'm just thankful it's not another fucking tooth to fix. I hated the dentist. I'm a fully grown man but fuck, the dentist is terrifying.
Before I can even process what's happening, I'm being helped off the ice, the crowd screaming and I guess they're calling my name, or at least I think they are. People are clapping like being hauled off the ice by two fully gown men was an achievement.
It wasn't.
There's paramedics waiting by the sidelines in the tunnel, already with a gurney for me to lie on. I'm pissed at myself for not even being able to get onto it myself. What the fuck had I done to myself?
They don't even take any of my gear off, which is honestly just annoying, because now I'm pretty sure I'm going to a hospital and I'm still wearing my fucking skates.
I'm so dizzy I might throw up as I'm hauled into the back of an ambulance.
"These are nice skates," the paramedic speaks, she's a young girl, maybe in her early twenties, same as me, but she looks fresh out of college. I feel like a dickhead for having a pretty blonde girl untie my Hyperlites, but whatever.
