Page 71 of Falling Back to You

Khia clung to me, crying. All I could do was stare at the ice.

“Go,” Juliet said in her take-charge way, easing Khia onto her lap. “I’ll get Bells to walk you back.” She whipped out her phone and tapped on it rapidly.

“Thanks.” I scurried out of the arena towards the locker rooms.

Please, be okay. Lord, please let him be okay.

Chapter twenty-three

Cal

“Hold still,” Brandon, the team doctor, demanded, examining my knee.

“This feels wildly unnecessary. Poking makes it worse. What else do you want to know?” I grunted, leaning back. “And your bedside manner could use some improvement.”

“I don’t get paid enough for that.” He smirked. “You want to try walking out of here without assistance?”

I snapped my mouth shut. My knee was swollen from the fall, and I needed stitches from the cut I’d gotten from a rogue skate. Stitches I could keep playing with—the knee thing, though? Not so much. I was already thirty-two and didn’t take hits the same way I did at nineteen. But I wasn’t ready to retire or let a stupid injury be the end of my career.

Hardly a glowing beginning to the season.

This is Grey’s fault. It was a childish accusation, but my twin’s text before the game had lit a fire under me.

GREYSON:

You seriously asked Noelle to be Khia’s nanny?

ME:

grown adult over here bro. i can make my own decisions

i know you care but i need you to trust me

GREYSON:

And when she leaves again and breaks both of you?

I’d been too nettled to respond to that dig. Particularly the when. Like he already considered her a flight risk.

Greyson had taken the protective-older-twin role too much to heart. He’d always looked out for me and Juliet, but I didn’t need him to save me. I needed him to trust me.

So, I hit the ice with frustration fueling my muscles.

And look where being angry at my brother and wanting to show off for my girls in the audience got me.

Girl. Because Noelle wasn’t mine.

A firm knock on the locker-room door echoed through the quiet. A moment later, Noelle poked her head in. “I . . . Jules said I could come in.”

Brandon glanced from me to the blonde angel in the doorway, a smile slowly growing on his face. “Sure thing.”

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want her seeing me like this.

Noelle’s smile was hesitant. “You okay?”

“Of course.”

“He’ll be heading for stitches in a minute,” Brandon said unhelpfully.