Page 44 of The Goalie in Room 1

“Yeah. I know.”

“Good.” He held out his hand to me, palm up, and said, “Then take my hand, Cash. Close your eyes and leap. I promise I’ll catch you.”

My blue eyes locked on his warm brown ones, and I did as he prompted. I closed my eyes, laid my hand in his. His fingers curled through mine, lacing our hands together.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel alone in the world.

10

THAD

The early morning sun beat down on my shoulders as I ran along the coast. Sand gave way under my feet, forcing my leg muscles to compensate for the shifting, wet mess my feet smashed with every step.

I hadn’t been nervous about a surgery in years. At least not a knee surgery. I’d done hundreds of them. Cash’s, despite his previous three surgeries over the last year, wasn’t any different from the ones I’d done in the past.

Only this one was different. Not the procedure. That was the same, even if the minutiae differed somewhat. No. Cash made this one different.

The kiss that shouldn’t have happened. The taste of him. The scruff of beard hair that caught on mine, even though, looking at him, he appeared clean-shaven. Then there was the press of his big, firm, strong body against mine.

Fuck!

I pushed myself harder, faster. Legs churned, but I couldn’t outrun the memory of that one moment. The only one we might ever get.

The kiss drove me nuts, and that was without taking into account the feel of his hand on my dick and the way he worked open my zipper. How his fingers tracing my cock made my heart race and blood hum. How a heaviness grew in my groin. Or how my cock and balls throbbed at his nearness.

My watched beeped and I slowed, my hands dropping to rest against my knees. With a few deep breaths, I shoved away the memory and the anxiety and turned for the house. I needed to get to the clinic. I wanted to greet Cash when he arrived, and if I knew anything about the kid, I knew this…he would be there early.

Walking through the lobby doors of the medical pavilion that housed my clinic, I smiled. Cash stood, his back to me, waiting for his turn at the registration desk. The hospital spared no expense when it came to security, given my patient list. There was also the clinic for gender-affirming care and the obstetrics offices with delivery rooms and a newborn nursery that offered a homier, less clinical experience than the hospital a pedway walk away.

Instead of making him wait, I walked over to where Cash stood. “Good morning.”

He spun, his knee showing its weakness as it threw him off balance. “I’m so ready to get that fucking fixed,” he grumbled, then pulled a face and apologized to the mom with a couple of boys standing next to us.

“You’re Cash Benjamin!” the oldest of the two boys yelled.

I stepped back as Cash went down on his good knee to talk with the kids who couldn’t be more than ten and eight. As the cacophony of the boys’ excitement drew a small crowd, I walked over to the desk, smiling at the receptionist as I snagged a permanent marker.

I held it out to Cash, who smiled up at me. The happiness and utter rightness of him with the two young fans hit me like a ton of bricks falling from the top of the building. The anxiety I felt this morning surged back. A tide of emotion that stole my breath.

Taking out my phone, I captured a few photos of the moment, then a video. Sometimes the reminders of who they were helped. Sometimes they didn’t, but I wanted to make sure Cash had this moment recorded if he ever wanted it.

Davina

You’re late. But so is your patient.

Me

IMAGE

The star athlete got recognized. We’ll be up shortly.

And we’re not late. You’re just always ridiculously early.

Davina

I rolled my eyes and stood close by as Cash signed autographs and posed for pictures. It took awhile, but soon enough, the crowd of hockey fans—of Cash Benjamin fans—cleared and reception checked Cash in. A formality since Davina had ambushed Cash in the office two visits ago with a stack of forms and a pen, informing him resistance was futile. He’d signed without reading past the first page.

He glanced at me as he headed to the elevator bank. I hurried after him, grabbing his elbow to guide him to the staff elevator, swiping my badge.