Power Play (Nashville Assassins Next Generation 2)

Fuck my career. Posey is more important.

She’s everything.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Boon

“Where are you?”

Fuck, my heart is pounding so damn hard, I can’t even breathe right. My whole body is trembling so much as pure fear shakes my core. I’m pacing outside the rink, waiting for Shelli to tell me where they are so I can get an Uber. Shit, I might run. I don’t know. I gotta get there. I gotta make sure Posey is okay.

“Saint Joseph,” Shelli says quietly, and I look up how far it is. Two miles. No, I can’t run. Not in this weather. I need to get there now, so I order the Uber.

“What is happening?” I ask. I continue to pace, my stomach in knots by the tone of her voice.

“We don’t know. They haven’t come out to talk to us. We found her passed out on the bathroom floor with blood everywhere—”

I feel like I might puke. “Blood?”

“Yes, Boon, it was awful. I think she passed out and hit her head. I don’t know,” she says, her voice breaking. “She was white as a sheet, hardly breathing. Oh my God—”

When her words break off, my heart shatters in my chest. “Okay, okay, breathe, Shelli. It’s okay,” I say softly, trying to stay calm for her. But Jesus, blood? What the hell is going on? “Everything is fine. Posey is the strongest woman I know. She’s got this.”

“You’re right. You’re right,” she says, tears in her voice. “Are you on your way?”

“Yeah, getting in my Uber now,” I say as I do just that. “Be there in fifteen.”

“Okay,” she says slowly. “Just a heads-up, my dad is on his way.”

“I don’t care,” I say simply, and I don’t. Shea Adler doesn’t scare me right now. The only thing that has me freaking the hell out is whatever is hurting my girl. I hang up, tucking my phone into my pocket as I hold on to the back of the headrest. “Dude, get me there as fast as you can, and I’ll tip you real well.”

The guy nods. “No problem.”

The fifteen-minute ride, that is actually ten, feels like a lifetime. I jump out of the car before he even comes to a stop, and I run inside, straight to the front desk. “Posey Adler?”

The lady who resembles the sloth from that damn zoo movie Posey made me watch a couple weeks ago looks up at me and then back down to her computer. Again, it seems like forever before she finally says, “She’s in the ER, no room number yet. It’s that—”

Before she can finish, I follow the direction she’s pointing and run. I push through three sets of doors before I enter the waiting room of the ER. I see Shelli in the corner, balled up, and I head straight toward her. She looks up just as I reach her, and she stands. Before I even realize what I’m doing, we envelop each other in a hug. A tight one.

Her face presses into my neck as she takes a deep breath. “I’m so scared.”

I pull back, cupping her shoulder. “It’s okay. Everything will be fine. Okay?”

She nods, the tears coming down her face in rivers. “Mom is back there with her, but they won’t let me go.”

Which means they probably won’t let me. I sit down beside her, my legs bouncing as I stare at the doors that have my girl behind them. The fear that is radiating through me is ten times worse now that I’m sitting next to Shelli. Posey can never say this girl doesn’t love her, because it’s very obvious that Shelli does. I lean on my legs, and the bouncing of them shakes my whole body, but I don’t care. I’m too wired to stay still.

I don’t actually care, but still, I ask, “How much trouble am I in for leaving practice?”

Shelli presses her lips together. “I think you’ll be fined.” She gives me a forgiving smile. “I can try to make sure it doesn’t—”

“No, everyone probably knows about Posey and me now. I need to be reprimanded like everyone else who would have done what I did.” I don’t regret anything. I need to be here. Right now, it’s for Shelli. But when I get back there, I’m not leaving Posey’s side.

“But it is your girlfriend. I feel there might be a loophole. Emergencies happen.”

I shake my head. “Posey would kick my ass.”

Shelli actually smiles. “She would.”

When Shelli’s phone sounds, she fumbles with it but finally rights it and holds it out to read the text. It’s from her mom.

Mom: They’re taking her back to surgery.

My stomach drops. “Surgery?”

Shelli’s eyes are full of tears as she shakes her head, asking her mom what is wrong.

Mom: I’ll tell you soon. Let me get more information.

Shelli meets my gaze.

“Has this happened before?” I ask, and she shakes her head.