Hot Puck (Rough Riders Hockey 2)

By the time Tori opened the back doors, Eden’s arms burned, her shoulders ached, and sweat collected on her back.

“Comin’ out,” Tori warned.

Thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three.

Eden used her tired thigh muscles to balance as Tori pulled the stretcher from the rig, then jogged toward the ER.

Four nurses and two doctors met them at the doors and swept them into the nearest trauma bay. A nurse lowered one arm of the gurney. Another s

lapped more leads on Margaret’s chest. One of the doctors prepared the defibrillator paddles.

Sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven.

“Tell me when,” Eden said.

The doctor nodded. “Go.”

She sat back and rolled off the gurney. Tori was there to stop her momentum.

“Clear,” the doctor called before placing the paddles the same way Eden had.

Pu-chunk.

Then silence as everyone watched the monitor.

Nothing.

Eden’s hands fisted. Every muscle in her body was strung wire tight.

Fight, Margaret.

“Again,” the doctor said. “Clear.”

Pu-chunk.

Silence as everyone watched the monitor.

Beep.

Beep…beep…beep.

Eden’s muscles went weak. She bent at the waist and pressed her palms to her knees. Which was when she realized she was shaking from fatigue. Panting from exertion. Nauseous with relief.

“Good job, ladies,” one of the doctors told Eden and Tori.

They nodded and exited the trauma bay, sharing a subdued high five.

“Take a breather, grab some water,” Tori said. “I’ll get things put back together.”

“Thanks.”

In the restroom, Eden splashed water on her face. She pulled out her bun and collected the hair that had fallen out, winding it into a knot on the back of her head again.

When she looked in the mirror, Eden found her own familiar face staring back, cheeks flushed, skin glowing from the workout. Yet she didn’t quite recognize herself. She felt like she was looking at a stranger. Yet not. More like a familiar stranger.

What the hell was a familiar stranger?

She shook her head and let her gaze roam to her uniform while her mind drifted over the last twenty minutes, and emotions bubbled to the surface. Emotions she couldn’t identify. This tangled mess and out-of-body sensation came sometimes after intense situations like the one she’d just experienced. They came when she faced dangerous people or when she’d narrowly escaped a dangerous situation or when someone died and she brought them back. Or when they just died.