I shrugged. “Worried about Gemma.”
Jenner’s lips twisted. “Everything okay with you two?”
Resting my forearms on my bent knees, I heaved a heavy sigh. “She’s got a complicated past. Can’t get too deep into it, but she’s been struggling lately. This trip couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
“Ah.” He nodded in understanding. “If I can offer a bit of advice?”
“I’ll take any I can get.”
“If you really care about her, don’t let her push you away.”
I ran a hand through my hair, blowing out a breath. “That’s part of the problem.”
Jenner cocked his head. “How so?”
“I’m used to her pushing me away. I know how to handle it. But this time . . .” I looked skyward. “This time, she completely broke down. We’re talking full-on sobbing, freaking out that she was gonna lose me. And I couldn’t even take a moment to appreciate that she was finally meeting me halfway because she was devastated.”
A hiss sounded beside me. “Shit, man. Feeling helpless is the worst.”
“Yeah,” I breathed out. “I fucking hate it.”
“Well, two more games, and we can get back to our families. Then, it’s full steam ahead on the playoff push.”
Even with my mind wandering to Gemma back in Indy, my game hadn’t suffered. I’d played lights out against the Bridgers in San Fran and the Cougars in LA. Tomorrow, we had the Surf to deal with here in San Diego. Then, it was a pit stop in Phoenix to square off against the Pythons.
I couldn’t wait to get home.
After sweeping the four teams we played on the West Coast, we took the red-eye flight home, and Maddox gave us the day off.
As dawn broke, I climbed into bed with Gemma, dozing off until she woke for work. Being gone for almost two weeks, I didn’t want to sit around all day waiting for her to return, so I hung out at the bar. Keeping her in my sights set my soul at peace.
Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Gemma.
She seemed almost afraid of her own shadow. Every time she turned a corner, her eyes darted around in panic, searching for something only she could see. She even let out a blood-curdling scream when I walked through the door to her office without announcing myself first.
My heart was breaking as I found myself at a loss, having no clue how to help her.
Her eyes were vacant when I begged her to come to my game the following night. She nodded, muttering to herself, “Yeah, yeah, that’s a good idea. Too many witnesses.”
Witnesses? What the hell is she talking about?
Uneasiness churned in my gut, but I pushed it aside, making sure she had the ticket loaded on her phone before I kissed her goodbye and headed out to practice.
On game days, I usually tried to pop back over to Gemma’s place for my pregame nap, but knowing she was working most of the day, I elected to nap and dress at my house. The Speed had a stretch of home games coming up, so I grabbed extra clothes so I wouldn’t have to return for a while. I didn’t like being apart from Gemma longer than necessary, especially right now, when she was so unsettled.
Tossing the garment bag and duffle in the backseat of my car, I hopped into the driver’s seat. I liked to be one of the first at the rink; my pre-game routine required mental prep in addition to the physical warm-up the rest of my teammates needed. Getting my head straight and focusing on the game ahead would be no easy task when my mind kept wandering to Gemma and wondering how I could help her.
That’s where my thoughts were now as I drove almost on autopilot to the rink.
I cursed under my breath. The setting sun was right in my line of sight through the windshield, and my sunglasses did nothing to diminish its brightness.
Lifting one hand, I tried to block it out so I could see the road before me, the mass of cars on the freeway buzzing over the speed limit of seventy miles per hour.
That’s when the car next to me shifted, changing lanes without looking or signaling, and I was forced to swerve to avoid being sideswiped. With only one hand on the wheel, I overcorrected, and my back wheels spun out.
My second hand flew to the wheel as I gritted my teeth, trying to get my vehicle under control, but it was too late. I barely registered a jarring slam as the sickening crunch of metal reached my ears.
In a split second, my world went from blinding light to pitch black.
