Chapter 87: The Shared Space

Aveline’s pov

The buzzer sounded to end the second period. The noise did not matter. My world had stopped in a fraction of a second before the horn.

I stood near the center line. My lungs hurt under my tight chest binding. My hockey stick dropped from my hands onto the ice. Just feet away, Kieran was crumpled against the post.

I had turned my head just in time to see the impact. An opposing forward had been charging directly for my blind spot at full speed. He wanted to hit my ribs while I was celebrating the breakaway goal. I did not see it coming. But Kieran did. He threw his entire body into the lane. He took the full force of the blindside hit to shield me.

The loud crack of his bones breaking cut right through the roar of the crowd.

“Kieran!”

The scream tore from my throat I sprinted toward him. My blades dug deep into the frost. I threw myself onto my knees right at his side.

He was completely white. His jaw was clenched tight in pure pain. His eyes rolled back as his breath came in shallow gasps. His left ankle was twisted the wrong way inside his heavy skate.

“Ave,” he gasped. His cracked lips barely moved. His fingers twitched on the ice, trying to find mine. “Did it count?”

“Yes, it counted, you idiot!” Tears burned my eyes. They blurred my vision inside the metal cage of my visor. “Don't talk. Please, Kieran, just don't move.”

“Back up! Move out of the way!” Coach Hale’s voice boomed. The head team trainer slid across the ice and shoved me back by my shoulder pads.

The stadium doors burst open. Four medics rushed out onto the rink. They pushed a heavy stretcher with wheels that screeched against the ice. They strapped a neck brace onto him. Their hands moved fast over his torso to check his ribs. I stood up slowly. My legs shook violently under my pads. I could barely keep my balance.

The television cameras on the heavy cranes panned down. They captured the empty spot on the ice. I watched them lift him onto the stretcher. His face was completely slack as they wheeled him fast toward the dark locker room tunnel.

He had broken his own body just to keep me safe on national television.

An hour later, I arrived at the hospital corridor there was no time to take off my gear. I only ripped off my skates in the arena tunnel, threw on sneakers, and pulled a baggy black hoodie over my shoulder pads to hide the jersey.

I ran through the emergency double doors. I ignored the nurses calling after me.

I found his room at the end of the hall.

The door was slightly open. Kieran was laying back against the pillows. His face was incredibly pale. The nurses had just finished taping gauze over his arm .

A massive white plaster cast held his left leg completely frozen. It was suspended by the bed frame. Tight layers of medical bandages wrapped around his torso, holding his broken ribs stiff.

A sharp sob caught in my throat. Tears came fast and hot, soaking my face.

I dropped down onto my knees right next to the bed rails. My hands shook violently as I grabbed his uninjured right hand. I buried my face into the white hospital sheets. I was crying so hard my chest felt like it was going to split open. The absolute guilt was suffocating me.

“Why did you do it?” I sobbed. My voice cracked completely. The hot tears wet the mattress. “Why did you throw your body in front of that hit, Kieran? Did you know what you just did, you risk your career".

Kieran’s warm fingers moved slowly. They tightened around mine with a gentle pressure. He cracked his eyes open. . A tight smirk cut across his pale lips.

“Ave,” he rasped. His voice was a weak whisper. “Stop crying. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine!” I cried. I lifted my head. My eyes were blurred. “Look at your leg, Kieran! Your ankle is completely shattered. Your ribs are crushed. You broke yourself just to keep me safe from a hit. It was supposed to be my play. It was supposed to be my hit.”

“I don't care about the hit,” he muttered. His jaw clenched as a wave of pain hit his chest when he breathed. “I saw him charging you from behind. If that defenseman had slammed into your blind spot, you would be the one lying in this bed right now. Or worse. Your secret would have been blown in front of the whole country.”

“But your career,” I whispered. A fresh wave of tears spilled down my cheeks. “Your scouts, your father... "

Kieran let out a short, weak laugh. It turned into a grimace as his ribs hurt. “Let him scream. I am actually happy, Aveline. I am genuinely happy that I took that hit.”

I stared at him through my tears, completely confused. “How can you say that? You are in a cast. You are bleeding.”

“Because my injury made my mother stand up in front of my dad,” Kieran said softly. His dark eyes looked straight into mine. “For the first time in my entire life, she didn't hide. She stood right between him and my bed. She told him to get the hell away from me. She told him he doesn't own my career. The control is broken, Ave. The control are finally gone. My pain bought her voice. It was worth every single broken bone.”

I squeezed his hand tighter. I leaned my forehead against the bed. The weight of his sacrifice was too heavy to carry. He had broken his body to free his mother, and he had done it all while shielding me from the monsters in our school.

“I am going to find out the real truth, Kieran,” I whispered into the quiet room. My voice lost its sadness and turned cold. “I am going to dig up every single piece of what happened between Asher and Oliver Thorne. I am going to find the real problem and finish this".

“Ave, no,” Kieran groaned. His grip tightened around my wrist. His eyes widened. “You need to stay away from the past. Silas and Barrett are dangerous. Theo is completely out of his mind with jealousy right now. Don't go near them alone.”

“They think they won because they put the captain in a hospital bed,” I said. I lifted my head to look right back into his eyes. “But they forgot one thing. I am still on the roster.

Kieran stared at me for a long moment. His chest heaved under the tight bandages. The panic in his eyes slowly faded into a soft look. He looked at the he door, then back at my tear-stained face.

“Don't leave,” he whispered suddenly. His voice dropped low. All the toughness completely melted away. “Please. Just stay with me tonight.”

“Kieran, I can't,” I said gently. I looked down at my oversized hoodie and the heavy gear still strapped to my torso. “Visiting hours are over. If a nurse comes in here and sees me”

“I don't care about the nurse,” he cut me off. His fingers tugged weakly at my hand. He pulled me closer to the edge of the mattress. “The painkillers are starting to wear off, and everything hurts. I don't want to be alone in this room right now. Just stay.”

I looked at his pale face and the deep lines of exhaustion around his dark eyes. My heart cracked. I couldn't leave him like this. Not after what he did for me.

“Fine,” I murmured. I sighed softly as I sat down on the chair right next to the bed rails. “I’ll stay right here in the chair until you fall asleep.”

Kieran shook his head slowly against the pillow. A faint, stubborn smirk returned to his lips. “No. Not in the chair.”

I blinked, completely confused. “Then where?”

“Sleep beside me,” Kieran said. His dark eyes locked onto mine. “There’s enough room on the right side. It will make me feel good, Ave. The pain stops when you're close.”

My jaw dropped. My eyes widened in disbelief as I looked at the narrow hospital mattress. “Are you completely insane? Kieran, no. We can't do that. If the head nurse walks in here and sees a Crestwood hockey center lying in bed with the injured captain, she won't like it. She will throw me out of the building and call the security".

“She won't walk in,” Kieran muttered. His eyelids grew as the hospital sedatives began to cloud his brain.

“They just checked my vitals. They won't be back for hours. Just climb over the bed, Aveline. Please.”

“Kieran, it is against the hospital rules,” I argued. My voice dropping to a whisper. I glanced nervously at the window on the door. “The staff will report us. I can just hold your hand from the chair.”

“The chair is too far,” he complained. His voice turned into a faint rasp. He pulled gently on my wrist again. “I took a blindside hit for you, Ave. The least you can do is break a stupid hospital rule for me.”

I stared at him, completely trapped by the desperate look in his eyes. The guilt inside my chest completely won the argument. I let out a long breath and shook my head.

“Fine. You are incredibly annoying when you are heavily medicated,” I whispered.

Carefully, trying not to make a single sound, I pulled my oversized hoodie off and the pads off.

The moment I lay down, Kieran let out a long, deep sigh of relief. He couldn't move his torso because of the cracked ribs, but he tilted his head to the side. He pressed his cheek gently against the top of my shoulder. His warm fingers tangled securely back into mine under the white blanket.

“Told you,” he murmured into the quiet room. His eyes closed completely as the deep sleep finally took over his body. “Feels better.”

I lay perfectly still in the room. I listened to the rhythmic, steady beep of the heart monitor right above our heads and squeezing his hand back tightly.