"Is she okay?"
"Sorta…she's coming out of it and is finally awake, but she doesn't remember anything surrounding the accident and can't really give us any clues."
"Did they catch the guy?"
"No…" The thought that he was still out there made me sick as it always did.
Callie stayed for a little while longer and then went home. I was lost in my thoughts again and lately nothing good had come from that.
That was when Leo texted me. Hey, man, can you come over and get my jersey off the floor for me?
His question should have been a red flag. Lesson one: Leo never said anything without taking it in a direction you'd never expect. My girl problems didn't matter to him. If anything, that was ammo. I wasn't dumb either. I knew where he was taking this.
No. Get off your ass and get it.
I can't seem to get up. Can you help?
FUCK YOU and Callie!
You tried, remember? Couldn't. You know there's medication for that.
I had to turn my phone off. He wouldn't stop. Lesson two: he never quit.
The very next day, I went back to the hospital to see Ami.
She looked better and every time I saw her, I noticed something I didn't notice before. Like the freckle on her nose and the way she would crinkle her nose in the cutest way whenever the smelly doctor came in to check on her. The dude seriously needed to wear some deodorant.
What I didn't appreciate was the way he flirted with her. Yeah, she wasn't mine, but I wasn't cool with him showing any interest in her. She was young, too young for his mid-thirties ass, so I voiced my opinion to him.
"Hey," I began, looking down on him in more ways than one. "Why don't you keep your hands to yourself and treat her like your patient, not your girl."
I had no claim on this girl either, but this sort of thing left me a little bent. Something rubbed me the wrong way with this guy, too. Maybe it was that I was constantly looking at every guy like they were a suspect. I wanted them to be because I wanted the guy that did this to her to fucking pay for it.
The doctor, with his smelly body and overly large eyebrows, glared. It was meant to level me, but I was a hockey player and saw that shit daily. "You know, Mr. Masen, I let it slide that you have been in Ami's room at all hours of the night, but visiting hours end at eight. I suggest you get back in there. You've got ten minutes."
I didn't like this new doctor. Not one bit. I didn't like the look in his eyes when he examined Ami, and I didn't like the way he talked to her. Most of all, I didn't like the way he was talking to me. He was trying to intimidate me, and that was my game, not his.
"I'll leave when I want to leave, Dr. Dagger. I'm the only friend she has."
Friend? Is that what I was now? Part of me wanted to be more already.
Dumb ass.
This wasn't the first time I told someone to basically stay away from her either. Remember my conversation with the dance instructor?
I was getting pretty good at this protection thing, but for some reason I had this defense zone around this girl, and damn it if I wasn't going to play good defense. I never wanted to see something like this happen again.
When I got back into her room, Ami smiled. "That guy is super weird."
Laughing, I took a seat next to her. "You have no idea."
Ami was lying in the bed, slouched to one side with the remote in her hand, looking for something to watch. That was when she turned it to baseball, which was kind of weird to me since it was on in the middle of January.
Ami frowned. "My brother was a baseball player."
"Brother?" She must have sensed my confusion. They said her parents were gone. Where was this brother at?
"Yeah…he…" Ami's eyes dropped from mine and she swallowed. "My parents…he was just about to sign with the Angels. Baseball was his life and had been since he was old enough to hold the bat. My parents and Taylor, his girlfriend, were with him on that plane…it crashed en route to California."
Well fuck. As if this girl's life couldn't get any worse.
I didn't say anything. What could I say?
The sadness in her voice made me want to hug the shit out of her. I wasn't sure what it was about the girl, but she turned me into a big mushball, and I was constantly looking for ways to make anything I could easier for her.
That fucking douche of a doctor came back, him and his smell. "It's time to go…Mase."
Mase? He really was trying to get under my skin. Only family and friends called me that. He was neither, and it was clear he never would be.
Ami glared at the doctor and rolled her eyes. "I let you guys prod at me all day long. The least you can do is let my friend stay."
Fuck yeah.
The doctor, even though he was a doctor, was hardly mature and rolled his eyes. He eventually left.
"Why did he call you Mase? I thought your name was Evan."