breaking the ice | j. drysdale

[ 57 ]

【 jamie's pov 】

the rangers win by one goal in overtime. jamie is off to the locker room to take the quickest shower of his life so he can go see his parents and eliana. he does media as soon as he's out of the shower. the team bus leaves fifteen minutes later for the hotel that jamie's parents are waiting for him at.

he didn't want to fight luka again, but as soon as he hit leo and sent him down the tunnel with a concussion, he couldn't hold back anymore. not to mention the comments he was making about eliana again.

jamie doesn't understand how someone like luka was able to get eliana to fall in love with him. he's just glad eliana was able to get away from him.

his face is bruised again after the fight. there's a purple blotch on his jaw and on his right cheek. he almost broke his nose. his left cheek is busted open from his visor and his lip is busted open again.

once the team arrives back at the hotel, jamie is off to the bar area to see his parents and eliana. trevor goes with him because his family came to watch the game as well. their parents are hanging out together like they always do when they come to games.

it's only their families that sit at the bar. eliana is nowhere to be found, but jamie still greets his parents with hugs.

his mom grabs his face and jamie pulls away. "i'm fine," he groans. "it just hurts a little bit but what did i expect?"

"your girlfriend told us why you got into a fight," his dad says. "good for you to defend her on the ice, and yourself. i'm sure she appreciates it."

jamie nods and scans the large room to see if his girlfriend is around. "do you know where she is?" he questions.

"she said she wasn't feeling good when we all got here so she went to her room," his mom tells him. "poor thing. she didn't look so good."

he tells them that he'll be right back and heads up to their shared room.

maybe he took it too far with fighting luka again. he just couldn't stand his teammates taking the fall for him. especially leo because he deserves to have the best first season ever.

jamie uses his key card to open the door. the room is dark when he walks in but he can see a figure laying on the bed. he approaches the bed and slides in behind eliana after turning one of the lamps on.

"hi," he softly says as he moves her hair out of her face. "are you okay? my parents said you weren't feeling good so i thought i'd come check on you before hanging out with them and z's family."

she rolls over and sees her face wet with tears. she frowns at the sight of his face. "jamie, i'm so sorry," she says, voice shaky. "your face."

he shrugs and tells her, "part of the job. i'm okay. leo's okay too, by the way. he has a light concussion but he'll be back in a handful of games.

eliana shakes her head and sits up. tears still roll down her cheeks. "it's all my fault," she whispers. "leo has a concussion because of me. you have bruises and cuts all over your face again because of me. you can't keep having to defend yourself against him. if i wasn't in your life then maybe-"

"please don't even finish that sentence," jamie interrupts. "i would get into a thousand fights to defend you, eliana. i don't care."