Page 20 of Breakaway

Aunt Trina wrapped her in a hug. “He’s standing up on his own; that’s a really good sign.”

Morgan was thankful for her aunt’s understanding. Trina had been sympathetic to Morgan’s feelings about Travis, ever since Sam had made his opinion known at dinner the night after catching her with Travis at the rink that first time. And Aunt Trina was no stranger to watching someone she cared about get injured during the game.

Morgan sat in silence, as Travis struggled to his feet, refusing any help. The fans cheered, as he skated off the ice under his own power.

“See, he’s fine,” her aunt commented, her voice staying calm as she spoke. “They’ll check him out before he’s allowed to return to the game. And trust me, they know what they are doing. We have a lot of experience with that.”

It had been only a few years ago that her uncle had suffered a concussion on the ice, and he was as stubborn as they came. At least she didn’t have to worry about the trainers giving Travis the okay to return if he wasn’t okay.

“Aunt Trina, he took a puck to the face. He can’t be okay.” Morgan gasped again, as she watched the replay on the jumbo-tron. “Oh my god, Uncle Sam shot the puck at Travis’s face!”

“Morgan, I don’t think he did it on purpose. Do you know how hard that is to do, at that specific angle?” her aunt replied.

But Morgan didn’t believe that. Her uncle hated Travis for pursuing her. Did he hate him enough to injure him on purpose? She wasn’t exactly one hundred percent convinced, but it certainly was a possibility.

“I have to go down there. I need to see if he is okay!” Morgan panicked.

“Sweetie,”—Aunt Trina took her hand—“you need to calm down. Let me text Paige and see if she can find out anything. But it really didn’t look that bad, and if you run all the way down there, the chances they let you see him are slim. And if they decide he can go back into the game, then you’ll have rushed all the way down there for no reason.”

Morgan didn’t like it, but what Trina said did make sense. Maybe if he’d been helped off the ice, then she would need to be down there to check on him. But she could only imagine that she’d look like one of those girls who freaked out over every little thing, instead of someone who should know her way around an ice rink.

She sat in silence, waiting for one of two things: for him to return to the ice, or for Paige to send Aunt Trina some information. The game continued, and even though she was staring at the ice, she wasn’t really watching the play—she was watching for signs of Travis.

After what seemed like forever, the crowd began to clap, and she saw Travis return to the bench.

Just then, Paige returned Trina’s message.

“Okay, he’s back out there, obviously. And Paige says the puck bounced off of his visor. Only a small piece of his cheek got hit. He has a little cut, but that’s it. They checked for a concussion, patched him up and decided he could return to the game,” Aunt Trina relayed. She smiled reassuringly at Morgan. “That all sounds positive to me. Except for the little cut on his cheek, but I can tell you from experience, sometimes the cuts and scars just make them sexier.”

Morgan shook her head and winced at her aunt calling her uncle sexy. “I didn’t need to hear that.”

“Oh please,” Aunt Trina said with a laugh. “You know I’m right.”

Returning her attention to the game, Morgan saw that Travis was back on the ice. Tyler took the face-off, sending the puck to Kris. Seeing Travis was open, Kris sent it in his direction. Travis took the one-timer and shot it right past the goalie, into the net!

GOAL!

Morgan forgot all about the injury; instead, she jumped out of her seat and celebrated with the crowd.

Tampa quickly rebounded and tied the game. Colorado’s defenseman, Jones, began mouthing off to Sam. Morgan had seen this more than a few times tonight.

“That’s not good. After everything that happened tonight, this is not going to be pretty. I can tell from up here that Sam is not in the mood to be messed with.”

“What is his deal tonight, anyway?” Her uncle was playing unusually rough in this game.

“Morgan, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. He didn’t hit Travis on purpose.”

“Oh, no? You just said he’s in a mood tonight.”

Aunt Trina sighed, then finally nodded. “True. Morgan, you know he isn’t happy that you’re seeing Travis. And I know it isn’t his place to decide that for you—”

“It’s not.”

“Right. But he cares about you. And he doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I know. But I’m grown.” She sighed. “It’s not like we’re suddenly super serious. We’ve only just started dating! Besides, I can handle my own heart.”

“Well, good luck telling your uncle that,” her aunt said.