Chapter 59: Sawyer

I watch Bryn’s concerned eyes look over my friend. When he and I made that comment about sharing, I didn’t think she had taken it to heart. It had been some dumb thing we talked about when we were drunk, but nothing ever came from it. Then, seeing them together, it was like that drunken conversation came back. Bryn was blushing up at him and he was smiling down at her like he had never seen anyone as beautiful as her. He’s right there. No one is as beautiful as my girl. I stood there watching them for at least a minute and didn’t feel the usual anger and jealousy creep up like I normally did with other guys who came around her.

It was weird, but maybe because when me and Maddox had been friends he always had my back. We did a lot of dumb shit over the three years we spent together on my old team, and he was the only friend I had left after I got hurt. He was a stubborn asshole who wouldn’t let me wallow in my bull shit forever. It was him forcing me to do my physical therapy and kicking my ass if I didn’t that I’m here now.

So yeah, he’s earned my respect, and that seems to be enough that I don’t want to slam my fist in his face for touching Bryn. He even had his concussed head laying on her stomach. She’s showing, but still small enough that no one would have seen much thanks to her big coat. Although now I’m not sure rumors haven’t started if anyone saw them.

“Maddox Levine!” A nurse calls from the doorway leading to the ER rooms.

“Right here!” Bryn calls out and quickly stands.

We help Maddox to his feet and help him toward the nurse.

“Does he need a wheelchair?” She asks us, but Maddox just laughs.

“And give up having my arm around a pretty girl? No way doc,” He says smiling down at Bryn.

“Right. Well, I’m not the doctor, but if you follow me, I’ll take you to a room where one will come check you out.” She turns and leads us through the door.

There’s a check in station as soon as we walk in and a few machines lined along the wall. I can hear someone crying from behind one of the curtains and I cringe when I hear someone yelling and cursing one of the nurses out. The smell of this place makes my stomach churn. It reminds me too much of when I was stuck in the hospital, as my leg was healing. I want to turn and run far away from here, but Maddox needs us.

“You can wait in here.” She says, pointing to an open bed next to two occupied ones. “I’ll let the doctor know why you’re here.”

She leaves while Bryn and I help Maddox onto the bed.

“How are you feeling?” Bryn ask him with a soft voice.

“Never been better. I think I’m in heaven.” He says with a dumb dreamy look on his face.

“Really? I don’t think heaven is supposed to look this…depressing.” Bryn says, glancing around us and laughing.

“It has to be heaven, because I’m looking at an angel.” He says to her.

Her eyes widen, and her face flushes a bright red.

I scoff and shake my head. “That was bad, man. Worse than the did you fall from heaven one.”

His eyes move over to me, and he scowls. “Leave me alone. I’m trying to woo this pretty girl.”

Yeah, his brain has been scrambled. He wouldn’t be making the moves on Bryn otherwise, and he would never use a lame line like that.

“Don’t let me get in the way.” I say, holding my hands up.

Honestly, seeing Bryn get flustered is cute and I’m curious to see how she reacts to him. The questions she was asking has me wondering if she really thinks being with more than one guy would be all that bad. I had never imagined sharing her with anyone else and I’m not sure how we ended up in this situation, but now I’m…curious. These two seem to have chemistry between them even though they just met. It’s the same pull Bryn, and I had when we were kids.

Her wide surprised eyes lock on me and she silently mouths, “What are you doing?”

I shrug and drop in the seat on the other side of Maddox’s bed to watch.

“So, are you an angel?” He asks her, making her focus turn back to him.

She gives him a sweet smile. “I wish, but I don’t think heaven is ready for me yet.”

Maddox’s eyebrows furrow. “You’re right. They can’t take you yet!”

Bryn laughs. “No? Why’s that?” She’s humoring him, but I think it’s more than that.

“Because I haven’t even gotten to kiss you yet!” Maddox says with a huff.

He’s acting more like a pouting toddler every minute that passes.

Bryn glances my way, and I raise a brow at her. I don’t know what she sees in my face, but she sighs and looks back at Maddox, who hasn’t taken his eyes off her yet.

“Why would you want to kiss me? We just met.” She tells him.

“We did? I guess I’ve been waiting for you.” He says, and I want to make a gagging sound because damn, that’s cheesy, but it makes Bryn smile.

“You’re one smooth talker. I bet you have all the girls falling over themselves to be with you.” She says teasingly.

Maddox shakes his head. “I don’t use lines like that on just any girl.”

“No? Well, that means I must be pretty special,” Bryn says and Maddox smiles wide at her.

“You are,” Maddox says with a sigh and his eyes slowly close.

“Oh no. Don’t go to sleep on me now. I want to hear some more of those corny pick up lines until the doctor comes.” Bryn taps his cheek a few times, but he reacts up and wraps his hand around hers.

She goes very still and his eyes open. They’re staring at each other and suddenly I’m feeling like a third wheel.

“Hey folks.” My head snaps toward the voice and I see a familiar face that has me bristling.

“What are you doing here?” I snap at him.

His eyes were on Bryn, but she was too focused on Maddox to notice who is standing in front of us. When she hears the anger in my voice, she looks at me and then at the doctor. Her eyes widen and she moves a little closer to the bed and leans closer to Maddox like she’s trying to protect him.

“I work a few shifts here occasionally. The college isn’t my only job, although after some complaints, they’ve cut my time there.” His voice doesn’t hide his anger, but when he looks at Bryn, he smiles. “It’s good to see you again, Bryn.”

She gives him a tight smile, but doesn’t return his greeting.

“So, who do we have here?” He asks after a too long silence.

“Maddox was in a game tonight and took a bad hit.” Bryn explains. “He’s been sprouting pretty words to me ever since.”

Maddox laughs. “It’s easy with such a pretty muse.”

Bryn shakes her head at him. “I think he has a concussion, at least.” She says, looking back at the doctor.

I’ve had my eyes on him and I saw the shift when he noticed the way Maddox was looking at her. He didn’t like that. Why the hell is this guy so obsessed with her? They met talked for five minutes, so what the fuck?

“I’ll take a look.” The doctor snaps and glares at me.

I step aside to let him do his exam and move to the other side of the bed, where I block Bryn between me and Maddox. He hasn’t let go of her hand yet, but he follows the doctor’s instructions when he tells him to follow the light he is beaming into his eyes.

“Slow pupil response. That can be caused because of a hit to the head, but we’ll do a CT scan to check for any worse injuries. Anything else hurt?” He asks Maddox while glancing at where Maddox is holding Bryn’s hand.

“Nope, I’m good doc!” Maddox says

“Right. I’ll have them take you for that CT and then I’ll come back and let you know what I see.” He looks between the three of us with narrowed eyes and then storms off.

“That guy was weird.” Maddox says a little too loudly, making me laugh.

“He sure is, buddy. He’s got a hard on for Bryn.” I tell him.

His forehead bunches into a deep V line. “He wants our girl? Like hell!”

“Our girl?” I ask him, quirking a brow in question.

He smiles proudly. “Yep! I’ve decided to keep her, too.”

Bryn looks at me, panicked. Well shit…