My Hockey Alpha

Chapter 0751

Nina

I must have been asleep for hours, because by the time I woke up, the sun had long since dipped back below the horizon. There was hardly an hour, in fact, in which I was awake while the sun was out.

The first thing I noticed was how parched I was. Groaning softly, I rolled over to see a fresh glass of water on my bedside table. I sat up and gulped it thirstily, drinking almost the entire glass in one sitting.

Then, the next thing I noticed was just how much pain my body was in.

It was all over; from my head to my toes, inside and outside. Every inch of skin felt as if it had been burned, every muscle felt sore and taut, the entire inside of my throat felt like I had swallowed hot coals, burning all the way down to my lungs.

And the third thing I noticed was the ache in my chest.

This wasn't just any heartbreak; this was fate being ripped away from me. This was what it felt like for a part of my soul to be cut out.

Although I wanted to cry, there were simply no tears left to shed or maybe the drugs they had given me earlier to knock me out had drained them all from me, made me more numb to the feeling so that I could bear it.

Either way, all I could do was sit there in bed in my dark room, wishing that I was still asleep.

I couldn't help but wonder if Enzo felt the same way; he certainly didn't seem like it when I was being carried out of the infirmary.

If anything, he seemned perfectly stony and composed. Part of me hoped, in a sick sort of way, that he was just hiding it for now and that it would hit him eventually, and he would break like I did.

But another part of me would never wish that sort of pain upon anyone else—not even my worst enemy. Suddenly, a soft knock on the door pulled me out of my reverie. My throat was too sore for me to call out, but it didn't matter because the door cracked open a moment later. I wondered if it was one of the nurses or one of my father's servants, and I thought to send them away so I could be alone.

When I saw Lori's head peeking in, however, I felt relieved.

"Nina?" she called out. "You awake?"

"I'm awake," I croaked, my voice coming out in a hoarse, painful whisper. "Come in."

The door creaked open a little further, and Lori stepped in. A moment later, Jessica and Luke filed in behind her. They both stood there for a moment, watching me nervously, but came in and shut the door behind them the rest of the way when I gestured for them to come closer.

"Hey," Jessica said softly, crossing over to the bed and sitting down on one side of me while Lori took the other." Are you okay?"

I would have laughed, if I had been able to. "How bad was the screaming earlier?" I whispered at this point, I was genuinely unable to speak any louder.

Lori and Jessica exchanged glances. "Pretty bad," Lori said.

"But don't worry about that," Jessica chimed in. "We just want to know how you're feeling."

"Like shit." I fell back on the mountain of pillows behind me and sighed. Even that movement was painful; I hoped that my father's doctors had some more drugs just to help me ease the pain. "Where's Enzo?"

Once again, my friends exchanged wary looks; only this time, Luke stepped forward. "Nina, I think you should worry more about yourself right now than about him."

"And about the baby," Jessica said as she gently placed her hand over my belly.

"I'm worried about him," I managed. "He's not himself."

"Whatever is going on with him is no longer your concern. He's put you through hell these past couple of days,' Lori said, her voice dropping slightly, just like it always did when she was angry. And truthfully, I didn't blame her. I was angry too. But I still needed to make sure Enzo was safe.