“Number three today is from a Women’s Professional League game. Sal Casillas, of the Houston Pipers took the term ‘header’ to a different level during a second round playoff game.”
The clip began with me jumping, surrounded by three opposing players. It showed Melanie, the girl who had elbowed me, circling around at the last minute and jumping up high too. Then it happened.
Holy crap, my head hurt at the replay of her arm shooting back and my head snapping forward, followed by the shot of me crumbling to the ground like I was dead.
“Oooh,” one of the anchor’s disembodied voice filled in the action. “That hurt me.”
The footage kept going, showing Melanie being shoved away by Harlow as a referee ran up to see what was happening. Out of the corner of the screen, two male bodies were seen running onto the field, one overpowering the other in less than a second, long legs pumping faster and faster in a sprint that could have set a world record. The man slid to his knees across the turf, hunching over the body—me—on the ground.
“Now you know it’s bad when Reiner Kulti is on the field checking on his player,” the other anchor said in a mocking voice.
The scene changed to another clip just as the camera zoomed in on Kulti grabbing my hand, placing his free palm right next to my head. His mouth opened, and his face was distressed...
That warm fuzzy feeling I associated with the German when he was at his nicest, pulsed through my veins.
“Don’t you ever pass out on the goddamn field again.”
I turned my body back to face Kulti, who was sitting there looking unbelievably uncomfortable. “Youwereworried about me.” I pressed my lips together. It wasn’t the right time to smile, so I wouldn’t.
Part of me expected him to explode, but the creepy controlled tone he used was even worse than the vicious temper hidden in that fantastic body. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
“You were the last one to come visit me,” I told him in a low voice.
His head jerked back, a scowl on his face. “I made myself go for a run to calm down enough so I wouldn’t show up here and yell at you. I wanted to wring your neck, Sal.”
“I didn’t even do anything.” I wasn’t sure whether to think this was funny, sweet or annoying because it seemed like he was pretty much blaming me for being in Melanie’s way. “I thought you’d be proud of me for surviving getting hit by a player that size.”
Then he went for it, and I just sat there and took it. “You scared the hell out of me!”
An image of a lion with a thorn in his paw flicked through my head and by some miracle I didn’t smile. “You’re yelling,” I stated very calmly, eating up his reaction.
“Of course I’m yelling! I was yelling at you when you were pretending to be dead on the field, taking ten years off my life,” he snapped, his face going red at the cheeks. “I thought—” he shot me a sharp look that almost alarmed me. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I’m too young to die of a heart attack.”
Holy crap, he’d really been worried. I loved it. I loved it so much I snorted despite the sharp pain that spiked through my head. “I would say claiming you’re too young is a bit debatable, don’t you think?”
The German tilted his head up and cursed something low and long in German. “You were brought to this planet to give me an ulcer, weren’t you?”
Oh my God. That made me burst out laughing which hurt like hell because my poor head felt so tender, but I couldn’t stop and I didn’t want to.
“Why are you laughing? I’m not making a joke.”
My whole body was shaking as I laughed, but somehow I managed to wheeze out, “You make it sound like I was sent from an alien planet to ruin your life. Jesus, Rey. Don’t say stuff like that right now, my head hurts too much.”
“Stop that,” he demanded. “You’re going to make it worse.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and made myself calm down. It took longer than necessary for me to get it together, but I managed. Eventually. Finally sobered up, I smiled at him, coughing with the laughter left over in me. “It really means the world to me that you got all riled up worrying over me. “ I couldn’t stop smiling.
And he noticed. “This isn’t meant to be funny. Why are you smiling?”
“Because.”
“What?”
I rolled my lips over my teeth and gave him an even look. “I watched this one game where your teammate, Keller, got tackled and had four of his vertebrae dislocated. The camera zoomed in on you, and you were retying your cleats or something. I don’t know why I just remembered that. Two of my favorite things about you were that you never gave a single shit what happened to anyone else on the field, and that you never missed games unless you couldn’t walk. It’s impressive, really. It makes me feel really special that you care about me.”
“I care about things,” he argued.
“Oh? Like what?”