Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Adam's POV

I had seen Derrick angry but right now what flashed in his eyes transcended anger. His jaw ticked and his palms folded into fists so tight I feared he might tear a vein or two in his arm.

If I wasn't laying in a hospital bed, he would probably have slammed me against a wall and challenged me to a fight. We both fell silent and stared at each other. The only sound in the room were our ragged breaths.

Suddenly he burst into a laughter, a dry throaty laughter with his head thrown back but it lacked humour. His eyes didn't crinkle by the corners and his lips didn't stretch.

“You really think you are the shit now, don't you?” He got off his chair and started pacing around the room. “Just because these brands throw sponsorships at you and you have your face on every billboard.”

“That would not happen if I wasn't good at what I did. I have worked my ass off for years to get here.”

He nodded while grinding his molars. “Alone?”

I stared at him blankly.

“Did you do all that work alone, Adam Payne?”

“I did…”

He raised a hand in the air cutting me short. “I spent years of my life preparing you for this. Every thought was how to mould you into a better player and I grabbed every opportunity I saw to get you into teams.”

“That is the problem.” I screamed at him. I felt a sharp in the middle of my abdomen but I ignored it. “Mould me. That's all you did.”

His brows pulled tightly together.

“To you, I was more of a project than your son. We never had a conversation where hockey didn't come up. I couldn't even have a normal childhood.”

“The people who had a normal childhood are not major billboards and do not have half the life you have.”

“You don't even care if I'm happy.”

“Has happiness ever fed a man or afforded anything. It is not happiness that buys you the sport cars and the Rolex. It is not happiness that put you on a private jet several times and year and it is definitely not happiness that is paying for you to be in such an expensive hospital.”

I clicked my tongue. “You are so unbelievable.”

There was a knock on the door and a nurse peeped in.

“Hello.” She said in a quiet voice while glancing at both of us.

“I heard some shouting from this room and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“No.” I said.

“We are fine.” Derrick replied at the same time. She fixed her eyes on me while running her sweaty palms down her uniform. I could tell she had been forced to step in.

I exhaled and offered her tight smile. “We are good.”

She exhaled and quickly slipped out of the room.

“I am tired. I need to sleep.”

“Sleep?” Derrick scoffed. “Your teammates are out there getting all the spotlight and you are lying on a hospital bed talking about sleeping.”

“What do you want from me?” I yelled at him.

“To get your ass up and get back on the ice.”

I scoffed. “Since you love the ice so much. Why don't you do it? I can hand my jersey over to you. After all, we're both Paynes.”

“Oh don't you dare to be cheeky with me.” He growled and approached my bed slowly.

“Or else what?” I glared back at him. “You are going to hit me like you've always done?”

He gritted his teeth and let out a heavy breath. “I should have been a more present father.”

I blinked hard, visibly taken aback. Was Derrick Payne about to apologise?

“If I was, you wouldn't turn out to be such an arrogant piece of shit who is blinded to his privileges. This is all your mother's fault. She pampers you too much. I warned her.”

“You would not do that.” I said. The pain tore from the middle of my abdomen to the bottom. There was also one blooming on the sides of my head. I should rest. I should not allow a man I barely regard work me up like this but I couldn't. He was talking about my mother. I was not going to let him talk shit about the only person who had stood up to him for me.

“You are not going to talk about her like that. With so much disrespect especially after everything you've put us through.” I clenched my teeth hard as the pain in my head wrapped tighter.

“Everythung I put y’all through?” He asked, throwing his hands in the air. “Everything I did for, I did for you guys.”

“No, you did it for yourself.” I snapped and groaned as I lost my vision for a second. My head suddenly heavy and I could swear my brain was moving. There was a dark film appearing occasionally before my eyes. I grabbed the sides of the bed trying to ground myself but it wasn't working. I could feel myself slipping away very quickly.

I could still hear Derrick screaming. I couldn't tell if he was screaming for help or if we were still arguing about hockey. Given it was him, I could swear we were still talking about hockey. Fuck, I was going to die without seeing Eli and thanking him for tending me to despite me being a jerk.

I felt firm hands on my shoulders and in a matter of seconds, I could feel myself being pushed through the hallways. I heard the noise around me even though they sometimes merged together into one thin annoying screech in my ears. I saw the bulbs on the ceiling flicker. The way they moved I could tell it was eyes doing the flickering and not the bulbs. I fought to keep my eyes open but the more I tried the more I got swallowed my darkness.

“Adam.” I heard a familiar voice call out in panic. “What happened to him?”

My eyes caught a glimpse of Eli running alongside the bed that was used to pushed me. His lips were moving quickly but I couldn't hear a word he was saying.

Suddenly I felt him grab my hand and squeeze tightly. “Hang on, Adam. Please hang on.”

I was pushed into this insanely bright room and my eyes succumbed to the darkness that had been reaching out. I could hear a woman telling Eli I would be okay and that he needed to excuse us.

I felt a needle being pierced through my skin and suddenly the voices started fading out. I wanted to fight it but I couldn't so I let myself sink into it.

The first thing I saw when my eyes slowly opened and accepted the light was my mother. Her face had dried streaks of tear marks and her little hands covered mine while she muttered. I assumed she was praying. I groaned and stirred in the bed. Her head shot up immediately and our eyes met. There was an understanding in them. An unspoken one we had learned to discuss matters of Derrick. They were stress marks on her forehead and her eyes were tired.

“Your father just stepped out.” She exhaled.

“Mum please.” I muttered. My mouth was insanely dry and so was my throat. I didn't want to talk about that man right now. I had given up on asking her to cut off contact with him. She never listened.

I looked around the room. “Where is Eli?”