Page 110 of Game Misconduct

forty-one

. . .

Bex

Ceci is already two drinks in when I enter the bar.

“You got a head start without me,” I complain, waving to Pablo. He’s down at the other end of the bar, talking to another customer.

“I ordered for you,” she corrects, pushing a sweaty rum and Coke my way. “Catch up.”

“I can’t drink too much.”

“Your boo still not doing so well?”

With a heavy sigh, I sag on my stool. “Not so much, no.”

The more time goes by, and the less he’s recovered, the more agitated I become. I’m a neuroscientist, for fuck’s sake. I’ve spent the last decade studying brains. And I can’t fucking help him.

“I… I think I need to quit my job,” I whisper.

Ceci narrows her eyes. “Because your boyfriend got hurt?”

“I can’t stand there and let him keep hurting himself. I know I can’t make him stop playing hockey, but I don’t have to watch⁠—”

“Whoa, whoa,” she says. “Let’s take a step back.”

I gulp down my drink, and when I catch Pablo’s eye, I point to my half-empty glass. He nods, reaching for a new one.

“My entire career has been about brain injuries, and I’ve seen firsthand what happens when people get multiple concussions,” I explain. “I had that one in college, and my brother’s had a few, and I promised myself—I promised—that I’d find a way to stop them. To protect people. And instead, all I do is stand by and watch as people I love get hurt. Over and over and over again.”

“Plus you kind of hate your job,” she adds.

I wince. “Yeah. That. When everyone is healthy, there’s nothing to do. And I don’t want to wish a brain injury on someone just so I can be busy.” I blow out a breath. “What I’d love is to work on a way to keep brains safe. So that there are fewer injuries.”

Ceci gazes at me over the rim of her martini glass. “A few months ago, I offered you a start-up.”

My stomach clenches. “I remember.”

“You said you were a few years away from a helmet prototype.” She pauses, sipping her drink. “Has that timeline changed?”

“I mean… it could.”

“Do you hate your job enough to make the jump now?”

That’s what I don’t know.

“Working with the Grizzlies is a dream come true.”

“But sometimes dreams pale to the reality of the situation.”

“Yeah. That.”

Pablo sets a new glass in front of me, and I murmur my thanks.

“When Nick got hurt, it hit me that this might happen again. The second he skates back onto the ice, he’s at risk for another. And it could be catastrophic.”

“He’s at the end of his career. Another few seasons, and he’ll be done.”