Page 33 of Offside

No.

No way.

It was a coincidence.

Landon was super into Star Wars, too, according to the guys, so it was totally possible that he’d have tattoos of TIE Fighters and X-Wings blueprints on his leg. Landon had to get his inspiration from somewhere–maybe he and Knight just used the same reference.

And maybe the same artist–they looked…identical.

Oh god.

My blood was like ice, my muscles were so stiff I could hardly breathe, and my stomach was turning because, oh fuck–there was no way it was a coincidence.

I met Knight in Toronto, but he was magically based somewhere on the Pacific coast because we were constantly in the same time zone. He had an obsessive love for Star Wars, and so did Landon. He magically always seemed to get his food right before me–like maybe we ordered from the same fucking place, and his door was closer to the elevator than mine!

FUCK!

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to throw up or cry. I was getting bombarded with every single detail that should have been so obvious, and yet…

I was finally seeing Knight's face.

I was looking at the face that made me so happy for the last couple of months. I knew what his voice actually sounded like and had an image of Landon’s smile from earlier in my head, matching every rumbly laugh I’d ever heard from Knight.

That was Knight–it was so fucking obvious.

Oh my god–we were talking about one another.

He was upset that I hadn’t texted him that morning, and he was talking to me…about me.

I was why he was so out of it this morning…

“Is he okay?” I finally got out, alerting the medic that I was even there.

“He’ll be okay, kid,” he mumbled back, offering me a quick smile. “He might need surgery on his knee, but he’ll heal.”

“Surgery?” I asked, suddenly a lot more tense.

All my feathers ruffled at once, and panic shot through my spine–why would he need surgery?

He just fell–it didn’t even look bad! It was just a fall. Maybe he’d knocked a tooth out or sprained an ankle, but surgery?

“He landed on his knee–we don’t know the damage yet, but he can’t walk on it at all, so it doesn’t look great–”

“Fuck!” Landon hissed, flinching his leg and groaning out at the new pain.

Oh, god–I was going to be sick if I heard him scream again.

My eyes locked onto his face, trying so hard to make this all not true. He wasn’t Knight, and he wasn’t hurt, and…fuck.

“Sam,” Landon panted out, waving me over quickly. I wove through the bodies trying to help him, my heart stuttering in my chest because…did Knight really smell that good?

Even sweaty?

“I need you to do me a favor–can you go get my phone? Just bring it to me, please?”

That was a task–I could do that!

That was something to focus on that wasn’t the shitstorm in my head right now.