Probably a fool to be standing here, in this hospital, begging to get his heart broken again, too. But there hadn’t been time to think things through; he’d just gone with his gut. Again.
And Doc had acted like he belonged here—even Parker had.
And that ring.
In a sport where no married man wore his ring, Sky had his ring on.
Fuck, from the moment he’d laid eyes on the bastard at that after party in Nashville, Beckett been hooked through the balls—from the barely too-long dark curls to those amazing blue eyes, to the tight, tiny little hard body. Everything had worked for him.
Doc was right that he couldn’t bear to look at Sky, but it wasn’t because of his husband’s injuries. It was because he hadn’t seen that beautiful face in four years and even as awful as Sky looked, that kid in Nashville was still the man he saw.
And even beat to hell, it still worked for him.
He looked out the window, staring more at his own reflection than the view. They weren’t kids anymore. His own dark hair was going gray at the temples, and his face had little lines in it that had appeared at some point when he wasn’t paying attention.
He sipped his coffee and glanced back toward Sky’s room. Maybe he needed to get comfortable. Get a better hotel room, figure out if there was hospital Wi-Fi. He had a feeling he was going to be here for a while.
Parker didn’t stay for nearly as long as he expected, heading from the nurses’ station right to him.
Dammit.
“Hey. I have his truck keys. The keys to his trailer. It’s hooked up at the closest RV place. Somebody will need to feed Walter.”
Parker looked spooked, like he’d seen a ghost.
“Aren’t you staying in that trailer? Who’s Walter?”
“I help drive when I can’t fly home, sure, but it’snot my trailer. Jesus, you are a stupid motherfucker.”
Actually, he was about to be a generous motherfucker and offer the asshole the trailer and the truck with it. But fuck that.
He turned to look out the window again, and it was suddenly almost dark. Night had fallen just like that.
“Walter is the cat. Meanest sumbitch on earth. Hates everyone but Sky. Don’t know how much to feed him, so I put the whole bag down.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Beck turned back and stared at Parker. “He has an asshole cat? What am I supposed to do with a cat?” He was going to have to see if the Embassy Suites was pet friendly. No way was he driving halfway across creation to feed a cat in a trailer. “You want him?”
“Nope. Not my cat. Not my trailer. Not my problem, man.” Parker shook his head. “I’m glad you came. If he wakes up, it’ll be to see you.”
“Not if. When.”When.He’d promised Doc. He looked Parker over. “You okay? How do you think he looked?”
“Broken. He’s the champ and he’s broken. I seen him thrown, slammed, caught up, but this time…” Parker turned gray. “How do you come back from that, man?”
“I don’t know. But I guess we’re going to find out.” Beckett had seen a lot of that too. He remembered the champion in Skyler. He’d been hoping Parker would say Sky had this, but that wasn’t what he was hearing, and Parker’s gray was turning green. “I think I need a drink. You?”
He hated the kid, but he could use a drinking buddy and if nothing else, he needed to make some peace for his husband.
“God, yes. Please. Please, man. I’ll buy.” Parker met his eyes, and there were tears there.
He pretended he didn’t notice, but he definitely sympathized. He’d been fighting back tears and rage and all kinds of emotion himself.
“Come on.” He didn’t know why he’d invited Parker exactly, but the guy was human after all, and you couldn’t fake tears like that.
They didn’t have to like each other to love Sky.
He didn’t know his way around Baltimore at all, but his hotel was in walking distance and it had a decent bar, so that was where they went.