Chapter 26 #2
“Let’s not play games, Bass. The young woman said you physically assaulted her in the Ice House after she raised some concerns about your romantic involvement with Miss Vega. Is there any truth to any of this?”
“I didn’t assault anyone,” I say plainly, knowing the words aren’t 100% truthful.
“You have a temper.”
“Mainly on the ice, Coach. You know my character.”
“Yeah, kid, I thought I did.”
“Coach?”
“Are you in a romantic relationship with Miss Vega that I didn’t know about?”
“I’m not sure how that’s relevant to the complaint.”
“Didn’t you sign a code of conduct agreement?” he snaps back. “I think that’s the relevancy.”
I sigh to myself. I never gave that piece of paper Kai had me sign forever ago a second thought. I didn’t think it was actually important, and I definitely didn’t think it would ever be enforced.
“Yeah, I signed it.”
“Then your behavior with her, and at the house, matters just like it does when you’re representing this university on the ice.”
“That’s different.”
“No, it’s not, Bass. This is serious, and the university isn’t just going to ignore an allegation made against a player who’s a member of the most important sports team on this campus. Students work ”
Holy shit. I should have never let that vindictive, petty ass puck bunny in my bed. Now I’ve created a mess for myself, my team, and especially for Kai.
“So what’s going to happen now?” I ask, panic settling at the base of my throat. “And how does this all affect Kai?”
“Is that all you care about?” Irritation in his voice. “I’m talking about the rest of your hockey season. NHL scouts are making final decisions about their recruitment. If there’s even a little truth about what allegedly happened last night, you’re going to have a problem. ”
Coach is pissed and maybe even a little worried about me, but the only right answer to his question is yes. Hockey can wait. Kai is all I care about in this moment.
“I need to know she’s going to be okay.”
“Well, she’s not okay. Miss Vega’s standing in the Communications department is being questioned.
Maintaining professional distance from you was a key requirement of her project.
Her professors are being notified about your relationship as we speak.
Honestly, I’m a little surprised. I didn’t think Miss Vega thought highly enough of you to allow things to get to this. ”
No! No, no, no.
This is a complete clusterfuck.
Kai’s professors are being notified about us? This is exactly what she feared by getting involved with me. She’s going to regret ever meeting me.
"Coach, the woman who reported this bullshit allegation is a vindictive, jealous––“
“Don’t say it.”
Cunt.
“Okay, well, that wack job is trying to ruin me. Did I sleep with her once or twice? Yes. Were she and I in a committed relationship, hell no. I was never disrespectful to her. Not until maybe last night. Not until she took her feelings out on Kai.”
“If ruining you is her goal, then I’d say she’s on the right track.”
“Dammit, coach, can you at least try to intervene on Kai’s behalf with her professors?”
Coach sighs, probably because I’m like a dog with a bone. I’m not going to let go of trying to help Kai. “What’s the wack job’s name?”
“Gia.”
“Last name?”
This is going to sound horrible. “Um, I don’t know.”
“You don’t know her last name?”
“Nope.”
“Well, is she a regular at the Ice House?” His question is loaded with judgmental subtext, and it’s starting to piss me off. I’m not the first guy on the planet to have a fuck buddy with no strings attached.
“She is.”
“And is she a regular of yours?”
“Like I said, maybe once upon a time.”
“Uh huh.”
“As well as a few other of my teammates.”
“Bass––”
“Will you talk to Kai’s professors or not, Coach? Because whatever consequences there are, they need to fall on me. Bench me for the season, I don't care. Just keep her name out of it."
"That's not how this works, son," Coach says, and now I can hear how his frustration has morphed into disappointment. “Your friend Gia brought Kai’s name into the complaint. I’m afraid that train has left the station.”
I think of Kai. I remember her telling me how undervalued she already feels by some of the professors in her program.
I recall her telling me that this assistantship was her "one shot" at a future, her way to show she deserved to be "in the room.
" And I destroyed it. I didn't just break her heart; I broke her future.
“Then I'll fix it," I tell Coach, though I have no idea how. "Whatever I have to do, I’ll fix this."
"You'd better hope you can. Because if this blows up, it won't just be Miss Vega’s future on the line. The scouts are watching, Bass. And they don't draft liabilities. You’re too good a player to end up working as a high school hockey coach. You should be on the ice.”
He hangs up, and the silence that follows is deafening. I’m alone in the kitchen of the Ice House, surrounded by the sticky remnants of a party that feels like it happened in a different lifetime.
Neo appears in the doorway, his tall, imposing silhouette. He doesn't say anything for a long time. He just watches me from a careful distance.
"You heard?" I ask, my voice sounding hollow.
“Some of it.”
"I really fucked up, Neo. This isn't just about us anymore. I might have just cost her everything she’s worked four years for."
"And what about everything you've worked for?"
"I don't give a shit about any of it. It's just a game. She's not."
Neo walks over and puts a heavy hand on my shoulder. "Remember what I told you? Protect your girl.”
"She's not my girl anymore," I scoff. "She looked at me like I was a stranger. Like I was a mistake."
“So the fuck what?” Neo’s grip tightens.
"She might hate you right now. She might never want to see your face again. But if you actually give a shit about her, and if she’s more than just a 'fuck buddy' or a ‘class project’, then you figure out how to be the man she needs you to be.
Even if you don't get her back. You fix what you broke because it's the right thing to do, not because you’re looking to get her back.”
"And if I can't fix it? If the damage is already done?"
"Then at least you'll know you didn't go down without a fight." He looks me dead in the eye. "The guy you were when Kai first walked into that seminar would have walked away from this mess. He would have moved on to the next girl. Is that who you still are, Bass?"
Is that still who I am? I don’t think so. I’m changed. I’m hella different.
I reflect on the way Kai tastes like lime and salt and remember the way she traced my shoulders in the dark, riding me bareback like a goddess on a mission.
I’d be a fucking fool to give her up without a fight.
"No," I say, and for the first time tonight, my voice doesn't shake. "That's not who I am."
"Then you know what you need to do, my brother.”
I’m grabbing my sneakers with no idea of where I'm going, maybe to her apartment, or possibly to the Dean’s office, but I’m not sitting in the wreckage anymore.
I’m done feeling sorry for myself.
It’s time to save the only thing that ever actually mattered.