Chapter 10
JAKOB
“What’s going on between you and Zane Hirst?” Levi Dunn kept his eyes on the road as we drove north down Grant Street toward Amherst Street.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t know what I’m talking about? You’re workout buddies with the enemy. There has to be something going on. Don’t play dumb with me, Jakob. I invented it.”
Busted. Only I had no idea who’d ratted on me, so I didn’t know who to kill. Time to find out, I decided.
“I don’t suppose you’ll do me the honor of actually saying who told you that?” I asked.
“No idea where it came from, bro, but I got the dirt from Ryan Detenbeck.”
“Ryan Detenbeck better sleep with one eye open. Ditto for whoever told you about him.”
“Shit, dude, that’s intense.”
“How do you think Detenbeck’s informant found out?”
Levi shrugged. “This is Buffalo, bro, the dinkiest city in the Northeast. You can’t shit in this town without everyone knowing what color it is.”
“Charming.”
I snorted laughter because I couldn’t help finding comments like that sort of funny.
His raising the topic alarmed me, though.
Zane Hirst was the enemy, even if that sounded like a ridiculously dramatic thing to say.
I’d been caught in public with him even if I hadn’t initiated anything.
The fly on the wall wouldn’t have known that, maybe.
Sure, my having to explain anything was really stupid, and yet I couldn’t seem to wiggle out of that predicament.
“For the record, he approached me,” I said. “I didn’t even want to talk to him.”
“Oh, I know.”
“Then why the hell are you bugging me about it?”
“Is that what you think I’m doing? Bugging you?” Levi put on his very best indignant voice.
“I dunno. Sure sounds like it to me.”
When Levi pulled into the Burger King drive-thru, I realized I might’ve been a touch oversensitive with Levi.
I just didn’t want to hear about Zane when he wasn’t around.
I figured it was enough that he’d stopped me at both a candy store and the gym.
Pretty soon, he would transfer from Remington to Larkin so we could play on the same team.
Don’t laugh. Until you’ve had that goon appear at every odd place in your life, you can’t appreciate how weird it really is.
Levi leaned out the window, bellowing his order into the microphone.
Three cheeseburgers, a large chocolate shake, and fries.
Then he ordered a Whopper with fries and Diet Pepsi for me.
When he reached the drive-thru window, he appeared to tap his debit card and grab the bag of food at the same time, but stepped on the gas the moment he passed the machine back.
The start came fast enough to slam me back into the passenger seat. Levi always drives like a maniac, I should mention. He ripped through the Tops supermarket parking lot to the red light on Grant but didn’t stop before turning right.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“Working my magic, bro.”
“What magic?”
“I don’t have enough dough on my card to cover this entire magnificent feast, but the fuckhead at the window probably didn’t notice the card was declined. And what can he do now? You put that together, and it means we’re eating for free today.”
I palm-slapped my forehead. Leave it to Levi to pull such a ridiculous stunt. On the other hand, if it detracted from the topic of Zane Hirst, I wouldn’t have cared if he’d robbed a bank.
“If it helps, I don’t know what the deal is either,” I said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, unless…”
“Unless what?”
“This is going to sound crazy, but maybe he’s just trying to be nice… or mend fences after the Colter Bay Grill fight.”
“You know something, Jakob, I think you’re right.”
“What, that he’s trying to mend fences and be a decent human being?”
“No, that you’re crazy.”
I should’ve known better.
Instead of replying, I sank my teeth into my Whopper, savoring the juices rushing into my mouth. Levi had all but stuffed his remaining half-cheeseburger into his mouth. That would’ve been bad enough without his attempt to speak while his mouth had far exceeded its capacity.
“Ook, oo an us ummone like em,” he said.
“Would you eat with your mouth closed, for crying out loud? And don’t even try to talk like that.”
I saw his jaws move as he tried to completely destroy his burger like he was a T-Rex or something. He appeared to swallow it all in one gulp but nearly failed.
“Okay,” I said, “now you can tell me whatever it was you were trying to say.”
“You just can’t trust someone like him.”
“Of course I can’t. I never even considered trusting him. He’s a Remington Riptide, and that alone places him in the worst category of human scum. I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, you know.”
“It’s not just because he’s a Riptide and you know it.”
“Of course, there’s a ton more to this, but I just don’t understand. What is he really expecting to get out of acting all buddy-buddy with me?”
“Revenge.”
I paused and considered it. That sounded like the easiest and most logical explanation, but I understood the issue was more complicated than that. Levi would naturally defer to whatever possibility painted Zane Hirst and the Riptides in the worst possible light.
“He definitely wasn’t trying to mend fences when he ordered you outside at Parkside Candy,” he said.
“I know, I totally get that. It pokes a hole in the only explanation that makes any sense.”
“As for the gym, I don’t know what to tell you except that I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him across the street.”
Levi was right. Hallelujah! Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Really, I felt shocked that Zane didn’t let two hundred pounds of bar bell crush me when he’d had the chance.
The fact that he didn’t shouldn’t have signaled trustworthiness in a dirtbag like him.
For all I knew, he was picking his shots.
“I don’t trust him,” I said.
“But you’re willing to talk to him.”
“Only because he approached me first. What was I supposed to do?”
“Tell him to fuck off.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t you have any idea how rude that is?”
“You had no problem punching him right in the face at the Colter Bay Grill.”
He had a point there but letting him know it posed danger.
By now, I shouldn’t have needed to explain anything.
I couldn’t tell him I’d only punched Zane in the heat of the moment, and that I could never pull off such a feat under ordinary circumstances.
That would totally screw up any badass image I’d created for myself.
I certainly couldn’t tell Levi that I’d felt bad about the damage I’d caused to Zane’s face. Nothing permanent, of course, but I’ve already confessed here that I thought it a shame to mess up such a handsome mug.
Yeah, that would go over like a mud balloon.
“Bottom line,” Levi said, “if Zane approaches you anywhere—I don’t care if it’s in church—I want you to tell him to fuck off. If he doesn’t, give him another taste of your kryptonite right fist.”
He balled a fist, made a punching gesture, complete with an explosion sound in the back of his mouth.
I couldn’t help finding that amusing in a weird way.
I didn’t allow myself to get too comfortable with it, though.
Anytime he used words like bottom line, I understood how serious he was, and that I shouldn’t argue.
Still, I thought myself lucky to have not broken my hand on Zane’s face the first time.
And I couldn’t forget about Coach Hardison’s warning.
“Yeah, well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to something like that.”
“Oh, it will.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
Levi didn’t answer right away, which threw me off guard. Normally, Levi Dunn had a ready comment for just about everything, so I couldn’t help wondering what was really on his mind.
When he turned left onto Lafayette Avenue, he still hadn’t told me what he was thinking, and I tensed up. I had no business feeling nervous about anything. At least, I kept telling myself that.
“You’ve got something on your mind,” I said. “What is it?”
“Do you think your buddy might be a bit obsessed?” he asked.
“Obsessed with what?”
“Obsessed with you. Do I need to draw you a picture?”
Laughter spilled past my lips, and I covered my mouth so he wouldn’t hear me. At least, I told myself that. I’ll only admit here that I heard notes of nervous tension in that laughter.
“Obsessed with me? Come on, Levi, that’s ridiculous even for you.”
“Okay, maybe not obsessed with you as a person, but obsessed with the need for revenge.”
“Because I punched him out?”
“Damn right. He’s never gotten over that. He needs to prove himself as a tough guy. I don’t fucking know; you’re the one who should have to figure this shit out.”
“If I could figure it out that easily, I would’ve solved the problem by now. As it is, I just want to figure out how to get him to leave me alone.”
“I already told you what to do.”
“Right. I’m supposed to tell him to go piss up a rope.”
“No, no, you’re supposed to tell him to fuck off—and then plow him with the knuckle sandwich of the century if he doesn’t listen.”
I shut right up at that moment. The whole conversation seemed so pointless. I might be a hockey player, but I didn’t think violence solved everything. It seemed like there were eyes and ears all over Western New York, which meant Levi would find out that I hadn’t followed orders.
If I didn’t follow orders, I would look like a flake. Doing what I was told meant rearranging Zane’s face, which seemed like a tragedy. I don’t care how weird that sounds.
It also wasn’t the worst part of all. That honor belonged to something Levi had said.
Zane was obsessed with me. I was his number one thought, twenty-four seven. But for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why Zane Hirst would be obsessed with me.