Chapter 35 #2
The dull thud soothes the ache in my soul, an ache that’s shaped like Denny.
“WHOA!” Alec shrieks when Derek doesn’t even fight back—he can’t. He slumps against the nearest cubby, holding his busted nose while blood spurts onto his shirt.
Gregg grabs my arm, but I shake him off and head for the coach’s office.
When I see a bunch more of those posters in the corridor on the way, I snatch up every single one that’s been tacked onto the wall.
I swear this must be how the beginning stages of a heart attack feels. My blood pressure is about to blow my head off as I march into the office, finding Coach on the phone.
He frowns when I don’t bother knocking, just slam the sheets of paper on the desk. “Bradley?” He tilts the phone away from his mouth. “What’s going on?”
“Didn’t you see these on the way to your office?”
He scowls. “See what?”
“Look!”
“You morons are always pranking each other.”
“This is no prank. This is the end of the line. You can either keep me on this team or Dyers. I won’t play with him again.”
Coach’s eyes bug, but then his gaze drops to the posters and, into the phone, he mutters, “Wait a minute, Marcy.” He snatches them up then grunts.
“I’ll call you when I’m on my way home.” Not waiting for a reply, he peers at me.
“You can’t come in here with those kinds of ultimatums, Zach.
Not after that stunt you got the team to pull tonight. Hell, I should—”
“I didn’t do shit. And if you think I can play with my head on straight when the whole school is laughing at my girlfriend because of a prank Dyers pulled, then you’re an idiot.”
“He’s one of our top players,” he hedges.
“No, that’s bullcrap you like to tell him to keep him in line, which is hilarious because he’s out of control. We both know if he’s drafted, he’ll quickly show himself up in youth camp because his stamina is screwed with all the coke he snorts.
“Alec tries to corral him, but he can’t. He’s an asshole. There’s more to the team than what happens on the ice, Coach. You know that as well as I do, and that asswipe is a toxic piece of trash that fouls everything up.”
“Isn’t this just a practical joke?” he asks weakly.
“If it were, then it’d have been my face he Photoshopped. You think I wouldn’t be able to handle this? It’s nothing. But Denny’s my girl, Coach, and this humiliation is more than she deserves.
“Jesus, they argued in Dopie’s. The crowd was tiny.
He’s taken this campus-wide,” I roar. “Worse than that…” I grab my phone and show him that it’s trending on our socials.
“You want me to keep on playing for you, want me on board rather than a jumped-up rich kid with an overinflated ego and a coke addiction, then the solution’s simple. ”
Because he has nothing more to say that I want to hear, I head for the door, but he calls out, “You need to play. Scouts were—”
“I’ll be just fine,” I say with a sneer.
“I can always switch schools. But you know what that means? Pecan will come with me. You really want to lose both of us? Plus, the rest of the team’s on board.
They found out about what happened last year.
How Dyers’s playing despite belonging on a sex offenders list—”
“Nothing was proven.” His mouth tightens at my sneer. “Look, I’ll talk to Derek.”
“No, the damage is done. He’s been an asshole the entire time I’ve played here and whatever hot air you’re spouting up his ass, he’s a two-bit player. But the choice is yours, Coach. Pecan and I have plenty of other options.”
The only reason we’re attending Oakwood is because Denny’s dad was an alumnus.
Switching schools will be easy as fuck—I’ll cover D’s tuition if I need to with the inheritance Mom left me. D hates her current major. Moving to a new college would be a boon.
“Leave it with me,” he growls.
I’m well aware that I made an enemy but I’ll take it.
When I return to the locker room, Derek gets called in shortly after.
Pecan nudges me. “What’s going on, Z?”
“I told Coach that it was either me and you or Derek and that our chances wouldn’t be ruined because we’re down to move schools.”
His brows lift. “You did? I thought we were leaving it until after… you know?”
“Was I wrong to push this?”
“‘Course not. Did it work?”
“We’re about to find out.” Groaning, I cover my face with my hands. “How the fuck am I supposed to fix this, Pecan?”
“I don’t think we can,” he says softly. “We just have to be there for her, I guess.”
When he pauses, then hesitates, I heave a sigh. “What is it?”
“Darcy Lovell is having a pre-Christmas showdown tomorrow night.”
“And?”
He clears his throat. “You should take her there.”
“That’s the last place she’ll want to go!”
“Think about it. Busiest party on campus. You know you’ll be welcome there… Show up. Denny on your arm.” He smacks his fingers to his lips. “Be like one of those movies she loves.”
I rub my eyes because damn, that does sound like the bullshit she’d make us watch while we did our homework at her house when we were growing up.
“You know I’m right.”
Before I can huff at him, the sound of a door slamming ricochets around the locker room.
Hovering by the doorway, Coach yells, “Derek’s been suspended from the team pending an investigation into allegations he’s been using narcotics—”
Pecan whoops. “About damn time.”
“—I need one of you to gather his things together and bring them to my office.”
The welter of relief that hits me has me heaving my ass onto the bench. It’s not a lot but it’s something. And it only improves when the whole team, apart from Alec, roars their approval.
Even Coach appears taken aback.
“You’ve barely been here five goddamn minutes yet you’re the only fucker on this team who could pull rank like that and get what he wants.”
I tip my head and spy Alec scowling down at me. “He’s toxic as fuck and you know it.”
He shrugs. “You saying you aren’t?”
I grit my teeth, but Pecan comes to my rescue by shoving Alec’s shoulder. “Fuck off, cap. Zach shouldn’t have been the one who went to Coach about this. You should have.”
Alec thunders, “It was a joke!”
“Some joke. Would you like it if I went and did the same to Freya?” Pecan derides. “I just bet she wouldn’t be in your face about that.”
Alec’s witty retort is to sniff.
“Anyway, listen to the locker room. None of us want to play with him.”
“He’s a solid player!” Then, with his back to me, he snaps, “You’d better bring your A game after the break, Zach. Seeing as we’re down a man that we couldn’t afford to lose.”
I didn’t miss Coach saying that Derek was suspended. Not tossed off the team permanently.
This stench is going to come back around on us. I can feel it. Unless whatever D’s planning will get rid of his ass for good.
As it stands, I need to get back to Denny.
I already knew I loved her, but seeing her in the crowd tonight, surrounded by new friends, a brave face plastered on, made me love her even more.
She’s so strong.
I know I don’t deserve her.
I know I’m the reason for this bullshit.
But Denny’s mine.
Anyone who chooses to ignore that will regret it because if this breaks us apart... doxxing will be the least of Dyers’s worries.