Blake
Logan’s head flies back. A cracking noise echoes in the tunnel. Blood shoots from his nose.
He groans, cradling his face as he hunches over.
I punch him in the gut. He falls to the floor.
Pure, raw rage pulses through my body as I hover over him.
I lean down and grab him by the front of his jersey. “I know what you did to her.”
His eyes go wide as he looks up at me.
“If you so much as look at her again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
I punch him in the face again. Blood flies everywhere.
I let go of his jersey, and he crumples onto the floor, groaning in pain.
A second later, someone grabs me. It’s one of Logan’s teammates. He takes a swing at me, but Nick tackles him, throwing him off balance. The knuckles of his fist graze my chin. It hurts, but not as much as a full-on punch would have, thanks to Nick.
I stumble back into another Chicago U player, who shoves me.
I straight up and shove him back.
“What the fuck is your problem?” he spits out.
“Your teammate’s a piece of shit. That’s my problem.”
The guy tries to get in my face, but Leo shoves him. A different player tries to punch him, but Leo blocks it. I step over to help him, but someone else tugs my jersey. I swing on them.
Someone crashes into me, and I fall forward. It takes a second for me to get back on my feet. A different Chicago player tries to punch me, but Travis grabs him by the jersey, spins him around, and punches him. Someone else grabs me. There’s shoving and hitting, yelling and cursing.
Around me, it’s chaos. Players from both teams are brawling in the narrow space of the tunnel. It’s a mess of black and red jerseys. All I can hear is profanity and unintelligible shouting.
Just then, a whistle blows.
“Stop this shit right now, or you’re all suspended!” Coach Tremblay hollers.
I fall against the wall as I catch my breath. I wince when I touch my hand to the side of my jaw, where someone hit me a second ago.
“Clear this tunnel. Now,” Coach Tremblay yells.
We all stumble to our respective locker rooms. I see Nick, Travis, and Leo all sporting red marks on their faces.
“Sorry, guys. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”
“It’s no biggie,” Nick says. “Good practice for when we’re all in the pros.”
Leo nods along.
“I won’t get to fight as a goalie, so I’m glad I got one in,” Travis says.
The second we’re in the locker room, we sit in front of our stalls. Coach Sawyer and Coach Tremblay stand in the middle of the room, glowering at all of us.
“What the hell was that?” Coach Sawyer says, looking at Nick. He’s the captain of the team, so it makes sense that he’s singling him out.
But I can’t let him take the heat for this. That fight happened because of me.
“It’s my fault,” I say to Coach Sawyer.
Both Nick and Coach Tremblay look at me.
“One of the players from the other team and I got into it earlier in the game. I ignored him, but he started up again in the tunnel, so I punched him.”
Coach Sawyer glares at me. “Seriously?”
I nod. “I started it. The guys were being good teammates to defend me, but they don’t deserve to be punished. Only me.”
Coach Sawyer’s stare sharpens as he glowers at me. “Get cleaned up. Then come to my office.”
He walks out of the locker room. Coach Tremblay follows behind him.
The team is quiet as they strip off their pads.
“You don’t have to take the heat for all of us,” Nick says to me.
They all start to talk, but I shake my head.
“Yeah, I do,” I say, cutting them off. “I started this. You guys backed me up. Now let me finish it.”
They’re quiet as they nod.
“Thanks, man,” Nick says.
I take off my pads, shower, and get dressed. Then I head to Coach Sawyer’s office.
* * *
“You’re suspended for two games,” Coach Sawyer says, glaring at me from across his desk.
I let out a quiet breath, relieved it’s not worse. I half expected to be kicked off the team, so missing two games a couple of months into the season isn’t all that bad.
I’m still on edge though. It’s clear Coach Sawyer is pissed.
He tosses his phone on his desk and pushes up from his chair. He yanks his tie loose and mutters a curse.
“I’m not a fan of temper tantrums, Morrissey,” he says before sitting back down. “This isn’t daycare. You don’t get to bicker with an opposing player and smack each other around. This is college hockey. You should know better.”
“I understand, Coach. I swear, it wasn’t some petty thing. It was…” I trail off, unsure if it’s worth explaining to him.
Briar’s been so private about what Logan did to her. It’s not my place to talk about it with my coach, even if it might make him ease up on me.
I’m certain he’s going to bench me after the suspension is over. I just have to deal with it.
“I heard what Casler said to Morrissey in the tunnel.”
I turn around and see Coach Tremblay walk into Coach Sawyer’s office.
“It was despicable. Casler deserved the beating he got,” Coach Tremblay says.
I stare at him, shocked. When I look at Coach Sawyer, his angry glare is gone. His expression turns thoughtful as he thinks about what Coach Tremblay just said.
“I appreciate the perspective, Coach Tremblay.” Coach Sawyer is quiet for a while. He studies me with that hard expression.
“You’re not one to get into trouble, Morrissey. For that reason, I’m gonna let this go. You’ll do the two-game suspension, and that’ll be that.”
I huff out a breath. “Thank you, Coach. Sorry about all this.”
“Don’t let it happen again.”
“I won’t.”
I stand up and head toward the door of his office. Coach Tremblay holds the door for me and walks out too.
“Coach Tremblay, wait,” I say.
He stops and turns around to me.
“Thanks for standing up for me.” I’m still stunned. I hardly know the guy, and he went out on a limb for me.
“No problem.” He walks off, and I head back to the locker room.