Chapter 9 #2
I pressed my lips together, holding back a quip about utilizing the extra rink at DuLane.
Surely that wouldn’t be too much to ask from the men’s team.
I dropped my bag and settled on the ground, tucking my knees under my chin to conserve heat.
It wasn’t terribly cold, but if we sat out here much longer, I was going to get chilly.
Caroline already had a textbook propped open on her lap, and Lydia had pulled out her sketchpad.
Fifteen minutes later, maintenance arrived, and practically everyone let out a sigh of relief.
The two men dressed in identical uniforms spoke with Coach before disappearing into the building.
“Okay, but what if they do find a body?” I heard someone whisper. “Are we going to be suspects? Maybe we’ll get to be on the news!”
The idle chatter continued, but I was too distracted by a barrage of texts to eavesdrop.
Sambam
Totally walked in on a big fight between your sis and dad.
Talk about awkward.
I blame you for making me do wellness checks.
Shit. I’m sorry you had to see that
What was the fight about?
Maybe dance?
It was hard to tell through all the shouting.
Who was shouting?
Mainly Gabs. Idk much else. I got out of there quick.
Thanks for letting me know.
Can I call you after classes?
I work late tonight. Tomorrow work?
Call you then.
And in case you needed to hear it, I love you.
And appreciate you.
And will name my first child in your honor if you want.
No need to get soppy, bitch. Love you too.
I glanced up from my phone just as one of the maintenance men came out of the building. He wore a mask and was holding a large white box as far away from his body as possible.
“Found your problem, ladies,” he said, dropping it on the ground in front of us, and I was immediately greeted by a surge of the putrid scent from inside the facility.
Coach Riley waved everyone away and spoke with the man softly, motioning at the discovery. With a curt nod, he reached down and opened the box. Coach covered her mouth as she leaned over to glance inside, her lip immediately curling in disgust.
“Grace!”
I jumped about a mile into the air at the sound of my name. At once, everyone turned to look at me. Ignoring their stares, I pushed up from the ground and shuffled closer, holding my breath the entire way. In every horror movie, this was the part where they uncovered a severed head.
“Someone went through the trouble of hiding it inside a vent in the basement. There was a note, but we didn’t find anything else,” the maintenance man was saying. His name tag read “Lee.”
There wasn’t a single particle in my body eager to know why a note had been left, but I had little choice given Coach’s demanding stare.
As an extra measure to ward of the stench, I pulled the collar of my shirt up and over my mouth before leaning over to peek inside the box.
It wasn’t a head, but that didn’t stop me from gagging as I was greeted with the sight of writhing maggots.
The little white larvae covered almost every inch of the box, squirming over what looked like a mound of rotted beef.
A short stick poked out from the top of the meat with a note attached.
special delivery for grace was spelled out across the paper in bold lettering.
“Definitely don’t remember ordering that,” I said. “Honestly, Coach, I have no idea what this is about—”
“We can probably guess, Grace,” Coach said, then turned her attention back to Lee. “How long will the smell linger?”
“Not sure.” Lee dragged his fingers through his scruffy gray beard and shrugged. “We’ll open all the doors tonight and let the place air out. You might want to give it another day before coming back.”
“Is this their retaliation for the posters and the article?” asked Coach Riley.
“Probably,” I admitted.
“Have you done anything else?”
“No,” said Caroline, coming up from behind me. “We haven’t broken any school rules or gone against the athletes’ code of conduct.”
“Sebastian’s behind this. He has to be,” I added.
She nodded her head, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. “I’m going to talk to Coach Dawson—we can’t have this escalating all season.”
“That’s it? What about the guys? Are you going to report this to the athletic director?” Caroline’s tone was laced with incredulity.
“Unfortunately, there’s no proof, and even if there was, I doubt Sebastian would face any consequences. Now that he’s returned to being the star of the team, they won’t risk losing him.”
Ugh. This school was so far up Sebastian’s ass I was sure they could see out his throat. It wasn’t fair that he didn’t have to abide by the rules like the rest of us. “This isn’t Animal House, Coach Riley!” I exclaimed. “They can’t get away with disrupting our practice schedule.”
To my surprise, she nodded her head in agreement.
“I’ll get us some rink time at DuLane. We’ll move practice to the evening.
” She started typing something into her phone with determination.
“In the meantime, I need you ladies to get new posters ready for tomorrow. Bigger ones—get creative. Be at DuLane Arena in the morning before the men’s practice.
If they want to mess with our facility and make it so we can’t practice, we’ll be there to disrupt their ice time. ”
Caroline and I exchanged wide-eyed looks of disbelief. I couldn’t help but think that with Coach behind us, we’d be unstoppable.
“We’ll work within the rules of the university, but that doesn’t mean we can’t push some buttons. I’ve had enough, and you girls deserve better.”
>> > <<
Sebastian
No one spoke as we performed our warm-up laps around the rink, though it would have been hard to hear anything over the blast of music coming from the stands.
My nerves were starting to take over, flushing out all the anger and replacing it with dread.
When I saw Grace sitting in the crowd with her oversized poster, a storm had swept through my body.
The very woman responsible for inciting my impulsive behavior was now invading DuLane, my place of refuge.
Just one look at her and my skin felt ready to boil off.
But when Coach called me down to the ice, the ringing in my ears settled and the truth of the situation became clear. Grace being here was entirely my fault.