Page 214 of The Pucking Coach's Daughter

A growl burns through my throat before I can stop it. I pull the gun and check it again, then slowly step out from the storage room. The handle fits comfortably in my hand. While Penn’s uncle is apparently a private investigator, mine enjoys hunting… or just going out into the woods and shooting with a wide variety of firearms. It isn’t quite what my parents would’ve approved of… my uncle is a bit of a black sheep in our family.

That’s probably why I gravitated toward him. He taught me a lot, but mostly firearm safety and shooting accuracy. The proud smile on his face every time I shot a can off of a log was a hit of dopamine.

Fucking addicting.

Now, I keep my trigger finger straight along the barrel of the gun and creep toward the door. Sydney is silent behind me.

Bear and Penn are fighting. They both have knives. But as soon as Penn gets an upper hand, Bear’s brother lifts his gun.

Not so fucking fast.

I raise mine. Aim.

Shoot.

The crack of my handgun going off, the jerk of the recoil, is familiar. Soothing, almost.

My aim is true. My bullet finds its mark. It buries in the brother’s side, under his arm. Just like taking down a dear—well, different gun—the man staggers forward a few steps, shock coloring his expression.

And then he falls.

Bear roars. He’s got a fucking limp, so I put away the gun. He charges at me at half-speed. I pull my trusty folded knife, flicking it open one-handed. Rage makes him move recklessly—my anger is more like ice. I avoid his blade and sink mine into his stomach, dragging it sideways. It rips at my hand, the blade snagging. I hold tight, taking it with me as I dance out of his long reach.

The pain hits him a second later. One hand presses to his stomach. Blood oozes through his fingers. His other, with the hold on his knife, tightens. Lifts. His gaze flickers from surprise to outrage.

Guys like him—asshole demons on the ice, who think they’re superior and get off on causing injuries to their opponents—deserve all the shit that comes their way.

He rushes me again. He’s faster than I anticipate, getting a shallow slice across my chest. I hopped back—just not enough. Penn shouts. I kick at Bear’s knee, the one Oliver injured at the last fight. He lets out an ugly howl, going down fast.

“Grab him,” I order Penn. “Before I fucking kill him.”

It takes both of us to get Bear wrestled to the floor. Oliver appears with zip ties, and we secure his wrists and ankles. Then the two together.

Penn and I roll off him and stagger away. Bear is on his stomach, his wrists and ankles now all attached together, and he tests the strength of the zip ties immediately. It’s almost comical, watching him struggle, but they hold fast.

“Where is she?” Oliver gasps.

Leaving Bear to struggle on his own, I lead them back to the storage room. Syd’s head is leaned back against the wall, her eyes closed. There’s a thick, dark-red ring around her neck where the belt was.

Oliver drops to the floor beside her, his hands seeming to worriedly flutter over her body before landing on her shoulder.

Her eyes crack open.

“Oh, thank fuck,” he whispers.

“Oliver?” Her voice wavers. It sounds so much like that audio clip they played, my heart squeezes. “I?—”

“We’re here.” Penn creeps closer on his knees, but he doesn’t touch her. He seems wary to get too close. “You’re okay.”

“She’s not okay,” I cut in.

I show them the car battery. A discarded bucket on its side, with a shallow pool of water left in it. The pool of blood, with smears in it from how she’d lain in it and I’d picked her up, is impossible to miss. Seeing everything again makes it a hundred times more real.

Penn squeezes his eyes shut. It seems like he, too, is struggling to rein in his inner demons. His hands ball into fists and release, over and over again. Only Oliver seems to be keeping it together. He’s on his knees next to her, the worry in his expression enough to break me again.

“I’m glad you didn’t fucking kill him.” Oliver strokes Sydney’s wet hair out of her face. “He deserves to go to Hell and back.”

I nod my agreement, but… “We can’t send him to Hell at the moment. She needs to get to a hospital. She’s lost so much blood.”

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