Page 28 of Puck'N Enemy
“Dylan and I became friends in tenth grade,” I say, trying to keep my temper in control. “It happened while we both joined the hockey team.”
Coach nods. “How did you get close enough to kiss each other?”
A heavy feeling comes over me as I’m reminded of the most turbulent time of my life.
“My dad had just died,” I say in a low, grim voice. “He’d taken money from a loan shark but failed to pay him back. So, both Mom and I had to take whatever jobs we could to make enough cash to get out of our debt.”
Coach lets out a thick sigh but stays silent.
“I hated everyone and everything,” I say, remembering those painful days. “I got into trouble everywhere I went. That’s when Dylan came along. He was the same brand of troublemaker as me. He had my back whenever I got into fights. We bled together. He even worked to help me pay off our debts.”
Coach’s expression tightens but he remains silent, allowing me to keep talking.
“I—I fell for him,” I blurt out. My cheeks flame and it suddenly becomes hard to keep meeting Coach’s gaze. “I didn’t want anything as much as I wanted him. I did everything I could to make sure he stayed mine.”
Coach raises an eyebrow. “What did you do, Logan?”
“I fought with anyone who tried to get close to him,” I say, swallowing a lump in my throat. “I made sure every girl stayed the fuck away from him. Believe me, a few of them were stubborn as hell, but I guess they couldn’t help themselves. Dylan is a pretty asshole.”
Coach raises an eyebrow.
“Dylan was stubborn too,” I say in a low voice. “He wouldn’t accept what we had between us. It took a couple of forceful kisses to make him realize what he kept denying.”
A chuckle escapes me as I remember the initial days of getting romantically entangled with him.
“Dylan was a bomb ready to go off any second and I was the only one who could soothe him,” I say, reliving those happy moments. “When he finally realized how much he loved me back, everything fell into place. He became mine and I didn’t waste a second laying claim to him.”
“Fucking hell,” Coach mutters, rubbing his forehead. “You kids were nothing but trouble. I can’t believe you had time for your puppy love after all that brutal training I made you boys go through. Heh! Looks like I wasn’t hard enough on y’all, after all.”
“What’re you talking about?” I mutter. “You were hard on us all. Why do you think we both ended up getting scholarships to play hockey in college? It was all you, Coach.”
“But you two still ended up having enough energy to get into trouble,” Coach says, shaking his head.
A chuckle escapes me. “Yep. Dylan and Iweretrouble. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
Coach lets out a sigh.
“Dylan and I became almost family,” I tell him. “He stayed over at my place on most nights. My baby sister thought a new brother sprouted from thin air to dote on her. She loved him and Dylan spoiled her rotten.”
“So, what made you guys break up?” Coach asks.
“Things slowly turned around for my family,” I reply. “Once we were debt-free, our lives became peaceful. I started focusing on hockey and did better at school. After those dark years, I finally started seeing some hope for the future.”
“What about Dylan?” Coach asks.
“Dylan calmed down too,” I tell him. “At least, for a while. We played hockey and studied together at night. We even made plans to apply for the athlete scholarship program at Knightswood University. I almost thought we could be together.”
My heart squeezes painfully as I get toward the end of our story.
“Dylan failed to cut off his ties with the mobster he got tangled up with,” I say, my voice turning hoarse. “That asshole wanted Dylan to keep working for him. He hated the idea of letting Dylan go.”
“Did you do anything about it?” Coach asks.
I nod. “I went to talk to Pete Volkov,” I say, remembering the horrible excuse of a human being who did his best to enslaveDylan. “I told him to let Dylan go, that he was just seventeen and had his entire life before him.”
“Did the guy agree?” Coach asks.
“He just stared at me while polishing his gun,” I say, my jaw clenching. “He wanted to intimidate me but I wasn’t scared of him. I told him to leave Dylan or I’d go to the cops.”
