Page 97 of Bad Teammate
Derek
Tissue paper crinkled beneath my back. I stared at the fluorescent lights overhead as the team trainer worked a needle through my flesh, sewing up the gash in my eyebrow.
My teammates began to gather in the doorway of the exam room, eager to get a look at me and bombard me with questions.
“Reavo, what was that about?”
“What got into Niko?”
“You guys ever hear of HIPAA?” Dane boomed as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd. “Give the man some goddamn privacy. Go on, get outta here! Hit the ice!”
The crowd dispersed in a hurry. Dane and Hathaway entered the room and shut the door behind them. They stood by the exam table, arms folded.
“Hey, guys,” I said, trying to hold still for the trainer. “How’s it going out there?”
“Not good,” Dane snarled. “The media’s buzzing around like flies onshit.Fuckin’ hell. They love stuff like this, the damn vultures.”
“What about Niko?” I asked.
Hath answered. “Took his gear off and ran out of the building before Coach or anyone else could even try to talk to him. On the plus side, at least the media couldn’t interview him, either.”
“Okay, Reavo,” Dane said. “You wanna tell us what the hell that was about?”
I sighed. “It’s about Niko’s sister.”
Dane scoffed. “Not the time for jokes, Reavo. Seriously, what was the fight over?”
“You know what?” The trainer set his tools down. “You guys need to work this out. Come find me when you’re done and I’ll finish the job.”
The trainer left and we were alone.
“I am serious, Dane,” I said. “It’s about Katerina.”
“Nah,” Dane said. “Youcan’tbe serious.” His nostrils began to flare. “Because after all the bullshit drama this team has been through in the past two years, things are finallycalming down. And the ReavoIknow is a team-first guy. The kind of glue guy that keeps a locker room together. Agoodguy, certainly not the type of guy who’d go and fuck everything up just for some pussy.” He stared into my eyes, and I could see the seething anger bubbling beneath the captain’s exterior. “You wouldn’t do that, right?Right,Reavo? Please tell me you wouldn’t do that.”
I grimaced. “Sorry, bud. I don’t know what to tell you.”
He snapped. “YOU REALLY FUCKED THE KID’S SISTER?!” He leaped forward, grabbed me by the shirt, and shook me. “ARE YOU INSANE?”
“Whoa, take it easy, D.” Hath wrapped his arms around Dane and hauled him backwards.
“It’s not like I meant for this to happen,” I muttered.
“Oh, no?” Dane asked. “So it was an accident, then? You just slipped and fell andwhoops,your cock ended up inside the sister of our franchise player.That’swhat happened, right?”
Dane struggled to break free, but Hath kept him tightly restrained.
“Relax, D,” Hath said. “Reavo, tell him what you told me.”
“Wait.” Dane broke free of Hath’s hold and turned around to stare at him. “You knewabout this?”
“Well,” he answered, “I didn’t know it for a fact until the fight.”
“But yoususpectedit?”
Hath nodded.
“Why the hell you didn’t tell me?” Dane asked.
