Page 55 of Puck You Very Much
Again, I remained silent. What the hell was I supposed to say?
“Think about it, Zane,” he said, “Jakob might not be the best Larkin Lions player, but he’s the heart and soul of that team in many ways. You put him out of commission and the team will really suffer, almost like they’ve lost their star player.”
Cut off the head and the body will die,echoed inside my head.
I hated thinking about it and wanted out of this conversation the moment an escape hatch appeared.
“With the Lions out of the way, we’ll cruise to a National Title.”
“Not necessarily. They didn’t win it all last year. They didn’t even make it to the finals.”
“I know, but that doesn’t matter. Like Coach Mack said, they’ve been a thorn in our collective side forever. The best thing we can do for our team is pluck it out.”
He even made a plucking motion with his thumb, index, and middle fingers. You know, because he’s such a funny guy. Thank God he didn’t drop acut off the head and the body will dieremark.
“I figure this’ll be better for you than anybody,” he continued. “You can get that Jakob Martin chip off your shoulder and be twenty-five hundred dollars richer.”
“Twenty-five hundred? I thought he was only offering two grand for a hit on Jakob Martin.”
“He is. I’m sweetening the pot. You in?”
My eyes must’ve darted out of the sockets. I don’t know how I looked to him, but I definitely knew how I felt. I’d seen a little too muchickfrom my coach and teammates for one afternoon.
“Like I said, this is a great opportunity for you,” he said.
“But why me?”
“Why you? Because you hate Jakob Martin more than anyone. Money will motivate the other guys, sure, but you’ve got incentive they can never have.”
Again, I refused to answer. Anything I said seemed doomed to backfire.
“Come on, bro,” he said, “think about it. It wasn’t that long ago that you ordered him out of a candy store so you could beat his ass.”
Yeah, but that was before I sucked his dick and fucked his ass into the middle of next week, I thought.
Perfect answer.
“He’s humiliated you more than once, Zane. I know how badly you’ve wanted to get revenge. Now you’ve got the perfect opportunity in front of you.”
I nodded, not in agreement, but to show him I was listening.
“Let me ask you,” I said, “how many of those guys would really go out of their way to hurtanyof the Larkin Lions because of this bounty.”
“Bounty? Come on, dude, don’t be dramatic. It’s a cash reward.”
“For injuring people, sometimes specific players. What do you call it?
Rather than answer my second question, he reverted to the first.
“All of them,” he said. “Are you kidding me? You can’t flash that kind of money around and honestly think the guys won’t feel inspired to do a little damage, if you know what I mean.”
That sickened feeling intensified so much that sweat broke out on my forehead and temples.
“So, what are you gonna do with your twenty-five hundred bucks?” he asked.
He stared at me waiting for an answer, and I stood there silent like a complete idiot.
Finally, I said, “Put it in the bank, I guess.”
