Page 108 of Puck You Very Much
“You know what I mean. You guys needed me there to play as a complete team. I couldn’t do that when I was getting rushed to the hospital.”
He rolled his eyes a little and shook his head. Even a meathead like Levi Dunn knew that was totally unreasonable. Still, I couldn’t help putting the blame on myself. Sometimes you can take accountability too far, I guess.
“You can’t go taking blame for the loss,” he said. “We win as a team and lose as a team. And, you know what? That was a bullshit move that Zane pulled. The Larkin Lions play rough and tough hockey, but we don’t go causing serious injuries on purpose.”
“You really think Zane did that on purpose?”
I regretted the question the moment it left my mouth.
“Of course he did,” Levi said. “They’ve got a whole team full of no-class assholes. Zane would run his own grandmother down with a car if he thought it could win him a title. I don’t believe for a minute that he didn’t do this on purpose.”
“What would he get out of doing that?”
“He gets to knock an important starter out of the game, that’s what. And it would come when we needed you the most. That’s the biggest reason why the loss isn’t your fault. When you start targeting players like that… you’re really crossing the line.”
I closed my eyes, drew a deep breath, and felt warm all over. I hated to believe that. Zane Hirst could be a real asshole. I would be the first to tell you that. Well, actually,hewould probably be the first to say it. He proved his asshole-ishness yet again when we broke up. But I really wanted to believe that he wasn’t downright evil.
On the other hand, he still hadn’t shown up to the hospital. He hadn’t called. I didn’t know if he’d texted because the nurses had put my phone some damn place. But seriously, would you only text a guy after something like that?
“Am I right or am I right?” Levi said.
I said nothing.
Part of me wanted to come clean to Levi if no one else. I didn’t know if I could do it. I figured we would tell the world about us—or what we were—together. That wouldn’t happen now that we’d broken up. Another part of me just wanted Levi to shut up about Zane. I wasn’t in denial. I just couldn’t share in Levi’s beliefs about at least one Remington Riptide.
“You look like you’re fading real fast there, bro,” Levi said. “I’ll leave you alone so you can sleep.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Yeah, and Quinn is in desperate need of a good, hard fucking, so I can’t be late.”
I couldn’t help laughing at that. It was probably the most Levi Dunn thing I’d ever heard him say.
He waved as he turned out the light and headed out the door. I did feel sleepy but didn’t doze off completely. Part of me wanted to believe that Zane would stroll through the door any second. He would rush over to the bed to kiss me and say how sorry he was about everything that’d happened.
Then he would askmeif I needed a good, hard fucking like the one Levi was about to give Quinn. I would tell him that I wouldn’t be in that kind of shape for a little while. Then I wouldforgive him for what happened, and everything would go back to normal.
Well, normal forusanyway.
But I only saw nurses, doctors, and visitors zip by the door, always in a hurry to do this thing or that. And I only heard the light buzz of conversation or the occasional page over the intercom.
But Zane would show up sooner or later.
I felt one hundred percent positive that he would.
45
ZANE
“You were incredible out there, bro,” Jax told me.
Whoop-dee-freaking-doo,I thought.I’m honored.
I continued down the sidewalk to class, thinking I could shake off my teammate, even though part of me knew better.
“You heard me, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Yeah, what was so incredible about it?”
