Page 110 of Puck You Very Much
“What the hell brought this on?”
“It wasn’t a knee-jerk decision. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought lately. I really don’t want to play hockey anymore.”
“Wait, this isn’t because of Jakob, is it?”
“What if it is?”
His mouth dropped open like he’d felt a renewed sense of shock. I honestly felt like nothing I told him would be good enough. He would keep finding some fault with everything I said. I still didn’t feel like I could tell him the full truth, but I needed to at least get him off my back.
“The guy’s nothing,” he said.
“To you he’s nothing.”
Jax paused, like he didn’t know what that meant. In truth, I didn’t know for sure myself. I only knew that the incident would eat away at me as long as I held a hockey stick in my hand. There was only one way to cure that.
Now this dumbass look appeared on Jax’s face, like he had a secret that I was just dying to know about.
“What’s with the cat-that-ate-the-canary look?” I asked.
“I think I know what’ll cheer you up.”
“What’s that?”
He dug into his pocket and fished out a wad of bills. Each one boasted Ben Franklin’s face.
“What the hell is that for?” I asked.
“Come on, you haven’t forgotten the deal, have you?”
“What deal?”
“The deal from Coach Mack… and me. He told you he’d pay anyone to knock a Larkin Lion out of the game. I told you I would sweeten the deal just to get you on board. You came through with flying colors. Maybe you just need to get used to the idea that your opponent is just collateral damage. Since you did the job, I’m making sure you get your payment. I’m as good as my word.”
I froze, stared at the money, and honestly thought I might get sick. Then my hands trembled like I could no longer control myself.
He held out the wad of bills to me like I would naturally accept it. You know, like he hadn’t paid attention to a second of this conversation. The longer he stood there, the worse my hands trembled. My breathing quickened. I wanted Jax to know I was mad, but I didn’t want him thinking I couldn’t control myself.
“Aren’t you going to take it?” he asked.
Again, I only stood there, my fingers curling into fists.
“Come on, Zane. It’s yours. You’ve earned it.”
That last comment sickened me more than anything. It reminded me of the person I’d become—all in my zeal to win. I hated that Zane, and I wanted to disassociate myself completely.
It wasn’t too late.
So, I did the only thing I could think of.
I shoved Jax. It wasn’t quite hard enough knock him on his ass, but it made him stagger. When his arms windmilled to keep his balance, the wad of bills went flying everywhere.
He scrambled to snatch up the bills and then charged straight at me. I blocked him, grabbed two fists full of his shirt, and practically lifted him up off the ground.
“You want some of this?” I said.
At first, my teammate said nothing. He stared intensely into my eyes but said nothing. He sure as hell didn’t take a shot at me.
“Hey, I’m talking to you, Jax. Do you really want a piece of this? I’m in rare form here.”
