Page 2 of Puck You Very Much
Levin Dunn, who one could easily mistake for linebacker J.J. Watt, stepped away from the bar. He hulked himself up as if to remind us of his size and brute strength. He didn’t scare me. In my world, he was another musclebound moron.
“Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, I guess you’re gonna act like a big man, huh?” Jax asked.
“I don’t need to act, bro.”
“I’m not your bro,dude.”
“So?”
“So, don’t fucking call me that.”
Dunn took another shell and flicked it at Jax’s face in what anyone would’ve considered a taunt.
And that was it.
Jax shoved Levi. Levi shoved Jax in return, but hard enough to knock the team captain flat on his ass. Jax’s arm struck me on the way down, but I barely noticed because a shitstorm kicked up almost immediately with bystanders clearing the room for the battle to go down.
Now blaring music didn’t matter because the shouting and cheering of those same bystanders, along with the sounds of beer bottles crashing and bar stool legs dragging along the floor, took center stage.
When Jax crawled to his feet, he charged at Dunn, spearing his abdomen with his shoulders, but failed in wrestling him to the floor. Instead, he backed the ginormous right-winger intothe wall hard enough to knock loose a framed picture that crashed onto the floor.
By then, everyone from both teams had entered the fray—myself included. Yeah, yeah, I know I was the one who said I wanted Jax to chill out and not let trouble start. Problem was, we now had a heap load of trouble, like it or not, and I couldn’t leave my teammate high and dry.
I ducked a punch from Ryan Detenbeck and then threw one of my own. I missed, but the Lions’ goalie took a fist from Harrison Moore before he could hook me in the gut. And then I saw Levi Dunn lay Jax out on the floor.
Seeing our team captain unconscious lit a fire under me. No way could I let the Larkin Lions win this fight. So far, I hadn’t dirtied my hands, but that would soon come to an end. You see, Levi had decided to gloat. I’m one hundred and ten percent sure that he thought he’d won both the battleandthe war.
He had his back to me. I so totally meant to pop him one. Don’t give me any business about fighting dirty. All’s fair in love and war, right?
When Levi turned around, I swung at him, but he ducked. Look, I never said I was the greatest fighter. I’m just a guy that’s not afraid to stand up for his teammates. I expected him to take a shot at me, but when I turned, I didn’t find Levi Dunn. Instead, I saw Jakob Martin. I would’ve thrown a punch, but I was too late. Before I could think, I saw his fist rocket toward my face.
And then the lights went out.
2
JAKOB
It’s just like Zane to tell you that I would spread lies to you or anyone else, especially about what happened that night at the Colter Bay Grill. He gets so worked up that he can’t tell fact from fiction. How about we give him a bite of a reality sandwich, hmmm?
Okay, so I really did punch him. I won’t deny that. Problem is, he makes it sound like I put the boots to him when he was down, took a sucker punch, or hooked him right in the family jewels. As if! When the guys and I went out that night, I hadn’t expected a brawl to ensue, and I panicked.
Wait, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of what happened. I’m not a scaredy cat. Farthest thing from it. Let me tell you my side of the story from scratch.
All right, so we were at the bar the night before we were supposed to square off against that group of pompous stuffed shirts, the Remington Riptides. Remington was located in the suburbs and filled with rich kids. Not Ivy League like Harvard, Yale, or even Cornell, but it had plenty of silver spoons to go around.
Truth is, neither team should’ve been out anywhere the night before such a crucial game, and we reserved the goal of winning each and every contest on our schedule. Ryan Detenbeck, our goalie, dragged me out, said we needed to loosen up before the game. When I argued, he told me we’d only be young once and shouldn’t waste a minute of fun.
And I listened.
If I hadn’t, maybe none of this would’ve happened. No, that doesn’t sound right. If I’d stayed home, and the boys had gone out to the bar, they still would’ve found trouble.
Anyway, I’d hoped we could enjoy a couple of beers and that would’ve been the end of it. Reality took hold pretty quickly, though. With guys like Ryan Detenbeck and Levi Dunn, there was no such thing as downing a couple of cold ones and calling it a night.
We crowded the far end of the bar when Zane Martin and the Remington Riptides breezed through the door. You should’ve seen it. They strolled in boasting this I-own-the-place look paired with a my-shit-don’t-stink attitude that made the Larkin Lions’ heat with them far less of a mystery.
“Red alert,” Levi Dunn said. “Asshole convention at twelve o’clock.”
Once Detenbeck and I cracked up laughing, we couldn’t stop. At least he hadn’t purposely said it loud enough for them to hear. I couldn’t say that much for Jax Echlin. I actually heard that colossal prick say, “If it isn’t the Lions. Aren’t they the sorriest sacks of shit you’ve ever seen?”
