Page 34 of Lucky Hit

SEVENTEEN

OAKLEY

Ava lied to me. I know she did.

I've already put enough pieces together to know that her breakup with David was not a mutual decision. Nor was it for whatever bullshit reason she tried to sell me yesterday. He did something to her, and I intend to find out what—by whatever means necessary.

Looking around the locker room, I finally spot the guy I've been looking for since practice ended.

"Remer, come here for a second, would you, buddy?"

His head snaps up in my direction and nods as he swaggers over to me. I realize just how short he is the closer he gets.

"Hey, Hutton. You need something?"

I want nothing more than to knock the helpless grin right off of his fucking face.

"Yeah, actually, Coach needs us to grab some shit from the storage room," I lie.

"Oh yeah, sure," he nods and slaps a hand against my shoulder.

Self-restraint is not one of my specialties, and boy do I have to force myself not to rip his slimy hand clean from his arm.

I follow him to the storage room, a couple paces behind him. He twists the doorknob and holds the door open for me. He stares at the shelves, waiting for me to tell him what Coach wanted from the room. I shut the door behind me and cross my arms against my chest. When I turn to him, his calm expression is replaced by one of confusion. He moves a few steps away from me and squares his shoulders. I do the same, making our height difference evident to him.

"Clearly, Coach doesn't need anything. But I, on the other hand, do."

He raises his eyebrows, eyeing the closed door. "And what is it that you need, Oakley?"

"I want you to tell me what you did to make Matt and Adam hate you so much." My words come out strong and demanding.

"Those two buffoons? I have no idea," he mutters with a shrug. "Matt doesn't know his head from his ass, so no. I have no idea."

I clench my fists so hard that my nails dig into my palm. "And Adam?"

A glimpse of a dark, well-hidden emotion flashes across his face as he swallows visibly and looks away from me.

"I get what's happening here. I saw Ava's little sign for you at our last game. She's beautiful, isn't she? Too bad she's a damn prude." His lips curl into a smirk.

I force myself to stay still in an attempt to stop myself from throwing him against a wall and beating the shit out of him. Nobody can talk about Ava like that.

"I don't know who you're talking about." I play dumb, trying to bait him.

"Oh, you know. Green eyes. Long, brown hair. Phenomenal ass," David adds with a wicked grin.

Any and all self-control disappears as soon as the words leave his lips. Within seconds my arm winds back, and my fist crashes against his nose. A loud crunch rings in my ears.

"You prick," I snarl and throw another punch. This time I’m making contact with his jaw. He stumbles backwards and crashes into the shelves behind him, sending buckets of hockey pucks crashing to the floor. As he tries to regain his balance, I turn to sneak a glance at the door. It's still closed, keeping us hidden for now.

I turn my attention back to David a second too late. He catches me off guard and his fist connects with my face. I can feel the skin above my eyebrow bust open. Warm, crimson blood drips steadily.

"You have a strong will, buddy. Don't let her take that from you like she did to me," he sneers. I launch myself at him again. All conscious thoughts dissipate as we hurtle towards the ground. I use all of my body weight to pin him to the ground. I pull my arm back to throw another punch and—

"Oakley." I hear, even over the pounding of my heart and the strong ringing in my ears.

"I'll find out what you did, Remer," I spit through clenched teeth as strong arms wrap around my waist.

"Oakley! Oakley, that's enough!" Matt pulls me off of David with a strength I didn't know he possessed.

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