Part 21 (2/2)

”It matters!” I shouted, struggling to get to him. I was livid and wanted revenge. In an aggravated motion, I ripped my helmet off. It skidded to the boards. ”It f.u.c.king matters, and you know it!”

”Why?” He sounded offended, annoyed, and restless. He knew where this was going and from the look in my eyes, I was sure he knew how it was ending. ”Is it because you didn't get a chance at the cherry?” He laughed bitterly. ”That's it, isn't it?”

I found numbness.

I lunged for him, throwing punches I wasn't landing at first, but then once I started connecting, every f.u.c.king memory was told through my fist. It was like I stopped seeing what was in front of me and lived inside a memory instead.

”She walked away, man.” Dave snorted, completely missing the point, struggling to get me off of him. ”Get over it.”

I had no idea what was going on around me, just that refs, coaches, and teammates were all shouting around us, but I couldn't stop, not until I couldn't lift my arm.

When I couldn't move, when he was lying on the ice, bleeding, a vision just like Ami, I stood or tried to at least. ”Walk away from that, you son of a b.i.t.c.h.”

I wanted to f.u.c.king kill him, but there was a bigger message here.

This time, my message, the message our sport so clearly sent sometimes, was a personal one: You f.u.c.k up, you pay for that s.h.i.+t.

I was escorted to the locker room and started ripping away my gear, throwing the best I could given my condition. The trainers were there, and I was told I needed to head to the hospital. When I felt the blood pouring from my face and the pain in my chest, I decided maybe it was a good idea.

I wondered if she knew. We knew things about each other, s.h.i.+t we never had to say. She knew me, deeper than bones and deeper than soul.

I knew from the first touch; the same pa.s.sion flew through both of us. As livid as I was, and I still felt inside, I couldn't help but think it wasn't all about me. I flinched at my thoughts and her reaction.

There was a girl about to know the truth, the truth that just might rip those stars from the sky.

Staring at my hands, b.l.o.o.d.y and broken, I was disappointed, too. I was disappointed that I didn't use my head, and that here we were in playoffs and I let the team down. I also knew had any one of my boys known what I knew, they would have reacted that way, too.

”So what's going to happen to Dave?” I asked, once at the hospital, my voice shaking in fear that the answer would be nothing.

”If he is the one, he will be arrested,” Detective Paulsen said. I had Leo call him as soon as they sent me to the hospital. He met me at the hospital. ”He will be questioned, I a.s.sure you.”

I heard the pitch in his voice when he got here, his breathing, his eyes-it all told me what I needed to know. He knew all along it was Dave. How I missed it this long was disturbing. Now everything made sense. The way he acted the next day, the way Paulsen asked questions about the guys on my team that day. The way he blew off any tip I gave him and the way Blake was so easily forgotten about. Paulsen had known all along.

”You guys better do something about him or you'll have the entire Chicago Blackhawks team in jail in about an hour,” Leo warned the detective, moving from the chair and standing beside him, knowing we'd all go after Dave again if it came to that. His scowl deepened when the detective said nothing, and I realized I had never seen Leo so upset. I'd never seen him so intense, so angry, and well, so protective of a girl. Ami had that way about her.

Detective Paulsen rolled his eyes. ”Like I said, he'll be questioned.”

Leo started pacing the room, his hands in his hair. ”I was with him that night. I was f.u.c.king with him!” A look of realization came over him. ”And I had breakfast with him that morning. Oh, for Christ's sake! I even knew he'd been with a girl that night. He told me.” I could understand Leo's frustration and betrayal. We trusted Dave. He was our friend, and now it was like we didn't even know him. Dave was the last person I would ever think could do something like that to another person. Sure, he f.u.c.ked around, but trying to kill a woman? No. Never did I think he would have been the one.

All this time, for months, I thought for sure it was Blake and that he just had a good f.u.c.king lawyer. Even with that, someday I knew he'd pay for what he had done. Now that it was Dave, I still felt the same way. He needed to pay.

Clearing the zone When a defending player sends the puck out of the opponent's attacking zone, all the attacking players must leave or clear the zone to avoid being called offsides when the puck re-enters the zone.

An awareness for the situation took over, and Callie cleared her throat, our arms intertwined, clutching each other at what we just witnessed.

I felt nauseous seeing Evan lying on the ice. I felt mentally drained and scared. I had no idea what happened out there or why they were fighting like that, but I knew it was for a reason. Evan wouldn't have let the fight go on like that if it wasn't personal. But Dave was his friend so that didn't make sense to me.

”What was that about?” I asked Callie. She shrugged and pointed behind her. ”We should go. Leo just sent a text and said they're taking Evan to the hospital.”

The medical personnel mostly hovered around Dave, who was still on the ice, blood pouring from his mouth and nose, but Evan had limped off with the help of the trainer and Remy, only to collapse once he was off the ice.

”We have to go,” I pleaded, attempting to move from our seats. There was no moving. The crowd was still cheering and booing at the same time, beating their hands against the gla.s.s as another player from San Jose was in Coach O'Brien's face.

It was madness, nothing I had ever seen before.

After jostling our way through the crowd, we met Remy outside. He was the only one who managed to get away from the media, which were hovering in every corner. Leo was stuck talking with one trying to get them to focus on the game and not the fight.

None of us said anything, and I didn't ask what happened because I didn't think Remy even knew. He looked stunned just like us.

The slight chill in the air brought back a flash of memories from that night, words I hadn't remembered coming back to me. ”Where are you going all alone?”

The memory made me sick again. The rush of blood to my ears blocked out the conversation that just began between Callie and Remy about what hospital they took him to.

When we pulled up at the emergency entrance, there were about four cop cars surrounding the circle drive and a dozen more inside, each one looking at us as we rushed in. Remy asked the male nurse at the front desk where Evan was, and he said Evan was with the police.

What?

”Why would he be with the police?” I asked. My voice cracked, and Remy looked over at me. He wrapped his arm around me to comfort me.

Callie stepped to the desk, her hands resting on the counter, leaning in. ”We just need to know if he's okay, and then we will have a seat and wait. That's his girlfriend.” She raised her hand to touch my shoulder. ”Can she at least see him for a moment?”

”No, sorry.” The man looked at his clipboard. ”But I will let you know when you can if you would please just have a seat over there.”

Remy wasn't having it, but when a policeman stepped in between him and the nurse, he backed off.

Once inside, we sat there for two hours before we could see him. Two f.u.c.king hours.

When they finally did tell me that I could see him, they said he was asking for me.

It was a strange feeling being back in a hospital, both sickening and overwhelming as memories I hadn't had before kept looping in my head. The chill returned, and I found myself curling into my sweats.h.i.+rt as I walked through the automatic doors into the emergency room. Each room had gla.s.s walls with a bed and monitors surrounding them.

Evan was in the one to the far left, sitting up on the bed in a gown with his feet dangling over the edge. His uniform had been removed and was in a pile on the floor. He was dressed in a white and light green hospital gown that was open in the front. Bruises and blood covered his chest. That was where my eyes went first and then to his face, but I couldn't see it. He wouldn't look up. Even when he heard the gla.s.s doors open, he kept his head down.

Then I noticed the man sitting in the chair beside him. Detective Paulsen. My detective.

”What are you doing here?” My case had been closed months ago.

”Give us a minute,” Evan growled, his voice directed at the floor. He wouldn't look up.

The detective stood and moved to the door, and without looking at me, he left us alone.

Stepping to Evan, he flinched slightly when I touched his hand. ”Broken,” he said, confirming my thoughts when I noticed how swollen it was. I started to cry again, confused by everything and feeling bad that I had just touched his broken hand.

”I'm sorry.”

Evan gasped, finally looking up at me, his body practically vibrating with an anger. He was breathing deeply through his nose.

<script>