Page 38 of Puck Me Secretly

Voices off camera. “He’s going to kill him. Get Max off him.”

A flurry of arms and legs and hard wrestling. Max fought being lifted off Joseph, but his teammates restrained him and shoved him back into the locker room.

Joseph was unconscious and his face was unrecognizable.

“Call an ambulance.”

“Turn off that camera.”

The video ended.

Horrified, I sat with my hand over my mouth.

I knew the facts. Max had broken Joseph’s jaw in three places,smashed his nose and broken two of his teeth. Joseph's injuries were so extensive he required restorative surgery to his face.

Max hadn't been charged, but the coach had benched him. According to my father, it was a move made by his team to buy time, so they could wrap up the paperwork and remove him from the team.

As soon as the playoffs ended, Minnesota had put Max up for trade. Not a single team had wanted him, except my father.

It baffled me that no one from his old club talked about what the fight was about. There were plenty of news articles written about the fight, filled with speculation, but no one from his old team talked. Which was unusual. Hockey lips sank ships, but in this case, no one breathed a word. Which showed how bad the secret was.

No wonder there was such a feeding frenzy around Max.

What had happened?

Why had he lost his cool and beat his own teammate?

I couldn’t reconcile the Max I knew with the barbarian who seemed determined to destroy Joseph. My question was, what had Joseph done to Max? Max wasn’t a fiery hothead. He didn’t have a hair-trigger temper.

Now the hockey world held Max’s past against him. I had promised him a clean slate and I would grant him that. This video only validated my decision to protect him from the press. And the public. Without speaking to anyone, the media couldn’t twist and turn his words against him. Without sound bites, reporters had nothing to write about.

I needed to find out what secret he was hiding. I needed to know what that fight was about.

CHAPTER 14

The next morning,dad called me into his office. I faltered when I saw Katrina, smug as fuck, sitting on my dad’s couch.

“Come in,” my dad motioned me into the room.

I eyeballed Katrina, but didn’t speak. I could read my father better than anyone and something annoyed him. I chose the other end of the couch.

He picked up a file and then tossed it on the table. “What’s going on with Logan and the press?”

“I think you already know.”

“Excuse me?” my dad raised his eyes.

“Isn’t that what this meeting is about?”

Katrina’s smile was smooth. “Max is ready to speak to the press.”

“I disagree,” I shot back.

My dad glanced between both of us. “Katrina, why do you think he’s ready?”

“He’s done a phenomenal job of studying media training. We’ve been through dozens of dummy interviews. He’s charming, personable and his career deserves to shine. It’s not fair for this team to hold him back.”

I bite back my retort.

---