Page 95 of Ruled Out

My head is spinning out when I take a seat on the bench, watching the game play out in front of me.

How the fuck does he know?

Tara. It’s gotta be Tara.

“Callaghan, you’re back in. I want the same performance again.” Coach’s booming voice snaps me from my trance as I rejoin the play and immediately pick up a loose puck, handing us a turnover.

When two defensemen come charging for me, I consider the option of pulling off a similar move as last time. But neither of them is Coulson, who hangs back down the wing.

As much as I’m shitting myself over the prospect of Graham knowing, I’m pissed that Coulson thinks he can threaten me and talk shit about Mia.

I know he’s slow and he doesn’t stand a chance when I hit the jets, and that’s exactly my game plan as I head straight for him.

The deke I throw offers me the perfect chance to thread the puck through his open legs, embarrassing the shit out of him, and I’m sure he can hear my laugh as I hit overdrive and accelerate away, my head up and ready to pass the puck off to Jackson to put us up by another goal.

But as I set up, ready for the pass, my stick doesn’t connect with the puck; instead, my jaw does when I hit the ice so fucking hard that the noise of the crowd fades in my fight to stay conscious.

When I roll over, Coulson’s face is the first thing my blurry vision recognizes as I bring my gloves to my jaw.

“Fuck you, Callaghan!” he shouts, spitting on my jersey. “You think you can just disrespect the man who gave you everything?!”

“Nah, bro, fuck YOU!”

I watch from my back as Zach lands the first punch against the side of Coulson’s head, sending him straight back and into the boards.

Climbing to my feet, I look down to see a puddle of my blood freezing on the ice. Blood has never bothered me, so I know thenauseating feeling rolling through my stomach is either from the pain or a concussion.

“No one messes with my wingers!” Zach spits, landing another punch on Coulson’s helmet, and it flies across the ice. “I fucking knew you were gunning for him!”

My vision is shit, but even I can see the fury in Zach’s eyes as he lands punch after punch, each one sending Coulson closer to the ice until he lands flat on his back.

Zach doesn’t stop beating on him until the ref pulls him off. Calling a major penalty against Coulson for taking my legs out with his stick and the same for my captain for fighting.

“Game’s over, son.” Coach Burrows wraps his arm around my shoulders as I step off the ice, my glove clutched to my chin to help stem the bleeding.

I shrug off his arm and turn to him as the team doctor shouts for me to follow for treatment. “I need to speak with Graham. Where is he?” I say, knowing he’ll have eyes on me from somewhere in the arena.

The empathetic look on Burrows’s face turns to stone. He knows I would only be asking for Graham’s whereabouts for one reason. “No fucking idea, Callaghan. But if you’re asking for the reason I think you are, I’d say there’s a fair chance he’ll find you. Now, get off the ice and get that jaw looked at.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

JESSIE

“Four stitches? I’d say you got away lightly with that.”

“Yeah, guess so,” I reply to Jensen, rushing to button up my dress shirt so I can get out of the arena and call Mia.

“Coulson received more, apparently.” Zach sidles up alongside me, adjusting his tie. “All that was to do with Mia, wasn’t it?”

He doesn’t speak loudly enough for the others to hear, but Jensen’s head whips up at the mention of her name.

“You think he knows? I thought he was just being the asshole he’d always been.”

“Oh, he knows. And so does Jenkins, apparently,” I say, looping my tie and glancing down at my phone in my bag. “I don’t know if Mia does yet. Coulson made it out like it was just a secret between him and Graham right now.”

Jensen runs a palm over his mouth. “I don’t get it. Who would out you guys? There’s nothing in the press. If there were, we’d sure as shit know about it.”

Now fully dressed, I snatch up my wash bag and grab my phone. “By process of elimination, it has to be Mia’s roommate. She found out yesterday.”

---