Page 104 of Of Pucking Course

Sam

Iunlock the door to my townhouse and hold it open for Dakota.

We kick our shoes off and head into the kitchen. I was about to tell her everything, but I realized I didn’t want to do it in an alley behind the bar. Too many opportunities for us to be interrupted by some drunk person walking by or noisy traffic.

I told her I wanted to wait until we were at home, so we left Spanky’s and drove straight here.

She leans against the kitchen island and turns to me. She reaches out and scoops my hand in hers. “Tell me.”

I take a breath. “In college, there was a big house party that our entire hockey team went to. A crap ton of students were there too. There were probably five hundred people. I ran into my friend Nick there. He uses a wheelchair and needed to go to the bathroom. It was a split-level house, and the bathroom was upstairs, so Del and I left his wheelchair on the main floor by the stairs to the basement and helped him to the bathroom.”

I stop, my stomach churning just remembering what happened.

“When we helped him back downstairs, his wheelchair was gone.”

Dakota's face falls. “Oh no.”

“At first, we thought maybe someone bumped into it by accident, and it got shoved away because it was so crowded. Del walked off to go look for it, while I stayed with Nick. But then a minute later, I heard laughing.”

That same sick feeling from that night surges through me.

“I looked over and saw our teammate Colin laughing with a group of his friends a few feet away from where I was standing with Nick. I figured they were just drunk and laughing about something stupid. But then I saw that Colin was holding his phone, and there was a video playing.” I huff out a breath. “I saw the video. Colin and his friends walked up to Nick’s empty wheelchair and took turns sitting in it and pushing it around, laughing the whole time. Then Colin kicked the wheelchair down the basement stairs.”

Dakota’s mouth falls open. “Are you serious? He threw your friend’s wheelchair down the stairs?”

I grit my teeth as I nod. “Yeah. He was a real piece of shit. I hated playing with him. He was selfish and cocky. He picked on people constantly. He thought he was hot shit because he was our coach’s son. And our coach pretty much let him get away with everything because he thought his son could do no wrong.”

Dakota’s face twists in disgust. “That’s infuriating. And so unfair. What a jerk.”

I let out a shaky breath. “When I realized he destroyed my friend’s wheelchair for shits and giggles, I lost it.”

Shame heats me from the inside out when I remember what I did that night.

“What did you do?” Dakota asks softly.

“I left Nick on the stairs, and then I walked over to Colin and punched him in the face.”

“Good. He deserved it.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t stop there.” I exhale sharply. “He hit me back, but I was bigger than him. I took the hit, then punched him over and over until he fell to the ground. And then I kept hitting him until his friends pulled me off of him.”

Dakota squeezes my hand. “He still deserved it. That was horrible what he did.”

I smile weakly at the conviction in her tone.

“What happened then?” she asks.

“His friends jumped me, then Del jumped in to help me, then a bunch of other people I didn’t even know jumped in to break up the fight. Everyone was drunk. It was a mess. Colin had a concussion and ended up having to go to the hospital. And when his dad, Coach Salinger, found out what happened, I got kicked off the team.”

Dakota’s eyes go wide. “You did?”

I nod. “Colin had to miss the rest of the season to recover from his injury. His dad was obviously beyond pissed at me. So he got rid of me.”

“But that’s not fair. His son was a bully who destroyed a disabled person’s wheelchair on purpose. You were just defending your friend.”

“He didn’t care. His son was his priority, not me.” I’m quiet for a moment, thinking about what happened all those years ago. “I thought my hockey career was over. Until your brother went to bat for me. Del convinced most of the guys on the team to refuse to play until Coach Salingerreinstated me. And then he went to the athletic director of the university and filed a complaint about the coach for kicking me off the team. And then he threatened to release the video of Colin destroying Nick’s wheelchair if they didn’t let me back on the team.”

Dakota’s eyes are wide as she looks at me. “Whoa…wait, how did Del get the video? I thought it was only on Colin’s phone.”

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