Page 77 of In the Danger Zone
My eyes widened at his threat. He said it so casually. “I d-don’t know what y-you’re—”
“You tell Evan to let me get fucking swarmed on the ice the other night? Huh? Are you the reason no one helped me the other day? Why I have this fucking black eye?”
I blinked at him. “That’s n-not what h-happened.”
“Lying. Fucking.Cunt. You know what else happened? You know what other big mistake you just fucking made?”
I said nothing. There was no way for me to know what was going on in Asher’s mind. No part of mewantedto know.
“Telling my coach about what happened!” he snapped when I didn’t answer. “He knows. He fucking knows. And you know what he did? You know why he just called me a few hours ago? He told me that I’m off the fucking team!”
I felt Asher’s hand tighten around my throat more. I was gonna die. I was. Right there in some cramped, little closet on campus. My hands shook, trying once again to get Asher’s fingers off my throat. But that just made him squeeze at me harder. My eyes felt wet and my cheeks felt warm, and all I could imagine was Evan storming into the closet to save me.
But he had no idea who I was stuck with or where I was. History had returned. I was all alone with no one to help me, and the monster who nearly killed me before looked ready to finish off the job.
“Was it Evan?” Asher asked, voice all rushed and harsh. “Did you get Evan to tell Murph?”
Evan promised me he wouldn’t do anything about what Asher did to me. He did let Asher get beat up the other day, but that fight didn’t startbecauseof Evan. Asher got into the fight all on his own.
There was no way Evan told anyone. He told me he wouldn’t. And if he was going to do it, why wouldn’t he tell me? I didn’t believe Leena would tell anyone either. She was a good friend.
“E-Evan didn’t do anything,” I whispered. “D-Don’t hurt him.”
“Oh, I’m not gonna hurt him,” Asher muttered. “I should hurt you, though. I should do exactly what I used to do to you. Hit you. Make you bleed. Leave you all bruised. But I know something much, much better than that. I know what to do that’s gonnareallyfucking hurt.”
I literally gulped. “A-Asher…”
“You really fucked up this time. You’re trying to ruin my life, trying to make me suffer. Did you really think I was gonna let you get away with this?”
“I don’t… I d-don’t know…”
“I don’t care what you don’t fucking know!” His eyes darkened more. “All that matters is that I’m gonna take something away from you just like you took hockey away from me.”
My eyes widened, doing my best to shake my head with a hand on my neck. “D-Don’t… M-My parents… Please leave them a-alone… They d-didn’t—”
“No, not your fucking parents.” Asher cut me off. “They aren’t on my fucking radar anymore, you little cunt. It’s gonna be so much worse. I promise you that much. You’re gonna fucking regret what you did.”
“I didn’t do anything!” I tried, and that was the truth.
“You’re a bad liar. Doesn’t fucking matter, anyway. You’re gonna wish I killed you that day. Just you fucking wait.” Asher finally pulled away from me, eyes still dark.
A sharp gasp left my lips and I took in a dry, painful breath. Asher scoffed at me, muttering out a “stupid bitch” at me before he yanked the door open. I jumped when he slammed it shut and let out a shaky, pathetic sounding whimper.
Slowly, I sunk right to the floor. Humiliation and fear was all I could feel. My heart was beating wildly in my chest, my trembling lips parting to finally let out a sob. Any progress I had made over the last few months had disappeared. The small bit of confidence I had gathered, the tiny bit of power I had taken back.
It all vanished like it wasn’t even there in the first place.
Just you fucking wait. Asher’s words repeated in my head.
Whatever he was planning on doing, it was going to be worse than him sending me to the hospital.
For Asher, the possibilities of hurting me were endless.
Chapter 35
EVAN
“I have an announcement to make before the game starts.” Our assistant coach’s voice was loud as he stood by the doorway of the locker room.
