Page 88 of In the Danger Zone
Fuck. Here we go. I was in for it now, but I couldn’t fucking focus on the game when I was still stuck on Daisy.
I missed her. Even after everything she had done, I still ached for her. I missed her bright smiles and her soft touch and her gentle voice. The way she’d kiss me like she always needed me closer. Or how she’d stare at me when a game was over with, that proud look on her face. She gave so much to me.
I was still trying to process the fact that it had all been a lie.
Murph only just got back in the morning so he could take over for Holden. He had been busy all day. Me and Hudson had made an attempt to tell Murph the truth before the game, but he had a hundred different people in his ear as usual. He was too busy to even listen.
Maybe I’d get the chance to fill him in since we’d be talking one on one. We needed Asher back. He should have had the spot he had rightfully earned until Daisy came along and ruined it.
Grumbling to myself, I made my way to Murph’s office, still in my skates and uniform. I pulled off my helmet so I’d be at least a bit more comfortable when Murph yelled at me. It took him only a couple of minutes to show up.
“Can I be blunt?” Murph pulled his cap off, letting it hit the desk before he sat down behind it. “What the hell was that tonight?”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “I know. Shitty performance tonight. I fucked up.”
“No losses all season. All of a sudden you look like you’ve never played a game of hockey in your life.”
“It was bad. I get it. It won’t happen again. Can I go now?”
“Did something happen?” Murph asked. “Because I thought you’d be playing better since we dealt with all that Asher shit.”
I ran a hand through my damp hair, eyes on the floor. “I wanted to talk to you about that. Look, me and Daisy broke up—”
“I thought you two would be glad to hear that Asher gone.” Murph cut me off. “What happened with Daisy? You seemed pretty happy together.”
“Did you speak to him?” I frowned, quickly changing the topic. Yes, we were happy. It was the happiest I had ever been, actually. “You gotta get Asher back on the team. Me and Hudson were trying to tell you this before the game started but you were too busy with other shit.”
Murph scoffed. “Okay, first of all, watch your tone. And secondly, no. Ain’t no way in hell am I doing that.”
“But Daisy lied!” I let out. “That whole high school sob story was bullshit.”
“Hey, slow down.” Murph held his hands up. “Where did you hear that?”
“Asher.”
“Yeah, I thought so. Is that why you broke up with your girlfriend?” Murph asked lowly. “Did Asher tell you he never touched her? That he never hurt her?”
“You need to talk to him, Murph. Daisy was lying about everything.”
Murph crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly looking like a disappointed dad. “What did he tell you exactly?”
I let out an exhausted breath, my helmet still in my hand. “Look, it’s a long story. There’s… a lot that happened. But long story short: Daisy lied to me. Asher exposed those lies. You need to see that video of Daisy’s dad hurting Asher. It was the other way around. Asher was the one who got hurt. Not Daisy. It was all some lie to make Asher look like the bad guy and get some money from his family. That didn’t work, though. What’s the next best thing? Take away something he loves. Hockey. She couldn’t pull it off in high school, but she pulled it off here in college.”
There was total silence then. It felt like an hour had gone by without Murph even blinking. Then he went from looking disappointed to staring at me like he was gonna reach over the desk and strangle me.
“You clearly get into too many fights out on the ice, you dumb ass,” Murph said with gritted teeth. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“What?” I fought back.
“I don’t know what bullshit Asher showed you, but I know what he did to her that day. Christ, Evan, he beat the girl up so bad that she was in hospital for weeks,” Murph snapped at me.
My head shook. “No, no, no. I saw—”
“You saw some bullshit, carefully edited video.” Murph cut me off once again. “Why the fuck would you go to Asher for the source?”
“But… No, wait.” My heart stopped. That couldn’t be right. “I saw the video, Murph. Herdadwas the violent one. He put his hands on Asher and Daisy tried to flip the lie. It didn’t work. And there’s other stuff too… Money stuff. Like I said, it’s a long story.”
Murph narrowed his eyes at me. “You are so goddamn dumb, son.”
