“Nothing could excuse this behavior,” he went on.
I pursed my lips. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
He ran a hand over his balding head. “I can’t afford to lose my captain to a suspension. Is this about that girl again?”
Coach and I had a pretty good relationship. It was my second season as captain, and my captaincy would probably outlive his tenure as coach unless we became a winning team, fast. I knew he adored his daughters, so maybe I had a chance of making him understand without putting Violet at risk. You shouldn’t have to have daughters to understand why what happened to Violet is unforgivable, but I knew the world I was up against.
“Yes, it was about her.”
His face reddened. “You are throwing your career away?—”
“I have no plans to stop seeing her, so don’t even say it.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sat forward, folding his hands on his desk. “Why did you do it?”
I stilled, trying to convey the gravity of the situation. “He did something really awful to her when we were in college.”
He rolled his eyes. “What, like a bad breakup?”
I waited until he was done being immature about it. “Much worse than that.”
Coach’s eyes rounded. “Thatkind of worse?”
I nodded. “It’s not my story to tell.”
He cradled his head in his hands on his desk. “I’m very sorry to hear that,” he said gravely. “But the player safety committee isn’t going to have much sympathy for your vendetta. Did she report it back then?”
I shook my head. “From what I understand, that never goes the way it should. It can be like reliving it over and over.”
Coach bobbed his head and chewed his lip. “Alright. I was going to back you up regardless of whether you had a good reason, but I’ll have to think about how to handle this. No press for you, okay? It’ll give you a better chance with player safety.”
I stood and knocked on his desk like I always did when leaving. “Understood.”
I returned to my locker and found an unsettled silence from my teammates, so I busied myself with checking my phone. I expected to hear from my dad, but I didn’t expect it to be like this. Instead of feeling like a dog with a rolled up newspaper held behind my head, I felt like I was getting a warm hug.
DAD
your mom told me what happened
sorry son
you did the right thing. give her a hug for me.
I guess Mom had been right about Dad being surprising sometimes.
While that felt like a huge weight off my shoulders, I still had the quiet locker room around me.
After a couple more minutes of silence and everyone looking anywhere but at me, Leroy spoke. “I guess everybody’s leaving it up to me. What the fuck, Cap?”
“Didn’t you two play on the same team?” Korowski asked. “Isn’t Doyle your friend?”
I clenched my jaw, then shifted it forward with an audible pop. My team deserved answers.
“We were on the same team in college. I wouldn’t say we were friends then. We’re certainly not now.”
Leroy shrugged, holding his pants in one hand. “Okay. So,what the fuck? You were already chirping him before the game.”
I did not want to give away anything about Violet. “He knows what he did.”
