Ugh.
All I can do now is hang tough and hope my father doesn’t try to ship me off somewhere before I can be with Bodi. I don’t know how he would do that—I’m a freakin’ adult. He can’t just force me to get on a plane or whatever.
Can he?
Worry winds through my gut and though I want to tell Bodi that we may have to up our timeline, but I don’t want to stress him out. He’s doing what he needs to do to provide for our future—and there’s no telling what my Dad could do to himprofessionally if he thinks that I—and Bodi by extension—know what he’s been up to.
The best thing is for me to keep my head down until Bodi has a handle on what he’s going to do about hockey. I don’t want him worrying about me unless and until it’s absolutely necessary.
If we get to that point, I’ll tell him everything.
If I can get more details about this money my father stole, we might even be able to use it as leverage. I just have to figure out how.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Bodi
It takes nearly two days for my body to recover from Coach’s punishment, but I’m too busy to worry about anything except getting the hell out of Atlanta.
We have a home game tonight, and I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to get out there and put on the performance of a lifetime.
“Lineup changes,” Coach Panzetti says, coming in while we’re having our pre-game meal. He doesn’t look at anyone as he reads from his iPad. “Michener and Knight, you’re healthy scratches tonight. Villaverde, you’re on the first line…”
I don’t hear anything else because the roaring in my ears is deafening.
What the fuck.
I glance over at Ashton, and he’s scowling. His eyes meet mine and I shake my head, mouthing, “Sorry.”
He grins and shrugs, like it’s no big deal, but it is.
This is his rookie season as a pro. There’s a lot of attention on him, both because of how well he played in college and becauseof who his older brother is. He has a lot of expectations to live up to, and this won’t look good for him.
It doesn’t look good for me either, but at least there’s a reason I’m being punished. Ashton didn’t do anything except support me. And he wasn’t the only one. Half the team got out there with me by the end. But he can’t bench all of us, so there are probably more surprises coming in the next couple of days.
“Coach.” West gets up and follows Coach Panzetti into the hallway. I figure he’s going to fight for us, but there’s nothing to be done. If the lineup changes have already been posted, it’s a done deal. Besides, even if he gets Ashton back on the list, I know my ass isn’t dressing tonight.
Of course, I told West that Blaze is the one who ratted out Jayne and me, and he said he would handle it. I don’t know what that means exactly but I trust him. Personally, my first instinct would be to beat the living shit out of the little prick but that will only get me into more trouble and things are bad enough the way they are. Besides, I learned a tough lesson in L.A. that getting physical doesn’t fix anything. And usually, it just makes it worse.
The kid won’t last long in this league if he keeps that shit up but I’ve got my own situation to deal with.
“Bodi, wait up.” Ashton jogs after me.
“I’m sorry I dragged you down with me, “I say as we walk into the dressing room and I start pulling out my street clothes.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m good.” He leans against the lockers.
“Did I tell you that Villaverde is the one who told Coach about Jayne and me?” I ask, yanking on my button-down shirt. “So, watch yourself with him.”
“Fuck him,” Ashton says. “He won’t last five minutes in this league if word gets out he’s some kind of spy for Coach.”
“As long as Morrison is our coach, apparently he’ll do better than the rest of us.” I pull out my pants and start putting them on.
“Look, he can’t bench you forever,” Ashton says after a moment. “He’ll move past this.”
“Yeah.” I have less faith than he does but there’s no point in arguing.
