But before I make a move, another person appears, and then another. It only takes a moment to realize I’m outnumbered. Their whole team is here, and I’m alone.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll walk away before this gets ugly,” I say. I’m bluffing. I’m a hell of a fighter—it what happens when you start at a young age and fuck everyone up as you go along—but I can’t take six of them. Seven, if you count the out-of-action goalie.
The goalie laughs, and the others echo the sound.
“You’re a moron if you think that threat is going to change your fate tonight.”
There’s nothing left to say. I’m in trouble, and I know it. I have a tire iron in my trunk, but I won’t get to it fast enough. I can’t run because I won’t get away, and that will just make me look like a pussy. The only thing I can do is to hone in on a weakness, get a shot in before shit hits the fan.
I nod slowly and turn away slightly before I swing. My fist connects with the metal cast. A burst of pain shoots through my hand, but it’s nothing compared to the pure agony the goalie must feel when he drops the ground. His nose pisses blood, and he looks like he’s about to pass out from the pain.
There’s no time for me to keep watching him. The rest of them jump me, and it goes just about the way I figured it would. Two of them hold me, and someone slugs me through the face. Fists pound into my stomach, and a boot connects with my ribs from the side that winds me. My legs sag, and my ears start to ring. The pain started as individual bursts, but they’re starting to flow together into one thick haze that blurs the world around me. All I can think about is the pain, and I wonder if they’re going to kill me.
If they did, what kind of a life have I lived?
When I lie on the floor, a few more kicks land on my ribs and my stomach.
The goalie is on his feet again, but he looks like shit. I see him through the eye that hasn’t swollen shut, but even so, my vision is blurred.
“That’s just a taste of what you’ll get if you don’t back the fuck up,” the goalie says. His words are muffled, and my ears feel like there’s cotton wool in them.
“Tell that bitch of yours thanks for giving us a heads up about where you’d be. I have to admit it, man, I didn’t think you had women who hated you as much as she clearly does. But you know what they say, you can’t fuck ‘em all.”
The guys laugh and help the goalie up. He can’t even stand on his own two feet.
“Pussy,” I try to call after him, but the blood in my mouth is so thick I have to breathe carefully not to choke on it.
I’m one big lump of pain when they get in their cars and race off, and I’m alone now.
When I roll onto my back, everything hurts, and I cry out in pain. Fuck, who were they talking about? No one hates me this much. No one, except…
My phone is in my pocket. It feels like it takes all the effort in the world to fish it out, and when I hold it up, I struggle to see anything on the bright screen. The light stabs into my good eye and creates a splitting headache.
I squeeze my eye shut and groan. I press talk twice, dialing the last number I called. I can’t see enough to call anyone else, and Chaz is the only person I can think of who might care that I’m here.
“Where the fuck are you, man?” he asks when he answers. “We’re about to get on the ice, and coach is about to shit a brick that you’re missing.”
“I’m…” I cough, and blood pours out of my mouth. “I’m still here.” My voice is hoarse. “I was jumped.”
“Stone? Are you kidding me?”
“Call an ambulance,” I say and hang up.
I hope Chaz will do what he needs to do to help me.
I don’t know how long I lie in the parking lot, swimming in and out of consciousness. Finally, the sound of sirens in the distance pull me back to the surface. Help is on the way. When a car pulls up and I hear Chaz swear, I know I’ll be okay.
“Who the fuck did this to you?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” I lie. No way in hell am I going to admit that I caused this. I started it by picking a fight with the goalie, and I’m not going to let Chaz know it’s my fault.
But that’s the thing. It’snotmy fault.
It’s Raina’s.
Yeah, I had a bit of time to think while lying there, trying not to let go and sink into unconsciousness, and there’s only one woman who hates me and wants nothing to do with me.
She’s the bitch who tipped them off.