“Well, see, I’ve still got to pay for my sponge candy, and?—”
I slapped the container from his hand, and it crashed onto the floor. The slight grin he’d worn flatlined. If he didn’t know I meant business by now, then he never would.
“Do we really have to do this the hard way?” I asked. “Do I have to give you to the count of three to get your ass out there before I drag you?”
“Come on, Zane, be reasonable.
“One…”
“You know, this whole thing has really gotten out of hand. No need to?—”
“Two…”
“Zane, I really hope you know how ridiculous this whole thing is. Yeah, I broke your nose but look at my hand.”
He held up a slightly nicked and scratched right hand with some remaining swelling.
“That’s nothing,” I said.
“Nothing? I’m lucky I didn’t sprain my wrist when I plowed your face in.”
“Three…”
The whole place fell silent. I could only hear the buzz from the fluorescent lights above us. That’s what you callput up or shut uptime.
“You want me outside that badly then I’ll go ahead,” he said. “I’ll get in an insane amount of shit with the coach and probably be cut from the team like he promised, but if you want to settle the score that badly then fine. I’ll oblige you.”
It’s the least I can do for rearranging your face,he might’ve said if he’d had an ounce of courage left. Thankfully, I’d deprived him of that.
When he turned and marched out the door, a sense of victory already filled me. Bashing his face in would only compound that feeling. Still, I wanted to take a moment to savor the first victory before stepping out to enjoy the second. Oh, who am I kidding? I wanted to do a little dance and gloat like crazy but contained myself.
I glanced at his friends, who looked scared because they could do nothing to stop what was about to happen. Then I turned to the cashier who wore the solemn look of a woman who’d watched someone march off to their death. None of thatwould matter in a few short minutes, once I had Jakob laid out on the sidewalk.
Finally, I stepped outside into the late afternoon sunshine, ready to finish some ugly business. Only I didn’t see Zane out there. Had this little prick really run from me? I couldn’t believe that. Maybe I should have. He played for the Larkin Lions, after all.
“Come on, Jakob!” I called out. “Get over here so we can settle this. Let’s see what you’ve got!”
No one appeared. I glanced to my left and then my right, failing to find Jakob, but a Buffalo P.D. cruiser pulled up at the curb right in front of me.
The window rolled down, revealing a cop leaning over the front seat to speak to me.
“Don’t go anywhere, son,” the cop said, “I’d like to have a word with you.”
6
JAKOB
“You had the chance to lay Zane Hirst out again and you passed it up?” Detenbeck lifted his goalie mask, revealing a look of shock and faux disgust beneath. “Shit, dude, I never could’ve left something that tempting on the table.”
“Well, that’s you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, really. Think about it from a common-sense standpoint. I can’t just go around serving up haymakers to everyone that looks at me the wrong way.”
“But you wouldn’t be sending random people to the moon. You wouldn’t be without a damn good reason either. He challenged you, didn’t he? No, no, wait, hedemandedyou meet him outside. Would it be your fault when this guy was almost literally begging for it?”
I shrugged. That was the problem with the other person having a point. You looked like a total idiot for thumbing your nose at common sense. Oh, they’d call it opportunity, but that seemed so unfair. I’d only told Detenbeck about the incident at the end of practice, while I rehearsed shots and he defended the net, because the story seemed too juicy not to share.
