Page 203 of Play Dirty

Then the connections started. Accounts. Transfers. Patterns that didn’t make sense until suddenly—

They did.

By midweek he was on leave.

By the end of it— he was gone.

“Pending investigation,” Zack read, shaking his head like he couldn’t quite believe it. “That’s rich.”

“He’s done,” Ares said flatly.

Grayson didn’t answer. We all knew.

The best part?

Trees.

It came out quietly — a segment buried halfway through a longer breakdown. A former coach mentioned by name, almost as an afterthought—

Then not as an afterthought at all.

“Looking back,” the analyst said, circling one of the clips, “you can see where concerns may have originated. Former coach Eddie ‘Fast’ Trees reportedly raised internal questions before his departure.”

Reportedly.

I almost laughed.

“They owe him,” Sebastian muttered.

“They fucked him,” Ares corrected.

Mercer addressed it the next morning. Not in a speech. Not in some big, emotional team meeting.

Just— before practice.

Standing at center ice while the rest of them circled in.

“What happened… happened,” he said.

No buildup. No dramatics.

“They’ll deal with it,” he said.

A beat.

“We move on.”

That was Mercer.

No praise, no victory lap. No dwelling, either.

But as the team broke—

As sticks tapped the ice and bodies shifted and voices picked back up—

He caught Grayson’s shoulder and held it, just for a second.

“That was yours,” he said quietly.