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“Damn right. I got Skylar back, thanks to you,” I goad.
“She was a bad lay anyway,” he spits.
“From what I heard, it was you who was bad in bed,” I retort quickly. This is harder than I thought because Carter talking badly about my girl makes me want to pounce on him. I take a breath.
Carter watches me like maybe I’m unhinged.
“You looking to get your face punched in tonight, Bozeman?” Carter asks.
“You’re doing good, Liam. Push a little harder,” Mike says through the earpiece.
“By a pussy like you? I don’t think so,” I scoff.
Carter cracks his neck from side to side.
One of his friends whispers to him to ignore me.
“Did you know it was the night I got the penalty playing against you that I found Skylar? I should be thanking you. You seem to be my lucky charm.” I wink at him like he’s my bitch.
“Motherfucker,” he says, and then he’s coming at me. His two friends try to hold him back, but he’s too enraged. “You have no business being with Skylar.”
He punches me in the face, and I take it.
“Oh, you know how sweet she is. There’s no way I’m giving her up,” I provoke him as his fist comes down on me again. “You stupid pussy. Is your dick small? Is that why you couldn’t keep her satisfied?”
He punches me in the stomach, and I keel over.
“I don’t know what your problem is, Lewis. I’m in town to see my father,” I say from the bar’s floor. Carter kicks me in the ribs, and I’m pretty sure he cracks one or more of them.
That’s when his friends move in, along with the bartender, to grab Carter from behind. He’s breathing hard, and his eyes look wild. He isn’t in control of himself.
The bartender asks his friends to remove him from the bar. Then he’s coming over to me. “You okay, buddy? You must have a death wish. That guy was a beast,” he says.
“I can’t breathe,” I croak out. It isn’t a lie. I’m sure my ribs are busted.
“I’m calling 911,” the bartender says.
While he calls an ambulance, I hang on the bar. My lip is busted. I feel my right eye swelling, and it hurts to breathe. Hell, I don’t know if he punctured one of my organs or if I’m bleeding internally.
“I’m out,” Mike says through the earpiece. “Don’t look for me. We got what we needed. Go to the hospital. Take your earpiece out and hide it.”
I do as he says.
When the EMS arrive, they ask me if I want to be transported to the hospital. It appears I also need some stitches around my eye. I tell them I can’t drive myself, and they transport me to the closest hospital. The doc tells me I have two cracked ribs. He sews the gash on my eye shut and tells me I was lucky not to have internal bleeding.
By the time I leave the hospital, it’s the middle of the night. I expected Carter to rough me up. The plan was I wouldn’t fight back. I didn’t expect him to get that crazy though. It was like he wanted to end me. If his friends hadn’t stopped him, he might have succeeded. That thought scares the living daylights out of me because there is no way that man can ever be near Crew. He has a serious problem. He’s dangerous. Hell, he shouldn’t even be playing hockey.
I figure I’ll wait until morning to call Flynn, but as I drive back to my hotel in the Uber, I get a call from her.
“It’s three in the morning,” I say. My voice sounds groggy, and it hurts to speak.
“No sleep for the wicked, Liam,” she whispers. “I was in touch with Mike. He said he got way more than we needed. Are you okay? He said it was bad.”
“I’ve been better. I don’t think I’ll be able to play hockey for at least a month and this close to the playoffs is going to really upset my coach,” I say.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of your coach,” she replies. “How will you get home? Doesn’t sound like you’ll be able to make the drive back to the city.”
“I’ll figure something out,” I assure her.
