AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He gets to his feet, his eyes narrow, his jaw clenched, his face dark and twisted with rage.
“Is that why you made up the PED story, Zack? Because you thought it would make me fall into your arms?” I ask. “Did you think ruining Dawson’s career would somehow make me love you? Is that really what you thought?”
“I made it up because Dawson Davis is a fucking pig who doesn’t deserve you. He’s a cretin who’s taking advantage of you. You’re blinded by his money and fame, and you just can’t see it right now, Devon,” he says, his tone gentler. “But give it time. When he’s drummed out of the league and isn’t surrounded by the bright lights and money anymore, that shine you feel for him right now will fade. And you’ll realize that it’s me. That it’s always been me. I made up that story for you. For us. I did this to give us a chance at the man you deserve. Me. I made it up for our future.”
A small grin twitches at the corner of my mouth. “Thank you, Zack.”
He looks at me with confusion on his face for a moment. But then he stands up straight, his features smoothing out as he smiles wide, a glint of hope flashing through his eyes.
“You’re welcome, Devon. I knew you’d come around. I knew you’d understand if I just explained to you why I did what I did.”
I pull the phone out of my bag, hit stop on the record function, and raise my gaze to his, a smile crossing my lips. Zack looks at the phone then at me, a look of confusion on his face. At first. But then the realization dawns on him and his expression quickly darkens.
“What did you do, Devon?”
“I didn't do anything but let you talk. You put the final nail in your coffin. Everybody is going to hear your confession, Zack. Everybody’s going to know what you did. You’re about to be famous and hey, maybe some girl will be blinded by those bright lights you’re about to be surrounded by.”
“Devon—”
“Goodbye, Zack.”
I turn and walk away, laughing softly to myself. Behind me, Zack is screaming my name and, when I don’t turn around, lets loose with a string of curse words and heated invectives. That only makes me laugh harder as I cross the quad, leaving Zack where he belongs—behind me.
EPILOGUE
DAWSON
Two Months Later
After getting that recording of Zack admitting he’d made the whole PED story up, she fed it to Wendy after I’d hooked them up.
Always one to run with a juicy story, Wendy took a copy of Devon’s recording and properly vetted it. She tried talking to Zack himself, played the recording, and he’d shut her down, which was confirmation enough for her. After that, she published a piece exposing Zack’s lies. The story had caught fire and made the rounds just as fast as the original story had—in part, I assume, because Wendy was pushing it and twisting arms. Which means, I’m now indebted to her and will be made to suffer.
After Wendy’s story broke, things moved quickly from there. The league always was more reactionary than proactive and did everything it could to avoid bad PR. All told, I missed four games while the league conducted its investigation into me. After talking to the reporter from the Bleacher Beat, who admitted he never properly vetted the information he’d been fed, and listening to the recording Devon had secretly made of Zack admitting it had all been a lie, the Commissioner held a press conference. Without admitting any wrongdoing, he very publicly apologized and immediately reinstated me.
The reporter who originally published the lie was fired, and I received another public apology from the Bleacher Beat in a headline bigger than the original that named me as a PED user. Thanks to Devon, I was fully exonerated. Not that being proven innocent and having it splashed all over the news everywhere will stop some people from believing that I do, in fact, use PEDs. For some people, allegations are enough. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, they think. And despite the plethora of public apologies and announcements of my innocence, my image will always be tainted in the eyes of some.
Not that I care what people outside my locker room think. My team has had my back from day one, as have Randy and my head coach, Hugo. They’ve publicly supported me and told anybody who would listen that the allegations were utter bullshit. They took plenty of slings and arrows on my behalf from the keyboard warriors and professional trolls who live on the internet. Especially Anders.
He has been savaged online for backing me up and has been painted with the same PED brush used to smear me. It’s bullshit. But the support I receive from my team means the world to me, and I’ll never be able to thank them enough.
As for the piece of shit who started the whole mess, when Devon told me her plan, I was hesitant to let her try to get him on tape. There was no telling how dangerous he was or what he might do. I wanted to just go and beat the shit out of him, figuring a little pain and blood loss would get the confession I wanted. But Devon talked me off that ledge, making sure I understood that gaining a confession that way wasn’t going to be the silver bullet I thought it would be. She convinced me she needed to get him to confess of his own free will.
I didn’t like it and was worried about putting her in harm’s way like that, but she insisted. And eventually, I came to realize she was right. I had to trust her—and I did. I just didn’t want that little shit getting squirrely and doing something to her because then I would have really beat the shit out of him. I might have beat him to death. So, I waited in the car and listened in while Devon went and did her thing. And she nailed him, and he never saw it coming.
After the story broke, he apparently received such backlash that he ended up dropping out of school and went into hiding. And by hiding, I mean he went back to his parents’ house. I filed a defamation lawsuit against him and made sure that was made public.
He’s got no money and I honestly doubt he’ll be able to pay off the multi-million-dollar judgment I’m expecting to be dropped on him. Frankly, I don’t care. I just want to deter assholes like Zack Winters and anybody like him from putting bullshit out there like he did. If these pricks know they’re going to face serious consequences, maybe it will make the next guy think twice before spreading their lies and bullshit just to get even for some perceived slight.
As for matters on the ice, the team won one and lost three in my absence. I tried to stay away and avoid becoming a distraction. But the circus that surrounded me, which obviously surrounded them by extension, was a distraction anyway. How could it not be when day after day, they had to answer questions about my PED use, what they knew, and how long they’d known it? They’re human and that kind of bullshit coming at them from every direction was bound to take a toll. Their faith in me never wavered, though.
Unfortunately, we went into the last half of the season with a slim margin for error, and losing those three games hurt us. But once the bullshit was over, we got ourselves back on track and went into the last game of the season needing a win. A victory over Dallas would put us in the playoffs and a loss or tie would send us on summer vacation. It was unthinkable considering where we stood at the midpoint of the season, but coming out of the PED drama, we played like a team possessed and with a giant chip on our shoulders. And it all came down to the final night of the regular season.
One game.
Do or die.
And as the final horn sounds, I skate to the far end of the rink and jump into the mass of bodies. My entire team is there, hugging and jumping as we slap each other on the back and cheer each other after coming away with a victory.
