“Wait.” I squeaked, slightly panicked, “It’s normal, right? There are always fights in hockey.”
“Not like this.” Fred shook his head. “Goalies very rarely fight. They are off-limits. And the game wasn’t even going on. Something else happened here.”
Brody was relentless, hitting the guy over and over. Viper and a couple other guys I didn’t recognize rushed over with the refs and pulled Brody off of him. The other guy stood up and had blood all over his face.
“Did he just smile at Brody?” I asked incredulously.
“I think so.” Fred scratched his head, frowning at the TV.
“What is going on down there?” one of the TV announcers asked.
“I’m not sure, but we were still in intermission. Something must have set Murphy off,” responded the other man.
“You know, Bill, that’s par for the course with Brody Murphy lately. He’s been a little off the whole season, but particularly this last week. That stunt he just pulled will most likely get him suspended for at least one game, maybe more.”
Suspended?
The ref said something to both men and pointed off the ice. Brody turned and started skating away with Viper following right behind him.
“Wait. Did he just push Viper?” My eyes widened.
“He did.” My mom still stood with her hands cupped against her cheeks. “What is going on with him?”
Once he was off the ice and out of sight, I sat on the couch and dropped my head into my hands. “What should I do?”
She sat down and put her arm around me. “What can you do, honey? Unfortunately, nothing.”
“I just… I wish he would talk to me.” Tears stung my eyes as I searched my mom’s face for answers. “I haven’t spoken to him in days. How can he just turn it off like that?”
Mom bit her lip as her eyes danced nervously around the room like a couple of jumping beans.
“Mom?”
She closed her eyes and let out a big sigh. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I can’t let you sit there and think he’s just forgotten all about you. He texted me… this morning.”
Every nerve ending in my body tingled with a combination of fear and excitement. “What? When?”
“Earlier this morning. They got back into town late last night. It was brief and we didn’t get into anything about Zach, but he desperately wanted to know how you were and said he missed the girls.”
For the first time in nearly a week, my heart was filled with hope instead of utter soul-crushing sadness.
He texted. It wasn’t to me, but he texted. That must mean he still cares, right?
“What did you say?” I fought hard to swallow the huge lump in my throat.
“I said that you were miserable but hanging in there. I said that you were incredibly sorry, and I said that the girls missed their Brody, all three of you.” She reached over and squeezed my hand.
My heart raced so fast that I had to remind myself to slow down and take deep breaths. “Did he respond?”
“He just said he missed you guys too. I didn’t want to ask him a lot of questions or push him, so I left it at that.”
I took a full shaky breath. “Thank you,” I whispered to my mom, “for telling me. I know you weren’t supposed to, but I’m so glad you did. I might actually be able to sleep tonight for the first time in days.”
I kissed her on the cheek and hurried off to my room.
I threw myself on my bed and grabbed my cell phone.
Okay, Kacie. Calm down.
Brody texted my mom under the assumption that she would be discreet and not tell me. I couldn’t reward her for telling me by ratting her out, so I had to think really hard about what to say to him. I considered leaving it as is and going to bed, but given what I saw at his game and what he was probably going through right that second, I needed to reach out.
HEY. SAW YOUR GAME TONIGHT. I HOPE YOU’RE OKAY. PLEASE CALL ME. WE DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED. I JUST NEED TO KNOW YOU’RE OKAY. I LOVE YOU.
I knew he wouldn’t respond; his game wasn’t over yet. Even if it was, I wasn’t confident that he would, but knowing that the game was still going on gave me an excuse to cling to. I curled up in bed and turned the light off.
My eyes snapped open to nothing but darkness. Everything was black, but I know I’d heard my phone beep. Squinting in the dark at the bright screen, I blinked several times, waiting for the text to come into focus. It was from an unknown number.
UNKNOWN: KACIE, IT’S VIPER. CALL ME ASAP. BRODY GOT ARRESTED.
My eyes still weren’t completely focused when I read his next text with the number. I dialed, pretty sure I got it right. It started ringing and I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. Just after three o’clock in the morning.
“Hello?” A gruff voice answered.