"Ms. Adams. I'm officer Drake. I'm here to talk to you", I nod slowly. He turns to my parents and the boys. "If you wouldn't mind. I ask you guys to leave for a moment".
"No", I say. "The guys stay, or I don't talk. No matter what". The officer thinks for a second, then nods his head towards them. They sit back on the couch. The second officer shows my family out into the hallway.
The officer sits down on the chair next to my bed. "So, Meredith. How did you get this wound on your stomach? Your sister said you were attacked".
I nod. "Yes. Last night at the hockey back home".
"Where do you live exactly?"
"Bangor, Maine".
Officer Drake nods. "How did the attack occur?"
I take a deep breath. "Well, it was after school. Noah and Cole had brought me with them early to the rink for their warm-up. I had offered to fill their water bottles, so I took the basket and walked down the hall to the bottle filler. At that point, the other team had seen me and walked down the hall towards me. I hadn't looked at them at all, just heard them walk down the hall after me", I say nervously. "I think there was five of them. They made me turn to them, the leader had me pinned up against the wall. He had said something to me, he was whispering. I heard what he had said, but now, I can't remember, I think something about how awful our hockey players treated girls like me. But that might not be it. Then he slapped me after I tried to walk away. He asked me my name, I told him, then he punched me because I wasn't speaking loud enough, that knocked me to the ground with the force. Then", I motion to the guys, "They had come up behind the rivals and.... and....", I don't remember what happened then. "The guy kicked me. I hadn't noticed then he was wearing hockey skates. The rivals left me and Cole carried me back to their locker room to take care of me". I left out the part where Cole punched the guy in the face.
"Do you know what any of these boy's names were?" I just shake my head.
"Devon Anderson", Cole says from his spot on the couch. Officer Drake and I turn to look at him.
"What?" is all I could say.
"He's my brother, got expelled from our school his freshman year. He's a senior now. He only knows about you because I told him about you. I feel like it's my fault. I know it's his. That's why he got kicked out of our school in the first place. That's another reason we are rivals with that team. My brother and I have always had a competitive life, if it came to anything, especially hockey. When he was at the rink for the game, we weren't speaking, we had gotten into a fight about something stupid at home before the game. He said he was going to get me back for whatever I had supposedly done to him. And that he did. I punched him in the nose right after he kicked Meredith". Cole never told me he had a brother, and I guess I know why.
"So, this attack was supposedly fed by an altercation of personal matters at home prior to the game", Officer Drake opened his notebook back up to write something down. Cole nods. Drake thinks for a moment, "So what are you three boys and Miss Adams doing here in Vermont?"
"We wanted a fun road trip for the weekend before the major hockey playing started back home. Just to ease our minds off the craziness that came up last night. I didn't realize how much pain we could have cause her when we went for the hike today". Noah cuts in. "We met her on her first day of school a few weeks ago. She's a sophomore with Cole. Zac and I are juniors". Officer Drake nods his head again.
"So lets go over this", the officer scratches his head. "Your brother, Devon, is the main assailant of Meredith who was slapped, punched, and kicked. Cole punched his own brother in the nose to protect Meredith. The game went on. But after the game, you did what exactly?"
"Noah dropped me off at home and I showed my sister my eye and stomach because she said I was walking funny. I told her she wasn't allowed to tell anyone. She didn't. My parents learned about my eye this morning. I didn't tell them about the stomach thing because I didn't want them to worry about it. They would have made it a full blown investigation like this now. I didn't want anything to happen". Drake nodded his head again.
"Okay. Thank you. That's what I need. Miss. Adams, boys, have a good rest of your day", the officer leaves without another word.
I turn to Cole with fury in my eyes. "What the hell!" I practically scream at him. He looks down at his lap. "Why didn't you tell me who he was? That might have changed a few things. Did you tell your parents? And has coach done anything? Did you take me out of the state so I wouldn't find out who he was so soon?" Each of the guys shake their head slowly.
My parents come back in. Noah and the other two boys talk for a few minutes. And I see Noah checking my sister out. I get sleepy, so I tell all of them to leave if they want. Go take a walk or something while I sleep. No one leaves.
But Cole does. My heart drops.
Edited: 3/3/22
YOU ARE READING
Just Another Goal (Counting on Hockey #1)
Romance*Book one of the Counting on Hockey series* To Meredith, watching hockey was torture. But her sister was a hockey player. She wanted nothing to do with hockey, even thinking about it made her angry. But she had her reasons. Starting 10th grade at a...
