Chapter 3
At the next whistle, Cole wins the face-off - because of course he does - but when he passes to D.K., the puck slips from his stick and stalls along the boards.
Vadim regains control of it, and he's just gearing up to what Cole is astonished to realize is a
pass
back to Ethan.
In the fraction of a second that Vadim's sharp eyes descend on the puck to aim, D.K. comes hurtling out from Vadim's left.
It's always been Vadim's weaker side, Cole had thought, and he meant it with no arrogance, because at one point it was Cole's weakest side too.
If Cole and Vadim were on even cordial terms, Cole would have long ago taught Vadim how to protect himself evenly on both sides.
But he never did.
And so the crack of D.K.'s shoulder against Vadim's chest echoes across the ice, and when Vadim falls, Cole pictures a skyscraper falling: floor by precious floor, inch by inch of pale, uniformed skin.
His helmet-clad head hits the ice first before his knees do, which is not how these hits should go.
It emits a resounding
crack
Cole's pulse rattles in his head.
D.K. stares down at Vadim for one second before he picks his gaze up and skates away, confusion marring his face.
Cole has two observations.
One is that the untouchable Vadim Krasnov doesn't move to stand up.
In his heap of muscle and protective gear on the floor, he doesn't even twitch.
The second, more pertinent observation is that no one on the team skates over to check on him.
Cole has been fawned over for much less: a stumble on the ice, a check into the boards that has him rubbing his shoulder.
Ethan had rushed to his side; D.K. offered a quick tilt of the head, and unspoken
"You okay?"
; Even Brett Saunders had asked him for a thumb's up.
Now, they all stand around, watching Vadim like a one-man show gone awry.
Cole realizes a beat too late that he himself has made no move to skate closer either.
He's just launched one foot forward to skate towards Vadim's tangle of limbs when the athletic trainer hops onto the ice and beats him to it.
You with me?" Her voice increases in volume the closer Cole skates to them.
Vadim's nose twitches against the ice.
Finally, he shoves his chest up off the ground with the press of his gloved hands against the ice.
"Fine," Vadim grates.
Cole skates to a stop until he's towering over Vadim, standing just behind their head trainer.
She shines a penlight into Vadim's eyes and he groans, swatting at it like it's a fly.
"Can you stand?" She extends a hand for Vadim to take to help himself up.
He ignores it and staggers to his feet on his own.
Then, his gaze lands on Cole a few feet behind her.
His glare is sharp and cutting, as if Cole was the one to knock him down.
"You're coming with me, bud," the trainer orders.
"I am fine," Vadim repeats.
He's staring at Cole when he says it.
"You can't argue this one," the trainer rebuts.
"You were unconscious."
"I wasn't," Vadim tries.
"You were." Cole and the trainer say it in unison.
Again, Vadim's glare is directed towards Cole.
When Vadim turns back to the trainer, his eyes soften.
"Okay." Vadim rubs at his chest through his thick gloves.
He skates alongside the trainer, her short arm wrapped around his waist, and steps off the ice like a man to the gallows.
When Cole turns back to the team, he finds them scattered on the other end of the ice.
Something in his gut twists as he joins them again.
Back in the locker room after practice, with Vadim still in the trainer's office, Ethan breaks the silence as they shrug off their helmets.
"Kinda spooky to see Krasnov like that, huh?"
Their teammates murmur their agreement.
"It's damn near the only time we've gotten some peace and quiet from the guy," Therrien murmurs.
A couple half-hearted chuckles ring out in the room.
"Guys come on," Cole warns weakly.
He finds he can't come up with a proper rebuttal, so he busies himself tugging off his shoulder pads.
"Therrien has a point," D.K. counters.
Cole turns fully to face him.
"Look, I don't feel good about anyone getting hurt.
But come on." D.K. points at Lefort.
"He calls you Five-Hole." He catches Ethan's eye.
"He calls
Bench Spot." D.K.'s eyes find Cole's weary ones, and D.K. chuckles.
"And man.
The things he says about Brennan."
Cole averts his eyes.
"Like what?"
D.K. groans.
"Does it
matter
My point is, he has no fucking respect for us."
Ethan bites his lip.
"No one went to check on him."
"But that's exactly why!" D.K. rubs at his eyes.
"We've given him so many chances, man.
He's a fucking bully.
A bully who can score, but..." He shrugs simply.
"If you ask me, that wins you points with the school.
Not points with your team."
Cole lets the words settle in the damp air around them.
He can't find a fault in the argument, at least not with the fog surrounding his brain, and so he marches off to the showers in silence.
Cole knocks on the trainer's door long past when the rest of his team has left.
The door swings open.
Their trainer must be the force who opened the door, and so Cole knows rationally that she must be in there somewhere.
But for a moment when the door peels back to reveal Vadim slumped over on a cushioned chair, a dripping ice pack braced against his head, Cole's mind fools itself into thinking they're alone.
Paige's head of half-gray, half-blonde hair pops out from behind the door.
Cole shakes his head as if to clear it.
"We live together," Cole says to Paige by way of explanation.
"I just wanted to see if..." Cole trails off.
If he wants to go home together,
Cole finishes in his head.
It's an odd ask, because they never do.
"It's good you came," Paige replies, smiling brightly.
She pats Vadim's shoulder.
Cole expects Vadim to shrug it off, maybe even swat her hand away.
Instead, he seems to lean into it.
"Krasnov here has a concussion."
"Mild," Vadim adds.
She rolls her eyes.
"Mild-to-moderate," she corrects.
"He needs at least two weeks of cognitive rest." She lifts her hand off of Vadim's shoulder and reaches for the ice pack.
Vadim hands it back to her begrudgingly.
"Brennan is always on 'cognitive rest,'" Vadim echoes smugly.
It takes Cole a second to register what's been said.
"Are you calling me stupid?"
Vadim shrugs.
When Paige turns back around, she's biting back a smile.
"In a way, this is good," she tells Cole.
"His brain isn't so scrambled that he can't joke."
"I don't think it's a joke," Cole murmurs slowly.
Cole scoffs and crosses his arms.
"Whatever.
Do you want to go home together?"
Vadim raises his eyebrows.
Cole feels his face heat up, the pink blush contrasting with the tan of his freckles.
"Come on.
You know what I mean."
Paige shoves a clipboard into Vadim's lap, interrupting Cole's stream of consciousness.
"We're almost done here," she tells Cole.
She turns back to where Vadim is slumped, his shoulder burrowed in the seat cushion.
"Vadim, I noticed you're the only player on the roster we don't have an emergency contact for.
As you can imagine, for events like today, that's important information for us to have." She nods resolutely.
"Can you write here -" she points with her pen to the highlighted portions of the form - "two people we can contact in the event of an emergency?"
Vadim's eyes flicker over the form.
"'Parent or guardian'," he reads.
Paige nods.
He stares up at her.
"I need two?"
Cole feels more and more ill-prepared to travel back with Vadim the longer he waits here.
"Um, not to interrupt, but did you still want to go back with me?"
Vadim shakes his head, his eyes still glued to the form.
"It might be safer, given your -"
"Brennan." Vadim finally looks up.
"No."
Cole's face must look as hurt as he feels.
Vadim gestures to the room around them.
"I still need to shower, get dressed.
Just go."
He reaches up to scratch his own eyebrow idly.
He watches as Vadim scribbles a string of numbers down onto the clipboard that look too short to be a real phone number, but maybe it's just the angle Cole is watching him from.
And then he's handing the clipboard back to Paige, murmuring something low that Cole can't quite hear, and shouldering past Cole to head to the showers.
Cole's shoulders sag.
Paige smiles at him knowingly.
"See you Monday, Cole."
Cole smiles back stiffly.
"Thanks, Paige.
See you Monday."