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Under His Jersey

Page 34

by Kate Olivia

By the time I get there, Raygoza is standing about ten feet from his car with both hands on his bag strap, and Koda is talking.

“—just saying, man, if you’re going to run your mouth, you should know it gets around. It gets all the way around. To Berwyn. To everybody.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Raygoza says.

“You said everything.”

“Get off my car,” Raygoza says to Rafe.

Rafe doesn’t move. He looks down at Raygoza from the hood with his hands folded in his lap. “This is a nice car. For a Civic. It’d be a shame if somebody who talks too much had to get it fixed.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s an observation.”

“Get off my car.”

Koda pushes off the driver’s door and takes a step toward Raygoza, and Raygoza takes a step back. Koda’s grin gets wider. He’s enjoying this more than anything he’s done on the ice all week.

“Barnes,” I say.

All three of them turn. I walk past Koda, right up to Raygoza, until I’m standing in front of him. He’s shorter than me and has to look up. I keep my voice low, and I don’t touch him.

“You didn’t see anything Friday,” I tell him. “And you didn’t see anything today. Right?”

Raygoza swallows. “Right.”

“Say it.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Good.” I step back and look at Rafe. “Off the car.”

Rafe looks at me for a long, slow second. Then he slides off the hood and lands on his feet, and Raygoza gets in his Civic and drives away so fast his tires squeal.

Koda watches the car go, then turns around and throws both hands up. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“We were this close, Kennebeck.”

“To getting suspended before the season starts.”

Koda stares at me. “You’re a fucking hall monitor.”

“He’s worse than a hall monitor,” Rafe says. He’s leaning against the next car over with his arms crossed, watching me. “A hall monitor would’ve let us have some fun first. You’re a cop.”

“He ratted on me, not you,” I say. “You don’t get to decide what happens to him.”

“I get to decide what happens to anybody who makes my captain look like an idiot,” Rafe says.

“Since when do you care about Dannebrog?”

“Since Dannebrog’s the only guy on this team who doesn’t talk out of both sides of his mouth.” Rafe pushes off the car. “Unlike your new friend Greeley.”

“My friend,” I say.

Rafe walks past me and bumps my shoulder hard on the way. “You’re welcome, by the way.”