I Burned The Hockey Star Down novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: Kiss Cam

I tore the notice off the door and read it three times under the parking lot light.

Sixty days.

The auction would be held on the courthouse steps on Monday, August thirty-first, at ten a.m.

I sat down on the wet step with it in my lap.

My phone buzzed.

Beau. Parents gave me a $50 coffee card. I don't drink fancy coffee. Help.

I called him instead of texting back.

He picked up on the first ring.

"That was fast. You must really want a latte."

"They're auctioning the rink," I said. "In sixty days."

He was quiet for one second.

"Where are you?"

"On the step."

"Don't move."

"Beau, it's ten at night, you don't have to..."

"I'm already putting on my shoes, Brecken."

He showed up twenty minutes later with two gas-station hot chocolates and sat down on the wet step next to me, bad leg stretched out straight.

He read the notice. He read all of the fine print.

Then he folded it up and put it in his own pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"Holding it for a while. You've been holding it long enough."

That was all he said about it.

On Saturday after First Ice, he picked me up in his truck at six.

"Wear something you can spill mustard on," he'd said. "We're scouting."

"Scouting what?"

"You'll see."

What we were scouting turned out to be a minor-league baseball game in Hillsboro.

"This is baseball," I said in the parking lot.

"Very observant."

"You're a hockey coach."

"I'm scouting their hot-dog vendor. Rumor is he's got the best arm in the Northwest League. He can throw a foil-wrapped dog thirty rows."

"You're ridiculous."

"I'm suspended from fun, according to the organization. This is my one night off from being responsible."

"You're not suspended."

"Not yet." He bought two hot dogs, two lemonades and a giant pretzel without asking me what I wanted. It was exactly what I wanted. "Sit. Eat. Be scouted."

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