The Captain Who Ended My Brother's Career Is on My Table novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: What He Carried
At one in the morning Madison's visiting training room smelled of chlorine and old tape, and nobody was left in the building but us.
The league had suspended him pending review and told him to report at nine.
Kasper was in a hospital bed across town with a concussion and a dozen nurses.
Aili had gone with him, carrying his gloves.
I locked the door.
Hugo sat on the lip of the whirlpool tub, in his undershirt and track pants, with his hands hanging between his knees.
"Tell me," I said. "All of it. Start at Game 4."
He looked at his knuckles.
"Sal took an elbow in the second period. He went to the bench and came back and played the third."
"Concussed."
"At three that morning he texted me. First time in a year."
His thumb worked at a split in his knuckle.
"It said, I can't remember the second period. Don't tell anybody."
"And you didn't."
"He was my brother. He asked me." His mouth twisted. "I called the Northmen's front desk the next day, and I told the assistant general manager to check Sal's head. He said, Buddy, we have it handled."
My stomach rolled.
"Harold."
"They cleared him for Game 5, and again for Game 6. I was begging them, Vera."
The pool pump hummed.
"Game 6," he said. "I'm on my bench, and your brother steps over the boards in the wrong color. He stood in front of mine and looked for his line and couldn't find it."
"You said his name."
"Five times. He looked at me like a stranger on a train." He closed his eyes. "The puck was coming his way, and their captain was lining him up from behind."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Captain Who Ended My Brother's Career Is on My Table are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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