You Always Go And Rescue Me

Ch. 8

Zach had to go with the team to the arena, so by the time he arrived I had already been there for a little while. When he saw me I could tell he was agitated. We were still keeping our relationship a secret, though I guess it was a pretty bad-kept one. Zach kept peering at me and watching me as if to make sure I was okay. After a little while of him doing this, when we caught eyes from where we were, I widened my eyes at him to tell him to relax.

I knew he was overprotective and he was just trying to ensure nothing happened to me, but he was being too anal. He needed to relax. Not only because he had to focus on his game, but because he actually just needed to chill. We were at a very public place filled with people. Nothing was going to happen.

I was down by the entranceway to the ice before the game. Zach and the boys were warming up on their half of the ice as the Rangers were warming up on theirs. Zach and Sean glared at one another. When Zach skated over to the side of the boards, Sean tried to nonchalantly skate by, brushing him in the process. I saw Zach’s jaw tighten. He tried to pretend he didn’t care, but I could tell he obviously did.

Before he went back into the locker room, Sean skated over and grabbed me around the lower part of my waist, as if to excuse himself, before heading back to his teammates. I knew exactly what he was doing. I pretended to ignore it, I couldn’t make a scene in the arena, but just the touch of him on me made me want to vomit- especially since he did it to toy with Zach.

Zach’s eyes were flaming. He thought about rushing over and punching Sean right in the face. I knew he was thinking it, but he kept his composure. When the Devils were going back into their locker room after warm-ups, with a few minutes left before the drop of the puck, Zach came over to me and tried to play it cool.

We stood facing each other. He innocently had his hand on my side so that no one would make a fuss over it.

“Just relax. I’m fine. We’re here.” I tried to take a little bit of the edge off.

“No. He’s messing with us.” He was pissed.

“So what. You got the girl. You win. You’re about to play an important game and then we’re leaving for Minnesota to have Christmas with your family. It’s not important right now.”

“Stop acting so stupid.”

He had to be kidding. He was giving me an attitude now. I gave him the death glare then rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Be a jerk to me about it.” I puffed out. I turned to walk away but he grabbed my hand, spun me around, and pulled me back.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry that was mean.” His tone was softer.

I just looked at him.

“I’m sorry. I’m just pissed and I took it out on you.”

“Okay, whatever, it’s fine, just relax! Go play. I’ll see you later. Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m always going to,” he said softly with a grin. He had to go so we kissed quickly and went our separate ways.

When both teams were on their respective benches, and were standing, sans helmets, for the National Anthem, I could feel both Zach and Sean staring at me. I looked at Zach and pleaded with him with my eyes to just let it go and focus on what he needed to focus on. Neither one was on the ice for the drop of the puck, so I figured after a few minutes of playing time had gone by that the nerves would go down. Besides, anyone who knew Zach or ever saw him play knew he wasn’t a fighter. So I wasn’t anticipating him to drop his gloves.

For the first ten minutes or so of the game Zach wasn’t on the ice at the same time as Sean. They kept missing each other’s shifts, something I was secretly happy about, but they were waiting for. Once they finally had the opportunity to play together, Zach got a sweet pass and was trying to one-time it. After he took the shot he got hit hard from behind by Sean. The crowd cheered, I gasped. It looked like a pretty hard hit and he didn’t have any warning. He quickly glanced at me as he stood up and thankfully kept his cool.

I saw him skate passed Sean and mouth something to him. I don’t know what he said, but I knew it was about me. I felt the anger in me as Sean laughed to himself and quickly spit some taunting words at Zach.

The second time they were on the ice together Sean was the one trying to make something happen offensively. He went behind Brodeur and Zach nailed him into the glass. Hard. Zach may not have been one for fighting, but he occasionally would lie out a hit that made you think, “where the heck did that come from?” and this was one of those moments.

The two of them rhetorically went at it and I could see some of the guys on the bench nudging at Zach, asking him what was going on. I knew the only person that probably knew was Travis, maybe Jamie too since they all played on the same line together, but Travis just looked away and Jamie just looked like he probably knew. Either way, Zach was noticeably different in his demeanor.

By the end of the first period the score was still zero a piece, and Zach was fuming. As he walked off the ice for the intermission break I was waiting in the hallway for him.

He walked up to me casually and we whispered to each other.

“What is he saying to you love?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s just trying to get to me.” I could tell he wasn’t telling me the entire truth, but there wasn’t really any time for him to get into detail either.

“Okay, well, good luck next period.” When I was sure no one was paying attention I placed my hand softly on his cheek which seemed to put him at ease, if only a little bit. “You’re doing great. I love you.”

He half attempted a smile, “I love you too.”

After the intermission I was hoping Zach would’ve chilled out a little bit. He took the ice just as fueled up as before, and in a good turn of events ended up scoring the games first goal. He erupted in excitement and jumped on his teammates. He glanced up at me and smiled and I knew he scored it for me. He also knew it probably pissed off Sean who was on the ice at the time. It was definitely a two-fold of reasons why he was so pumped about it.

With about seven minutes left in the period he and Sean were on the ice together yet again. I saw Sean prodding at him, antagonizing him. He was running his mouth. It was getting harder for Zach to keep his cool, and then suddenly Sean said something that made Zach’s eyes pop open and before I knew what was happening, Zach dropped his gloves and went after Sean.

No one expected it. Zach wasn’t a fighter, so the shock of seeing him go after Sean made my stomach twist because for starters I knew Sean was more experienced in fighting and secondly because I knew Sean must have said something completely unsettling to Zach to make him that angry.

When the refs pulled them apart, Zach was bleeding on the side of his eye. From what I gathered Sean got a good shot in on the side of Zach’s face, which caused the bleeding and most likely a black eye in the morning. Sean didn’t come out spick and span though. Zach busted up his lip and held his own pretty well.

Both men were escorted to their respective penalty boxes and had to sit out for their behavior. The penalties were over very shortly before the period was and they both headed into the locker rooms a little earlier than the rest of the team to get their cuts cleaned up. I went back to meet Zach who was in the medic room. I wanted to see how he was doing.

I walked in to see him sitting on the table, the trainer wasn’t in there at the moment so I went over to him.

“Hey…are you alright?” I gently put my hand at the site of his injury.

“I’m fine.” The agitation in his voice was undeniable but I tried to ignore it and lightly kissed him on his cut.

“You sure? This looks like it hurts. Good news is you messed him up too,” I said with a smile.

“Yeah. I know.” I didn’t understand why he was being so cold, but I knew that it really wasn’t about me so I was cutting him slack. Besides, he never treated me this way.

“Well I can see you’re in a pleasant mood,” I said half kidding, half sarcastic.

He moved his head in annoyance as he pushed my hand off his cheek.

“Woah superstar, what was that for?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t want you touching the cut anymore. I don’t want to miss anymore ice-time.”

“Okay…I’m sorry…” I was trying to be patient with him, but I was getting tired of him being a dick to me for no reason.

“Well it’s your fault I’m in here.”

“Hey. That’s not fair, I’ve been telling you to relax.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Well ya know what? I don’t need you looking out for me anyway. Forget it. Don’t talk to me until you stop acting like this is all my fault.”

“Isn’t it?” He looked at me.

“Look, I know this isn’t all about me but I’m not putting up with this. Enjoy the rest of your game.” And with that I turned to leave, disbelief running through my core at the way Zach was acting. He never treated me like this before, and I didn’t understand why he was starting now. I went back to focusing on work the rest of the game.

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ZACH’S POV

I felt like such an ass. She was being vulnerable and trying to be there for me and I just kept pushing her away. I didn’t actually believe any of the crap I was saying to her, but I didn’t know how else to respond.

The entire game I’d been going back and forth with Sean. He hadn’t given it a rest. From the first moment we were breathing the same air tonight he’d been telling me how hot Sarah looked and how much better she was gonna look after he was done with her. He was completely disrespecting her and our relationship but it was stuff I could, with much discipline, brush off.

Until the fight.

I was trying to get through the period without talking to him again, but he wouldn’t let it go and I certainly wasn’t going to sit back and take it. He skated over to me and said, “Don’t let your little wifey out of your sight, because if you do, you’ll be hearing about the aftermath of me forcing myself inside her and her screams of either your name or mine. Doesn’t matter, I’ll be giving it to her so hard that when I’m done, you won’t even recognize the bitch.”

The image of him holding her down and forcing her to…I couldn’t even finish the thought, it made ready to pull my hair out. I lunged at him. I couldn’t help it. At that moment I didn’t care how much more experience he had fighting or what my reputation looked like, he needed to get his ass kicked and his ill-intentions taken care of.

Truthfully, I didn’t even feel the cut. I was so livid with the thoughts of Sean doing that to Sarah that I couldn’t focus right. She was standing in front of me, caressing my face and I pushed her away. I was doing exactly what Sean wanted, really, and I said some messed up stuff to her, but I couldn’t find the self-control to fix it at that moment.

When I went into the locker room during the second intermission, Jamie and Travis quickly came over to me at my locker.

“Hey man. What was that all about?” Jamie asked.

“Nothing. Don’t sweat it.”

Travis just looked away. Both of my teammates knew exactly what it was about. Jamie put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’re on your side here.”

I rubbed my hand on the back on my neck. “Dude, he said he was going to rape her, and he wasn’t exactly vague on it either. I just lost it. Worst part is after I came in here to get cleaned up she came back here to check on me and I acted like a complete dick. I pushed her away and told her it was all her fault.”

“Isn’t it?” That remark was, of course, from Travis. He asked it with such resentment, it was obnoxious. It partially made me angry because it was exactly what I said to Sarah earlier.

Jamie and I just looked at him. “It’ll be okay. It’s just a fight. I’ve seen you two together and she loves you man, she’ll forgive you,” Jamie said as he turned his attention back to me. “And don’t worry about Sean, we’ll take care of him.”

“Thanks,” I half-heartedly said. “I just need to talk to her, I feel so terrible.”

The third period was going by in a blur. It was one of those periods that felt like it was flying by but at the same time was taking hours to finish. Jamie kept his word, and didn’t pass Sean without nailing him. With less than a minute left in regulation, we were up by one and the Rangers pulled Henrik out of the net for the extra skater. They were throwing everything they had at Marty and crashed the net to the point where there was a stoppage of play because the net had been dislodged.

A couple of the Rangers started shoving at us, and it started going back and forth. Sean came over to me as it escalated and tried to overtake me, but before he had the chance, he was disrupted by a hit that caused him to lose his balance. I looked up to see Travis had stepped in to look out for me. He wasn’t one for physical play either, but I knew it was an apologetic hit. He was making amends for what he said earlier, and I gave him a light punch to the shoulder as if to say, “we’re cool.”

When the game was over and we finished with the media, we were getting dressed and I noticed that Sarah still had not come into the locker room. I looked around but I didn’t see her.

“Hey Jamie, you see Sarah yet?” His locker was next to mine.

“No man, I thought you two would’ve kissed and made up by now. It’s not like her to skip out. She must still be pissed at you.”

Suddenly, I had a thought. Sean’s words echoed in my ear and I quickly finished getting dressed.

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I was still furious with Zach. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to him just yet, especially with everyone around, so I thought it best if I left the interviewing to someone else tonight and decided to skip out as soon as I could.

I didn’t know if Zach would notice. Ordinarily, I’d say he’d be calling the National Guard to see where I was, but he was so cold to me tonight; so stoic and not himself that I didn’t really know what he was thinking.

I went to listen in on the coach’s press conference, so as to avoid the boys, and after I was finished I was ready to go home. I got my stuff ready and made my way out.

When I exited the back door, I saw a few of the players at their cars talking. Unfortunately, one of them was Sean. He did a double take as he looked up at me and noticed I was alone. He quickly excused himself from the guys he was talking to and with that their little chat group broke up. He was making his way over to me with a devilish grin on his face.

“Where’s Rocky?” He was sarcastically referring to Zach.

“I don’t know. Still inside.” I kept walking and evidently was right next to his car.

“Trouble in paradise?” His face lit up at the thought of that.

I wasn’t about to tell him anything, so I was quickly trying to end my time with him and said, “I have to go, Sean. Good night.”

“No, no, no. Wait a minute precious.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me so my back was against his car.

He started running his hand up my thigh, which was easily done in the pencil skirts I frequently wore.

“I told your boy not to let you out of his sight.”

I swallowed hard. I so wasn’t in the mood for this and I was so uncomfortable. I wished I had swallowed my pride earlier and went in to see Zach.

He was still standing with one arm pressed against his car and the other on my leg when he asked, “you wanna come home with me tonight?”

I didn’t have the chance to answer, “Sorry man, she’s already got plans.” It was Zach and when Sean looked up Zach grabbed me by my hand and pulled me tightly away from Sean and into him. The two of them knew there was no use in getting into another fight tonight.

“Too bad. Maybe next time,” Sean said with an evil smile as he got into his car.

“Don’t ever touch her like that again.” Zach told him solemnly. Sean just looked at him with the same evil smirk, he didn't say anything because he knew he had gotten to Zach.

When Sean pulled away Zach turned to me and cradled my face in his hands.

“I’m so sorry. I was such a dick to you and it wasn’t your fault. Please don’t believe any of what I said for a second. I was mad at Sean and I took it out on you.” He was pleading with me and I knew he meant his apology.

“I know you didn’t mean it. I’m sorry for putting you through all this.” I said as tears started forming. I hated what this was doing to Zach.

“No, don’t be sorry. This was my fault. You could’ve gotten hurt because of me pushing you away. Do you know what he said about you? He told me if I let you out of my sight he was going to force himself in you…that’s what started the fight and drove me mad.”

My jaw dropped. “Oh my God. But, ya know, he was probably just bluffing to get to you.”

“Either way, the thought of it…of him doing that and hurting you…I couldn’t deal and I freaked and I’m so sorry I took it out on you. Forgive me?”

“Of course, love.” I couldn’t stay mad at him. He had my best interest at heart. “We had a close call tonight, but of course you were there, like always.”

“I told you I’d always look out for you,” he said with the smile I loved so much.

I grabbed his hand and tugged at him. “C’mon tough guy, let’s go get some sleep,” I playfully said.

I fit perfectly under his arm and rested my head into him. We walked back to my apartment, wrapped up in each other, through the still snowy streets of New York. He kissed the top of my head every now and then as we silently but contently made our way to my place. That night we fell asleep in each other’s arms and Zach held me like he was afraid to let me go.