Pucked By The Serbian Hockey Brothers

SAGE MONTERO. The cold grey clouds hang over us like the sadness and gloom running triumph in my heart. Funny thing is you’d think the sadness would be enough to stop the drama but it’s not. Not when the funerals in the Montero family are treated like a pissing match to see who griefs the most. Who goes through the most tissues the most. The priest drones on about the ‘from the sands you came from, to the sands you shall return’ spiel as the casket gets lowered but I’ve gotta say Aunt Bertha takes the grief trophy for the win when she passes out dramatically. Two seconds before she even meets the ground, another aunt from Florida passes out. If I was cynical, if I wanted to make this day about me, I’d weed out all the strait-laced, self-righteous people in here pretending like they knew my sister let alone cared about her death. I’d start with Aunt Bertha; my sister always hated her. She always said Aunt Bertha was as pretentious as those Gucci flip-flops, she wore on the regula

SAGE MONTERO.@puckmedaddy: ‘Gah, I understand why he’s the captain; he looks like he handles a puck the same way he does a woman. Rough.’Yeah, until he chokes you to death.@rookslapmepls: ‘I volunteer. I volunteer. I volunteer as tribute…sorry I meant puck.’If desperate had a label, it’d be you, sweetheart.@rookmehard: ‘I know they call him the Angel cause he’s a devil in the sheets. Argue with the wall, everyone.’I’d rather argue with my fake cactus. And it barely cost me a dollar.@lowlightsdrex: ‘Hear me out, dim lights, waterbed and some slow music. Oh did I mention Drex Rhodes in that equation?’@ruthlessdrex: ‘Drex, shirtless. I’’ll leave that here, girls. Go crazy, look it up, you’ll see the obsession.’@dirtytalklevi: ‘My uterus just put on skates and asked for his jersey number. He’s so hot.’I don’t know what’s more depressing: reading every comment on NVU’s Instagram sports page with bitterness clogging my throat or watching some of the girls from my squad thirst over

TATUM DRAKOVIC RHODES.‘You came to this town because you were looking for her?’‘Yes.’‘My sister is your…sorry was your betrothed in another lifetime?’‘Yes.’‘How do you know?’‘Felt it soon as we saw her.’‘And now you need to be with her? Sex-wise and umm bond wise?’‘Something like that.’‘I can’t let you do that. I understand all this but I can’t let you do that.’‘You have no choice.’‘I’m her twin. We share the same blood. What if…I become a substitute for her?’‘We are not fucking you, Saxen. We can’t fuck anyone but her.’‘But you need her blood now that your mate bond has been activated right? We can be friends w-with blood benefits. My sister’s blood is the same as mine.’“Kid? Fuck and I turned down beer for this. Tatum?” Coach Marky taps my shoulder, pulling me out of the memories that have been haunting me for weeks.“Sorry, coach. Uh, you were saying?”My stick in one hand, my helmet in the other, I stand by the sidelines with one of the men who’s been supportive more

SAGE MONTERO. Jesus Christ. Drex hauling me over his shoulder and taking me away from the Gamma Phi party. Him gagging me and putting me on his bike. Coming to an abandoned church just to stare at my shitty boyfriend get threatened with the promise of death. And my sister’s boyfriends blackmailing me into dating them. I…I can’t feel my toes or my fingers. E-Everything’s numb. I’m numb with fear and nausea but somewhere between realizing they are the epitomes of psychopathic tendencies and I wasn’t wrong in assuming they were killers, my head moves and I nod. “S-She fucking nodded”, Ford pleas from the floor, his liquid fear more pathetic than I am for even rescuing him. “Now get off you bastards!” Rook Rhodes, the guy who issued the threat, sinks his fingers deep into Ford’s scalp, enough for my boyfriend to wail into the abandoned church like a banshee. “Did she? It’s so fucking dark, I can’t see shit, Kingsy. I don’t even think she nodded a yes on account that her

SAGE MONTERO.“I d-didn’t know you’d be back here”, Bea starts warily, “I mean with…everything that happened to Sax I thought you’d stay home. I thought I’d never see you again around here. Sage?”I like Bea, she’s one of the nicest roommates I’ve had since I joined NVU. Add the fact that most cheerleaders adopt rudeness like their armor against the world and I’d wager I got the better deal having Bea as a friend.But God, I need her to shut up.“Yeah?” My throat is dry as I turn to her and give her a fake smile. “Umm I’m going to bed.”“Okay”, she fidgets with the edges of her satin pink bottoms, “Yeah, we can talk tomorrow.”“Thanks. For everything. I saw you at Sax’s funeral and I should have said hi but I’m glad you were there, really.”“I’m always here for you, Sage. Always.”That’s about the most conversation I have with her before I bolt to my room, lock the door behind me and with my back to the door, I slide to the floor.The minute I do, I can hear my heart pulse in my mouth