Unsportsmanlike Conduct

The Ruling on the Ice

"Can we come in?" Eli asks in a raspy voice. His short, golden brown curls are a mess and his eyes look tired, as if he has been fighting sleep for hours.

Moss is frozen with his hand still on the doorknob. Once he manages to shake himself out of his stupor, he responds, "Wha- you're supposed to be in Houston."

"We're supposed to be, but it's definitely more important that we're here right now instead. Can we please come in, Mo?" Eli asks again.

Moss opens the door wider so the two hockey players can walk in and then shuts the door behind them before turning to stare at them dumbly. He's not sure what to say or what to do with his hands at the moment. Eventually, he settles on crossing his arms over his stomach as he continues to watch them toe off their shoes.

Eli silently heads into the living room which Tye and Moss take as their cue to follow after him.

The too-small couch in the living room is barely big enough to comfortably fit two grown men. Eli takes a seat and Moss gestures for Tye to sit on the couch as well while he drags a chair from the kitchen over so he can sit across from them.

Eli glances back and forth at the exes for a moment. Moss hasn't looked in Tye's direction since he answered the door, too afraid of his emotions overflowing and causing him to make a scene.

Releasing a drawn out sigh and running a hand through his unkempt hair, Eli finally breaks the silence, "So a lot has gone down over the last couple of days. We shouldn't have ignored it, and that's partially on me."

Moss thinks that this is the most mature his youngest brother has ever sounded. The intense look of focus on his face ages him as well, making him look much older than twenty years old.

"Obviously, Shane said something to you before our flight to Houston. We couldn't get a clear answer on what exactly he said, but I think it's safe to assume that whatever he did say was complete bullshit."

Based off of the texts and voicemail that Eli left, Moss figured he'd be much more understanding than Shane was. However, he never imagined his little brother going out of his way to talk with him in person like this.

Eli continues, "What we do know is that you broke up with Tye over text and then flew back to Detroit. I get that it probably felt like the right thing to do after Shane ran his mouth to you, but ghosting us after that just made things so much worse."

Moss looks down at his feet feeling guilty and embarrassed about how he handled everything. He nods in understanding before Eli goes on to break down the rest of the situation.

"All I know is that Tye tried reaching out to you after that to see what was going on, but your phone was off or on airplane mode. When it became clear that you weren't going to respond anytime soon, Tye went to Shane's room to get some answers."

In the corner of his eye, Moss sees Tye fidgeting with his fingers as Eli begins to explain the next part of this whole fiasco.

"I heard the arguing immediately since I was in the room next door. Tye went in and accused Shane of fucking shit up and Shane tried playing dumb, but eventually admitted that he spoke to you earlier that day. I was standing outside the room, waiting to see if I'd need to step in when I heard Tye punch Shane in the face. So I went to Landry's room who told the other A's and the coaches what was going on."

Eli takes a breath, sounding worn out by the storytelling.

"They were still going at each other when everyone barged into the room. I was trying to get ahold of you, but you weren't answering. The entire team obviously knows that there's something going on, but the guys in the leadership group are the only one who know the details. After they sent everyone back to their rooms, I told coach that me and Tye needed to fly to Detroit to talk to you before things got any worse."