Page 40 of Edging Coach
Laval, on the other hand, clearly planned to take full advantage.
On the bus, even Hairs was subdued. Several times tonight, Laval’s skaters had just swept in, taken the puck from him, and scored. Yanni and Leaps had been MIA.
That said, I hadn’t scored or even assisted. Hard to do that when the score was 5-0 and you were on the losing team.
Lous nudged me. I was super grateful he’d taken the seat next to me for the long drive ahead. “You going to sleep between here and Belleville?”
I sighed. “Six hours feels like a fucking long time at this point. I rarely sleep well on buses.”
“Ah.” He grinned. “I sleep like a baby. I can drop anywhere at anytime and do a hard fifteen for a nap. On a night like this? Nudge me if I snore or lean on you and drool.”
“Gross!” I laughed—likely as he’d intended. “I’m gonna put on my headphones. Maybe I’ll sleep, right?”
“It’s possible.” He removed his wool scarf, rolled it into something resembling an airplane pillow, put it behind his head and—swear to God—was snoring in under two minutes.
I pulled out my headphones, put them on, and tried to get comfortable. I left my phone in my back pocket, even as it buzzed.
No one—at all—was important enough for me to check for.
Except Jack, and if he’s texting me, that’ll only bring a world of hurt.
For both of us.
Amazingly, I slept. When I woke, we were pulling into the hotel.
I was in bed and asleep before Hairs managed to say anything of consequence.
He’d griped.
I’d ignored him.
He’d needled.
I’d pulled my pillow over my head.
And tried to ignore the fact that I had three unread texts from Coach. The preview I’d spotted while I’d been setting my alarm.
When I awoke, I was disoriented and my mouth tasted like someone had taken a dump in it.Because you didn’t brush your teeth last night.
Fucking Hairs. I hadn’t wanted to be in the bathroom a second longer than absolutely necessary because the guy wasimpatient as fuck. I also wasn’t letting him go first because I’d probably still be waitingandhe’d have made a fucking mess.
He snored loudly as I rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
I was in and out of the shower pretty quickly as—considerate person I was—I didn’t want to hold up the room.
In the end, I needn’t have worried. Hairs still slept like the dead.
Another weird expression, but I didn’t give a shit. I needed protein, coffee, and fiber. And not necessarily in that order.
Oh, and bacon. Couldn’t go wrong with bacon.
I wound up in the line at the buffet with Lous, and we shared a table. I glanced up to find Claus sitting with Coach.Fucking hell.“Where are Amy and Tori this morning? I thought they’d be sitting with Coach.”Instead of the guy who knows our secret.
Lous shrugged. “They went to afine-dining establishment.”
I squinted. “A what now?”
“Today’s their anniversary. So, a special brunch, and after practice they’re going to make themselves scarce. We won’t see them again until tomorrow’s morning skate.”
