Page 30 of Drop Pass

“You are not a bimbo?” He asked the question slowly as if I wasn’t hearing him.

“No.” I said with a bit more defensiveness than necessary. “And I don’t appreciate you insinuating that I am.”

His face morphed into confusion. “From what I’ve heard, I thought you were.”

My eyes widened. “Excuse me. Who said I was?”

He shrugged. “The guys on the team.”

My jaw dropped and I fought the urge to throw the cake in his face.

“I saw you on TV. You looked like bimbo.”

I gasped and shook my head. “Oh well.” I swallowed. “Here’s your cake. I just wanted to say thanks for the other night.”

I shoved the box into his arms and rushed down the hall to my door. I slammed it and fell back letting the wall catch me. What just happened?

The team thought I was some dumb blonde hussy? What rumors were going around about me? I hadn’t done anything in Mexico to deserve this. Sure, I’d flirted with Colin, but nothing ever happened.

I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my head on them letting my new brown locks fall around me.

How could this have happened? I’ve only been here for a few days. I could never face the Pride or the team again. Who knew what else they were saying about me?

10

Nikolay

The medovik was delicious but I didn’t think I could tell Elena that. I’d upset her and I had no idea why. At first, I didn’t even recognize her. I thought a stranger, maybe a fan had found out where I lived.

She looked so beautiful. More like herself. More natural. I liked it and wanted to tell her, but she got so angry for some reason.

I’d tried to figure it out during practice, but didn’t understand. I was going to have to ask one of the guys, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. I didn’t want them to know how clueless I could be. Even though I learned English in my teens there were still words I didn’t know. There were times I didn’t completely understand what was going on. I usually got by just fine, except for last night.

I had done or said something wrong. Normally, I didn’t care. I wasn’t here to make friends. I needed to keep my focus on my stats and playing my very best. There wasn’t room for distractions like Elena, but I also knew if I wanted to be here on the Fury for the long run, I couldn’t burn bridges. She was important to the Pride, and therefore to the guys on the team too. I needed to make things right before it affected my relationship with the team.

Once we were in the training room, I looked for Hartman. As captain, he had to be nice. He was the least likely to tell me I was stupid or laugh at me. I crossed the room to where he was working on squats, waiting for him to finish his set.

“Hey Kozlov, what’s up?” He stepped away from the squat rack and picked up his water bottle.

I looked around to make sure we didn’t have an audience. “I have a question.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“A bimbo, that’s the people on the news, right?”

His face twisted in confusion. “What?”

“Isn’t that what they are called?”

“Bimbos?”

I nodded, frustrated he wasn’t just answering the question.

“Where did you hear that?”

I shrugged. “Some of the Pride said that Elena was replaced by a bimbo and came here to be a bimbo.”

His eyebrows pulled together. “I think you misheard them.”