Page 13 of Shootout
There’d be hell to pay tomorrow. My place on the team was precarious enough without this mess Jessie had created and I’d helped perpetuate. Wild was known for his hard hits and ruthless presence on the ice. I’d be the hunted, and I knew it. For now, I’d enjoy what I could while I could. This fake relationship might not be a bad thing. He couldn’t very well kill his sister’s boyfriend or whatever I was pretending to be. Once he found out I’d been rolling around naked on a shower room floor with her and didn’t know her at all, he’d have one more reason to despise me. This wasn’t going to end well, no matter how we played it.
Our little prank wouldn’t last beyond the next hour or so. In fact, a good teammate and friend would tell him right now we were pranking him, but I took the coward’s way out. Any second now, Jessie would come clean and admit the truth. Everyone would have a good laugh at her brother’s expense, and I’d be waiting for his fist to connect with my jaw again. It was only a matter of time, but as the seconds ticked by, Jessie didn’t admit the truth. Instead, she embellished our first meeting and gushed about how happy she was to end up in Seattle with me.
“Is this love at first sight or what?” This came from Steele with his talent for asking clueless questions.
“Something like that. We’re taking it slow, but we enjoy each other’s company.” Jessie gazed up at me with a radiant smile.
Wild said nothing and stared into the distance.
When my teammates began to disperse, she walked outside with me. Wild waited a few steps away, tapping his foot and displaying his impatience.
“Let’s go,” he said and gestured toward his large pickup truck parked at the curb. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
“I’ll see you soon, baby. Maybe tomorrow?” She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Uh, yeah, see you tomorrow, honey.”
She glanced over her shoulder and waved before climbing into the passenger seat. I stared at the street long after they’d disappeared around a corner.
Why hadn’t she told him the truth?
And why wasn’t I more upset that she hadn’t?
ChapterFive
BORIS
~~Jessie~~
Ihadn’t intended to continue my ruse past the previous evening. I started to tell Jason multiple times that he’d fallen victim to a prank just to serve him right. Only I didn’t. I’d had chances, such as when we drove home, but the tension was so thick in his truck I kept my mouth shut.
When we arrived at his condo, he stalked to his bedroom and shut the door. By the time I got out of bed in the morning, he’d left. Jason wasn’t a morning person, and his early departure clued me in to how furious he was.
I considered texting him, but telling him how I’d fooled him wouldn’t be a good subject for a text message. And what about Banks, whom I’d unwittingly dragged into this mess? I had no doubt I’d endangered his position with the team even more than it had been before. Once my brother found out we were naked in the showers together and didn’t even know each other, that’d make things even worse for Banks. Jason would blame him, certain he’d come on to me and seduced me somehow. He’d never believe our encounter was a bumbling, innocent scenario worthy of an oldI Love Lucyepisode.
I had to quit fretting about this situation as I needed to focus on my own career and proving myself to all my doubters, especially my fellow youth coaches. I arrived at work an hour early and prepared for my first full day of scheduled classes. My excitement at meeting my new students somewhat dulled my worry over the mess I’d created.
Knowing I’d be assigned the afternoon and evening classes, I arrived at the SHAC late morning and received my schedule for the next couple weeks from Pete. Mostly, as expected, I’d be teaching beginner group lessons, intermediate boys and girls under ten, and much to my surprise, a group of upper-level teenage girls. I loved teaching, and I didn’t care where my kids were starting at. Seeing improvement each lesson was a huge reward. My mixture of levels would keep me fresh all day long. The program consisted of a series of eight-week courses organized by age and expertise. Each series focused on developing skills, power skating, and other basics. There’d be coaching opps as well on the various youth teams fielded by the Sockeyes.
I studied my schedule and looked over the list of kids in each class, not that I knew any of them, but background information was included in my packet on returning skaters.
“I bet you’re gloating right about now.”
I jumped and spun around to face Jonas. He wore an angry scowl, and I blinked a few times, confused by what had upset him. “Gloating, why?”
He pointed at the packet of papers in my hand. “You’re undermining me.”
“I’ve done no such thing. Why would you think that?”
“That class should’ve been assigned to me.”
“I don’t know what class you’re referring to.”
He held up the schedule and jabbed a finger at my evening all-girls class. “Those girls should’ve been mine. Rob and I worked with the majority of them at our high-performance girls’ camp this last summer. You can take my intermediate class offered at the same time.”
“You’ll need to take that up with Pete.” No way was I swapping with this guy. If Pete assigned those girls to me, he must’ve had a reason. I started to turn away, but Jonas’s next words stopped me.
“I knew you were going to be trouble. You think you’re so special because you have a gold medal.”
