Chapter 6
Six
Eloise
There’s a sharp blow of a whistle, causing the drill to end. Lawson isn’t smiling per se, but he is watching with careful eyes as he looks down at his clipboard and then at us. “Harper, Matthews, this way.”
I catch Taylor’s eye as we skate over to him.
I think that I’ve done a great job avoiding her at all costs in the past week, to keep things simpatico on the ice, but fate keeps seeming to want us to interact.
Her green eyes flash with something that makes me nervous, and I can see the way the rest of the team near the boards watch us skate over as well.
“What’s up, Coach?” she asks, sounding slightly more chipper than I think she’s ever been near me, and he raises an eyebrow. From that alone, I assume he thinks her attitude change is weird.
“You two are getting paired up for a line; you’re both strong defenders, physical and can work well together.” I bite my cheek to keep from reacting to the thought of us working together. Taylor doesn’t hide the look of horror on her face.
Comforting.
“Coach, are you sure?” she asks, and then the assistant coach, Megan Ross comes up behind him.
“We’re sure. Your numbers together are pretty similar to Rosie and your numbers from last year,” Ross says.
Taylor’s face shuts down at the mention of Rosie, and I wonder if there was more to their relationship with how she’s been pushing back against me.
The rest of the team seems to be reacting well to my being in the locker room, minus a few of the rookies.
Lily tried to mention something when I went to talk to them and they skated away, but I shrugged it off.
My agent is pretty pleased with how I’ve been able to represent myself and has mentioned that contracts are in talks.
Which has eased the anxiety I’ve been feeling significantly.
“What do you want us to do?” I ask, trying to push past the awkwardness of talking about her ex.
“Just see how you play together, we’re going to be running some two on one drill, you two see how you can communicate and we’ll go from there,” Ross says and I nod. Taylor nods as well, although a little more shaky than I would have thought.
As we skate back towards the centre of the ice, I nudge her slightly. She turns to me, furious. “You okay?”
“Fine, ” she spits the word out, and I shrug.
“I know you don’t like me, but if you ever need to talk–”
“No. What side of the ice do you want?”
“Left.”
“Great, you stay left, I stay right and we won’t talk.”
I roll my eyes; she can’t be this obtuse. She has to know that we have to communicate and interact in order to be successful.
The whistle blows, and Rhea, one of the alternate captains, picks up the puck with her stick, gliding towards us.
I can see Taylor from the corner of my eye.
She’s locked in, not looking at me, and I’m wondering what on earth I’ve signed myself up for.
Rhea dekes right towards Taylor before arcing back to me.
I shift, rushing her as Taylor somehow gets tangled up in my stick.
Where the fuck did she come from?
We’re stuck twisting around for a second as Rhea tries to get around us. In our flailing, my stick gets knocked out and knocks the puck away. Rhea seems so confused that she also trips up and falls to the side. I finally get myself untangled from Taylor and shove her away to go help Rhea up.
“What was that?” she asks through gritted teeth when I lower my hand to her.
I shake my head. “You know her better than I do. If you can figure that out, I’d really appreciate it.”
She sighs, cursing under her breath before she skates off. She skates towards Brynn and Coach Ross, both of whom have frowns on their faces. My heart sinks into my stomach, and I wouldn’t be shocked if the performance rots away any good qualities that I have shown for them to extend a contract.
I whip my head back around to Taylor, who’s standing on the other side of the rink, tapping her stick lightly against the ice. I wonder if she knows how much she’s got my career in her palm right now.
Skating over, I bend to grab my stick and reach her quickly. Her green eyes flick towards me before looking away. An attempt to snub me.
Well, it isn’t going to work.
“I would have thought that as a third-year pro hockey player, you’d know how to skate without crashing into your teammate.”
She shifts her weight from one foot to the other but says nothing.
“I thought you said to stay on your side, so how the fuck did you end up on the left with your stick between my skates?”
“She was going down the centre,” she he finally says, spitting it out with a vitriol that would have had me jolting back if I weren’t so incensed with her inability to skate.
“You can’t claim the centre. We have to communicate. We’ve only played against each other, Taylor.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be here,” she glowers at me, and I shrug.
“It’s too bad because I’m here now. So you have to tell me left, centre or right so that I know where you are and we aren’t getting tangled up. I don’t want to be near you any more than I have to,” I retort.
She rolls her eyes. “Do you understand?” I ask again, watching her release a breath through her nostrils. They flare, and her eyes flash an angry moody green before nodding curtly and skates off to her side of the ice.
I turn around, steeling myself for another round.
Brynn gives me a small thumbs up, which has my stomach stop curdling.
Coach Ross looks at the two of us, and has another player ready at the blue line.
I’m skating quickly to get set up, watching Taylor in the corner of my eye as the whistle blows.
The player starts fast, heading straight towards me, looking like she’s going to skate through me, and I’m skating towards her.
“Centre!” Taylor shouts, making me smile as I move closer to the player.
“Left!” I shout back, skating past the girl in a twirl and stripping the puck from her.
“Forward!” I shout, watching Taylor start skating faster as I pass it up.
The puck connects with a solid clink, and she takes it over the blue line.
The whistle blows again as the team hits their sticks on the boards at our success.
Ross looks at her clipboard and then back at us. “Again, Andersen, grab the puck.” Taylor comes back to her side of the ice and we set up, ready for another round of drills.
After the successful attempt at showing how I can work well with the woman who hates my guts, I’m still on the ice, taking in a deep breath before I go into the locker room and get ready to go home and sleep.
I’m absolutely shattered.
The only other person on the ice is Taylor, and she’s hitting shots into the empty net like she’s mad at every single one. I want to get to know her better. I want to be able to communicate with her on the ice without both of us being angry at each other. Or frustrated, or, shit, I don’t know.
I keep thinking that the crush that I have on her is finally dissipating, but then she smiles at Brynn and Winnie; or she laughs and her whole body is thrown back; or her face crinkles in disgust at an ingredient on the lunch menu… And somehow I’m even more smitten?
But also exasperated.
I feel so fucking confused.
I skate to her, and watch as her slap shot dies down. She’s low on pucks and will have to acknowledge me soon. “We played well out there,” I say. My voice is the loudest thing other than the pucks missing the net.
She keeps hitting her puck.
“I want to let you know that if you want to talk about missing Rose, or anything else, and I mean anything else, I’m here.
A-and if you want to hang out outside of the rink, I’d be okay with that too—” Jeez Eloise, this is awkward.
“I just mean, I think we can work really well together, and I think part of that has to be-- ”
“Can you just stop?” Her voice is tired, and she sounds on the verge of tears. “I don’t want to be your friend, I don’t want to be your co-worker, I don’t want to be your fucking teammate, and somehow I’m stuck with you!”
It echoes in the rink, and I blink as I process the words. Something cleaves my chest, and I wonder if this will finally allow me to break free from the crush I’ve been harbouring this entire time.
She pants, ripping her helmet off. Her cheeks and nose are bright red, her freckles just barely visible. She glows with sweat, her eyes are wild, and my traitorous heart beats faster.
Damn her.
There’s no shaking this fucking crush.
“Look, I’m sorry you feel this way, but I think—”
“There is no thinking. I can’t stand being around you, and everything you do makes me want to rip my hair out!” Oh. “You need to leave here, get out of Vancouver, and stay the fuck away from me for the rest of my life. I just—”
“Eloise,” a solid, cold voice calls from the tunnel. I turn back and feel my cheeks burn when Brynn stares at the two of us. “Why don’t you go get dressed and meet with Coach and your agent in the boardroom? They want to talk to you.”
“I—”
She jerks her head behind her, and I can’t argue with her as I skate over. “Come for drinks with us tonight.” She gives me a smile as she tells me that, and there’s no way that I can say no. If this is the news, I’m expecting—cough cough… a contract—then I should get to know the team better.
“Sounds good,” I say, turning back to the ice where Taylor looks like she’s one wrong look away from dissolving into the ice. “Is she okay?”
“She will be,” Brynn smiles at me. “I’m sorry about what she said. She doesn’t speak for the rest of us, and we’re very excited to have you. But go; you don’t want to keep Lawson waiting!”
I try to bite my smile back to make sure Taylor doesn’t see me smiling and walk out. I don’t make it more than five feet into the tunnel when I hear Brynn starting to snap at Taylor and, while I feel bad, Brynn knows her and knows what she needs in order to be successful for the rest of the season.
I’m quick with my shower and make it to the board meeting in record time, where Annalise, my agent, sits with Coach Lawson, Coach Ross, a few higher ups in the Vortex organization and our media team: Fallon and Etta.
Annalise gives me a bright smile before pointing to the seat beside her, left open for me. There’s a stack of papers and a pen.
“Three-year deal,” she whispers in my ear when I sit down.
I know this. It’s one of the best deals I’ve ever had.
“You’re locked in and safe, but if you perform, they’ll re-up your contract before the second year is up.
They’re just suggesting you don’t push Matthews too hard with the partnership early on and that you branch out.
Management said that she’ll need some time to warm up to you. ”
“I can handle that,” I say.
“Welcome to the Vancouver Vortex,” Ross says. She looks pleased; her eyes are smiling, and she’s got a small smile on her lips. “We’re excited to have you.”
“I’m excited to be here,” I say, looking at the contract.
This is it.
I sign this, and I’m set for the next few years.
I can’t turn this down even if I wanted to.