Chapter 37 Eng
ENG
Isaw her up in the stands, half hiding behind a support column as she watched us practice.
Her presence during games had always solidified my decision to do nothing except stand against the wall and try to remain upright, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of anyone, let alone the shrew.
Now her eyes on me had a very different effect.
It didn’t matter if I fell or looked like an idiot as long as I kept the pucks from reaching the net.
It was exhausting work, far more strenuous than any of the shrew’s workout routines or my military training back home.
As my muscles began to shake with fatigue, I imagined that I was guarding our gates against an army of fae, and when that motivation began to lose the fight against my growing fatigue, I visualized myself protecting my Willowyn from a marauding hoard that wished her harm.
I’d never pushed myself that hard for anything.
By the time the coach told us to take some easy laps around the ice to cool down, I could barely stand.
My cool down consisted of my holding on to the wall with one hand and dragging my stick behind me with the other as I slowly put one foot in front of the other.
Thankfully the other orcs were just as weary, and the shrew had left before I began my slow and painful laps.
How could I possibly summon the energy to complete another, individual, workout with her after this?
But the alternative was to postpone our session, and I was too proud for that.
Plus, I was eager for any chance to see her, to be alone with her. Somehow I would force my tired body to obey. And then I would go back to my hovel and sleep. I might even take an Uber rather than attempt the walk home.
As we staggered toward the locker room, I realized that I wasn’t just tired—I stank like a dead Morfest that had been baking in the hot sun.
There was no way I could face the shrew like this, so I elbowed two of my teammates out of the way and threatened two others to make sure I was first in line for the showers.
Hot water and soap never felt so good. I nearly dozed off against the warm tiles, but the shrew was waiting, so I turned the water on cold to blast myself awake and hopefully energize myself enough to run or throw anvils or whatever else she wanted me to do.
When I finally made it into the gym I saw her sitting on one of the weight benches, alternating between scribbling on paper and looking at her phone. She glanced up, then jumped to her feet when she saw me, the paper falling to the floor.
I stopped, my breath catching as her eyes roamed over me.
I’d purposefully not fully dried off, so my skin still glistened with moisture, my hair wet, the waistband of my workout pants damp.
The only thing I regretted was that the icy finish to my shower had left my hand-axe in a rather unbecoming state.
Ah well. She was intimately aware of how pleasing its size and girth were to her, and this temporary shrinkage was thankfully hidden by my baggy clothing.
“We can wait until tomorrow if you’re too tired from practice. Or hungry. You’ve got to be starving.” She bent down to retrieve the fallen paper and I eyed her ass, thinking that I was indeed hungry—for lunch and for her.
“I am not too tired,” I lied. “Perhaps we can have lunch afterward, though.”
She stood upright and faced me, her eyes narrowed at my suggestion.
I held up my hands, palms forward. “I promise you that I am only proposing we eat lunch. Although my heart and mind crave more from you, I am afraid my body will not be able to perform to the level I wish without several hours of rest.”
At least. There was a good chance my body wouldn’t be able to adequately perform at all today. Or maybe even tomorrow. How did these human hockey players manage? I was an orc and I could hardly walk after one day of practice.
She giggled then slapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh.”
“You should laugh,” I told her. “It is a terrible situation. You could be naked in front of me right now and I might fall asleep on top of you before I could even get these pants off.”
She laughed outright at that.
“Your virtue is safe from me—at least for a few hours,” I promised.
“Well then, let’s get to work so we can eat and you can get to bed before you keel over. I promise to take it easy on you.”
I placed my hand over my heart. “I appreciate your mercy, miskal-temek.”
“I’m not about to ask what that means. It’s probably Orcish for female torturer or something.”
It meant “beloved shrew,” but given our last argument, I wasn’t about to translate for her.
“Let’s start with some stretching.” She waved me over to two mats, sitting on one and waving for me to do the same by her side. Once I was on the mat, she stretched her legs straight in front of her, then bent at the hips and easily wrapped her fingers around the top of her toes.
I tried to copy her movement and managed to place my palms on my knees.
“That’s…uh, that’s good,” she said.
It was most definitely not good. “My legs are too long,” I informed her. “That is why I cannot reach my toes.”
She snort-laughed. “Your legs aren’t that long. You just need to work on your flexibility. All of you, not just you in particular.”
“Orcs are not very bendy. We are more likes oaks than reeds,” I explained.
“Lots of humans aren’t bendy either, but they can improve with work. Don’t worry, I’ll have you touching your toes in no time. Maybe even doing this.” She pulled her lower legs in toward her hips then lifted them up to tuck her feet behind her head.
I stared in shock. “The only way an orc does that is if his legs have been broken off at the hips.”
She unfolded her legs. “Okay, maybe not that. I was just showing off a little.”
“I like that you are strong and fast and…bendy.” The last word came out as a throaty growl and her eyes met mine.
I saw the flash of desire in them, and heard the stutter in her breath.
For a moment we were frozen, bewitched by the attraction we felt for each other. Then Willa blinked and the spell broke.
“We’ll do more stretching in tomorrow’s team workout.
” She jumped to her feet and snatched the paper off the floor.
“Goalies need great reflexes, which you already have. What you don’t have is the flexibility and balance you need to excel.
And while I’ve seen your jaw-dropping six-pack, you’ll still be doing workouts that focus on your core strength. ”
She liked my stomach. The thought brought a very smug smile to my face.
“We’ve already been working on the medicine ball throws as a team, so I narrowed your individual exercises down to more goalie-specific ones.
First up are some butterfly progression drills including slides and lateral pushes.
These simulate what you’ll be doing on the ice and will help you improve your reaction time and increase hip mobility. ”
The shrew led me through a series of slow up-and-down drills, telling me to concentrate on my form. After a few sets, we moved on to exercises where I would slide alternating legs to the side and down as if I were blocking a puck.
“Let’s begin with three sets of thirty repetitions for each exercise. Then I want you to do ten box jumps before doing another three sets of thirty again. I’ll text the workout routine to you so you’ll have it on your phone.”
I eyed the paper, thankful that she wasn’t asking me to do the full workout today.
“We’ll be dedicating one team training a week to yoga and balance, but this is something I want you to do extra work on. We’re going to start out with twenty back-and-forth walks on the balance beam, but feel free to do more.”
She pointed to a long wooden board on supports that raised it four feet off the ground.
Placing her hands on the top, she swung her legs upward, then moved from a squat to a standing position.
Placing one foot in front of the other, she quickly moved to the end of the board, then pivoted gracefully around and returned.
“Now you try,” she said as she hopped back to the floor.
I stared at the narrow surface, then looked down at my feet which were at least double the size of hers. “You want me to walk on that?”
“Yes. Go as slowly as you need at first, then increase your speed once you become comfortable.”
I would never be comfortable walking on what seemed like a twig, but I climbed onto the beam without protest. Carefully I placed my feet in what felt like a stable position, let go with my hands, and slowly rose to an upright position.
One step. Two steps. Three—my foot slipped just a fraction of an inch.
It was enough to tip me sideways. I windmilled my arms, trying to regain my balance and failing.
Faced with an inevitable fall, I chose to leap and land on my feet rather than on my face.
This would clearly be a difficult skill to master, just like the toe-touching exercise.
“Another balance exercise I want you to do is using this board.”
Not another board! I kept the protest unspoken and followed her to the piece of equipment. This one was also wooden but broad and long with ends that curled up. It was thankfully on the floor.
“You stand on this rubber band stretched across the top and try to keep your balance as long as you can. Start out just standing, then as you feel more stable, you can begin moving your feet and turning around.”
“Stand on the rubber band?” Was she crazy? She must have some idea of how much I weighed. There was no way that thing could possibly hold me without snapping like a thread.
She bit her lip. “It’s a commercial grade board. Maybe we should use the this one instead, though.”
The second option was a straight board on top of a wooden cylinder. It reminded me of a tiny version of a child’s toy in the park that Ozar had called a teeter-totter.