Chapter One
Louis
“What are you two sitting out here for?” Louis asked.
Could he sound any more frustrated? He was so not happy today. They had a game in a few hours, and he’d noticed two players missing from training. What an absolute surprise to find them sat outside the Harpy’s office.
Not.
If a player was missing, they could almost always be found here.
The two young rookies, Ajax Kilgore and Morgan Vanzant, were sheepish as they stared at the floor, sat on cold plastic chairs like naughty children outside the headteacher’s office.
“We were caught drinking,” Morgan admitted.
“On your time?” Louis asked. If it was work time he would shout at them.
Ajax nodded. “It was. Unfortunately, it was caught on camera. And we were singing. Dancing with each other, too.”
Louis groaned and stared at the ceiling. That was when he let himself laugh. It was quite funny. These two were best friends, but he could imagine what the media would think.
Sighing miserably, Morgan said, “Now the media are calling us lovers, and Harpy isn’t happy.”
Was Morgan blushing? Intriguing. When he was nervous, he stroked a strand of his red hair, and he was doing that right now.
Talking to his captain had obviously brought Ajax’s confidence back.
The bigger rookie leaned back, super chilled.
Not a lot got to him for long unless it was a crowded room.
His hands rested on the back of his head while he leaned back.
One leg was crossed over the other, and he was twitching his foot.
These two were complete opposites, which made them a perfect pair on the ice. Morgan was thin, small, and fast. He knew how to read people on the ice and could respond to it swiftly. His wavy red hair and dark green eyes gave him a charming appearance. He was excitable and eager.
Ajax had no hair as he liked to shave it, giving him one less thing to think about in a game such as it being in his eyes or getting itchy with sweat.
His dark eyes and big body made him appear intimidating.
He was strong and would quite happily ram someone out of the way to protect Morgan. Ajax was the quiet one.
Louis rubbed the sides of his nose with two fingers. Already, he could feel a headache forming and it wasn’t even lunchtime.
“Did anyone die? Get hurt? Did you break stuff?” His gaze met both of theirs slowly, searching for any deceit. “Did you become a nuisance?”
They both shook their heads. He believed them.
“No, Captain,” Morgan responded. “We were just doing our own thing, celebrating the win from a few days ago, and hanging out.”
Hands on his hips, Louis nodded. “Go to training.”
“But . . .” Morgan’s eyes went wide with panic, and he glanced at the closed door as if fearing the Harpy’s sudden arrival.
Meanwhile, Ajax was grinning and already standing up to leave.
If a player had been told by Harpy, a.k.a.
Rosemary, to go to her office, then not many disobeyed.
She was terrifying at times, especially to the multiple rookies they had on their team.
An example was Morgan who was definitely scared of her.
Ajax was only slightly intimidated, but since he respected Louis more, he was more likely to follow his instructions than the Harpy’s.
Thankfully, Louis was one of the three people not intimidated by her at all. Yep, he respected she had a job to do, but so did he. And to do his job, he needed his players on the ice training. Warming up. Practicing. It all helped them win and coordinate.
Which they couldn’t do if they were sat on a chair for a tiny issue.
The name Harpy came from her need for divine punishment when the players did something bad, or stupid, and she was ruthless, just like the harpies of legend. She actually quite liked her nickname, given to her by Spencer, and actually laughed now when she heard it.
Fair enough. At least she had a sense of humour at times.
Spencer had been brave saying it to her face, and she had been full of rage to begin with, until he explained. But like Louis, he wasn’t intimidated by her. At all.
“Go.” This time he pointed. “As far as I am concerned, it was two young rookies enjoying a night out. No one was hurt. I am sure everyone had a laugh, and the media will soon forget about it.”
Relief crossed their features, knowing that if Harpy got mad at their disappearance, they now had someone to blame.
They scuttled off very quickly.
Louis should have followed. Instead, he lounged on the seat Ajax had just left.
Calm as could be, he sat back and crossed one leg over the other knee.
No doubt if she found the seats empty, she would go hunting and interrupt the training session, so it was better to get this over and done with in her area and not his.
Not where the players could see. Some already disliked her, and he wasn’t adding to that fire.
Eventually, when the Harpy opened her door, she was so not pleased to see him.
In fact, her expression was almost one of loathing.
He had to have been sitting there for at least twenty minutes, and who knew how long Morgan and Ajax had been there before that.
No doubt her idea was to make them sweat and think about their actions.
Unfortunately for her, he saw it as time wasting.
Time was money and she had no right to disrupt them for so long.
Her blue eyes rolled so hard at him as she leaned on her door.
Louis smirked when the anger appeared. She was beautiful, and even more so when she was riled up.
Her cheeks had a rosy tinge to them. Too bad they were about to have a shouting match which would anger him, too.
Her short brown hair was ruffled, like she had run her hands through it.
Most likely from the stress of planning how to deal with Morgan and Ajax.
“Where are they?” Harpy asked coldly.
“Training,” Louis responded, smiling wide.
“Where I sent them, because that is where they are meant to be. What they are paid to do. More productive that way, yes? Instead of sitting out here waiting for however long you decide. It’s rather warm and icky here and not comfortable at all.
I wouldn’t want them to get ill with a migraine. ”
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Opening them again, she said, “They were caught dancing together and now I need to debrief them.”
Louis shoved past her to go into her office. “Debrief them or destroy morale?”
Mouth wide open in surprise, she demanded, “Where are you going?”
Taking a seat by her desk, he turned to face her. “We are about to disagree. No doubt you will want to do this in private.”
Scowling, she closed the door. At least she didn’t slam it. Her heels clacked as she made her way to her seat. Sitting straight like her back had been tied to a board, she met his gaze dead on.
“I am paid by Frederick to keep you all as squeaky clean as possible. I can’t do that if you send them away instead of letting them get debriefed.”
“You mean punish them.” Louis shrugged. “They knew to be careful. Go for it. But please do it after the game.”
“Maybe losing some ice time will get it into their heads.” That smile she gave was pure evil.
Louis had to respect her. It would work, just a shame he needed them.
To take them off the ice meant everyone else had to work harder.
That added pressure. It meant more chance to make mistakes.
It would also put Morgan and Ajax under the spotlight, affecting their career and future if people went investigating. He wanted to strangle her.
“You are paid to do your job. I am paid to do mine. I can’t do that without my players,” he stated as calmly as possible, even though rage was bubbling to the surface.
“Not. My. Problem.” For each word, she stabbed her desk with a pen to make her point.
Wrong thing to say.
“You’re going to put their future at risk, taking much needed ice time to prove themselves and learn, for dancing? They were celebrating a win! Don’t take this from them, otherwise they will start resenting winning when they feel like they can’t enjoy it. They earnt it.”
Harpy calmly stated with her hands resting on the desk, “They knew to be careful. Like I said, that is not my problem. These are simply consequences to actions.”
Oh, that was so not acceptable! Ajax and Morgan were both good guys with a bright future ahead of them. They didn’t deserve this.
Leaning forward, Louis went deadly calm.
He watched her shoulders stiffen, so she knew exactly how angry he was.
“It is when I can’t do my job. It means the team isn’t playing well, because instead of training, they are panicking out here.
We start losing. That means fans get upset.
Sponsors. All because of your little power trip.
“I am not letting their future get damaged because they had a moment of fun. If it was a fight? Something serious? I could understand it. But for this?”
“Power trip?” Harpy scoffed. “I am one of the best at what I do. I am the expert in this situation in this team. When they have less problems to deal with, they have more time to focus on playing.”
Louis nodded. “I can’t fault that. You are very good. Very quick. The problem is that you micromanage every single one of our steps. Every decision. Every night out. We cannot even go on a date without telling you. That is not healthy.”
Leaning back, she relaxed more. Crossing one leg over the other, she smiled at him. Louis tried to ignore that shapely leg. He had seen it many times when she worked out in the gym with them.
Coughing, he also leaned back.
“But we haven’t lost a sponsor,” she shot back. “We have gained more. In fact, we have gained more fans and interest due to our social media presence and giveaways.”