Her voice shook with rage and indignant accusation. In one single game, Lynn was imploding the team. And yet all she could offer Niki was a smug reminder that they’d won the game by a dozen goals. Being the head coach meant thinking much farther down the road than the game at hand.
“You don’t get it,” Niki thundered, and she saw Lynn’s eyes widen in surprise at her insubordination. People frequently underestimated the heat and passion she was capable of, because it was often buried beneath her cool, reasonable demeanor. She rarely lost her head at the rink, but when she did, the walls shook. “Our team won in spite of the mess you created out there. We won because our players have a solid foundation of skill and confidence. But you keep on this track, and by next game, those girls will absolutely come apart. They’ll forget everything we’ve been working on, their confidence will shatter, they’ll be running around out there like a bunch of novice players. And they won’t trust you worth a goddamned. I mean, Jesus, Lynn, have you lost your fucking mind?”
Lynn took a seat in the metal chair behind the austere desk that looked like it came out of a thrift store. Her face tightened and shadows crept beneath her eyes, edging out the cockiness she’d exhibited moments ago. “It’s character building. Sometimes blowing up the same old mundane tricks motivates them to get out of their comfort zone a bit. That’s what I’m doing!”
“But not the game before the semis! This is not the time to experiment with something you read in a bargain-bin Hockey for Dummies book.”
Lynn’s face turned to granite and so did her voice. “I’m the coach, in case you’ve forgotten. And I won’t tolerate this kind of attitude from you.”
“Oh blow me. You’re stuck with me until this is over and you know it.” Niki leaned against the cinder block wall, refusing to give Lynn the satisfaction of sitting across the desk from her like the subordinate she kept reminding her she was. “Something’s going on around here. I can smell it.” Niki made a face like the scent of garbage or shit had wafted in.
“Since you seem to have gone all Nancy Drew on me lately, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“If I knew, trust me, I’d have you hauled up on Smolenski’s carpet so fast, your head would spin. But I swear you’re in bed somehow with the Americans. Because what I saw out there…Even for you, it’s strange behavior.” It felt good to let Lynn have it, to come out swinging.
Venom ate up Lynn’s smile. “Oh, I think we know which one of us is in bed with the Americans.”
Niki mentally recoiled. Had Lynn somehow found out about her night with Eva? Or was she bluffing? No matter. It was a nice try at deflecting the conversation. She relaxed her shoulders, settled her voice. “If you’re in some kind of trouble, Lynn, I swear to you I can help.”
“Trouble?” Lynn laughed, but her eyes shone with something else. Fear maybe. “You must be reading too many spy novels lately. There’s no trouble here. And I am nothing but positive that the gold medal will be around our necks in five days.”
Niki took a step closer, then another step, until she was in front of Lynn, leaning over as her arms straddled the desk. “I won’t let you or anyone do anything to mess with this team and what we’ve worked toward for months.”
A visible swallow, an almost imperceptible shake of the head from Lynn. “Whatever. But I’m not the enemy here.”
“Then tell me who is.”
“Nobody. You’re imagining things, Nik.”
My ass, Niki thought, but it was obvious Lynn wasn’t going to budge.
“I don’t think I am, sadly.” Niki straightened and took a step back. “In spite of all the crap that’s happened the last few weeks, I’m still your friend, Lynn. And I only want what’s best for this team. I wish you felt the same.”
* * *
Eva winced as Kathleen applied the last bit of tape to her poor excuse for a knee, which was killing her. Both knees were, and Kathleen’s taping job left her trussed up like a mummy. But it would, Kathleen promised, hold her together for tonight’s game against Finland.
“Can I even fit my gear over this mess?”
Kathleen rolled her eyes. “Yes, you’ll be able to fit your gear over it. Think of the upside. You’ll look like your muscles have expanded.”
“You mean I’ll look like the Michelin Man.”
The door to the trainer’s room barged open, spitting Alison into their midst. She was still clothed in the signature blue and red tracksuit specially designed for the Americans, not yet having changed into her dress slacks and sport coat for tonight’s game. She held a clipboard in her hands. Clearly she meant business.
“Will you excuse us, Kathleen?”
“Of course,” Kathleen said, already halfway out the door.
Eva hopped off the training table. She didn’t want to be at a height disadvantage.
“You’re not dressing for the game.”
“What? Why not? My knees are no worse than ever. I’m good to go.”
“It’s not your decision.”
If Alison was getting off on her I’m-the-coach act, she could go screw herself. Eva was too old to play this game. “The hell it isn’t. I didn’t come all this way and put in all this work to sit in the stands. Like I said, I’m good to go tonight.”
“And like I said, you’re not good to go.”
“Look, I get why you want to rest me when we’re a game away from the semis. But you know as well as I do that it’s better if I play tonight, even if it’s only a few shifts.” Rust gathered quickly on Eva’s knees if she didn’t play. And she wanted—needed—to play. Being in the thick of every game was what fed her. It was what made her want to get out of bed every morning and put her body through the meat grinder. If she wanted to sit in the stands and knit, she would have skipped the entire past six months and enjoyed watching the Olympics on a nice big flat-screen television in some swanky bar with a frosty, overpriced beer in front of her.
“Frankly, Cruzie, you’ve become a liability. You’ve got the knees of a sixty-year-old. And your hands aren’t as good as they used to be either. I’m going with youth. And not just tonight.” Alison had the decency to look away. “You’re a healthy scratch for the remainder of the Games.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in, to realize it was no joke. Eva swayed a little from the dizziness rolling over her in tiny, relentless waves. Thankfully, she hadn’t eaten anything but a banana in the last hour, but even it threatened to end up on her shoes now.
“You’re shitting me,” she finally said in a voice weak with disbelief, with hurt. No semifinal game? No final game? It was true her knees were severely compromised without Kathleen’s magic, just as it was true she was a good step slower than she’d been a decade ago. But her hands were still sharp no matter what Alison said. Her shooting and passing were second-to-none, and she could see the game unfold in front of her as though it were happening in slow motion. She knew what her teammates and her opponents were going to do before they did it. She could see everything unfold about two seconds before it did. She knew this game better than anyone, save, perhaps, for Niki.
“You’ve served your purpose here. You’ve helped mentor and teach our younger players. Now it’s time to get out of the way and let them carry all the weight.”
Anger pounded in Eva’s heart, each ferocious beat a sledgehammer she wanted to use to hit Alison. “I earned this spot on the team because of my skill and experience. I’m a top six forward on this team, on any team, and you know it. I’m the third highest scorer of all the teams in these Games so far. Now why don’t you tell me the real reason you don’t want me playing?”
Alison started to speak, stopped to regard Eva for a long moment with her beady, deceitful eyes. “You think there’s another reason? If that’s the case, why don’t you tell me.”
Eva debated how much to say, then decided to go for it. She had nothing to lose now, after all. She was off the team and Niki was only hanging on to her position with her own team by a threa
d. “I think you’re scared of me, that’s why.”
“Scared of you?” Alison laughed. “Why would I be scared of you?”
“I think you’re scared I’m going to find out exactly what the hell you and Dani and Lynn O’Reilly have been up to.”
Alison visibly flinched, but her eyes didn’t waver. “If you’re referring to that hot tub photo, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I have no idea who took that photo or who leaked it. But it’s your own damned fault. If you’d kept your hands off Hartling, none of that shit would have happened.”
“That hot tub photo did you a big favor, so don’t tell me you had nothing to do with it. Niki was going to kick our ass in these Games if she remained the coach. With Lynn, we’ve suddenly got a chance. Don’t tell me you hadn’t figured all that out.”
“Of course it works in my favor. I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. But you’re giving me far too much credit here.”
Eva took a step closer, watched with satisfaction as Alison took a small step back. “Oh, I think you’re capable of much more than that. And I’m going to find out exactly what you’ve done. And when I do, the world’s going to know about it. You can count on it.”
Alison held out her hand, palm up. “I want your key card and your credentials. Now.”
Eva grinned, but not because she was happy. Although she did feel an odd sense of relief. She was free now. Free of the evil witch Alison and her merry band of cheaters. Free to be with Niki. Free to start the rest of her life. But not until she saw that Alison got what she finally deserved.
Chapter Twenty-Six
High Sticking
The knock on her door gave Niki a start. She glanced at her bedside clock and saw that it was ten minutes to midnight. She hadn’t been asleep long, but as her head cleared and the thought that Rory might need her sharpened in her mind, she sat bolt upright and scrambled out of bed. She threw on her robe and yanked open the door.
“Oh, Nik.” Eva rushed at her, threw her arms tightly around her, pressed her cheek against her neck. “I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to be here,” she said haltingly. “I needed to see you.”
The smell of beer, stale and a little sour, shrouded Eva like a halo. She was holding Niki so tight, she almost couldn’t breathe. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
She kept squeezing Niki, breathing rapidly, not speaking. They stood suspended in tense silence until Niki asked her again, gently, what had happened.
“It’s over for me.” Her voice sounded like gravel crunching under tires.
“What’s over?”
“The Olympics. Everything.”
Niki extracted herself, sat down on the edge of the bed and invited Eva to sit beside her. She flipped on the bedside lamp, but Eva told her to shut it off. Niki did, then reached for Eva’s hand.
“Is it your knees? Did the doctor—”
“No. It was Alison. She kicked me off the team.”
“Because of your knees?”
“No, no.” Eva huffed impatiently. “She told me I was going to be a healthy scratch for the final three games. We argued. I told her I know she and Lynn and Dani have been up to something, and I threatened to go after them. That’s when she revoked my credentials. Jesus. I don’t even technically have a right to be in the athletes’ village anymore. I don’t even have a place to stay tonight.”
“Nonsense. You’re staying with me.” Niki spoke before she considered the ramifications, the optics, of having Eva spend the night in her room. Consorting with the enemy, trading state secrets, blah blah blah. Well, it was too late for all that. She’d already consorted with Eva in the most intimate way possible, and if they were inclined to trade secrets about their respective teams, they’d have done so already. Hell, Eva wasn’t even a member of Team USA anymore by the sounds of things. A technicality, but still…
“Baby, you don’t have to do that. I can find a room somewhere.”
“There aren’t any rooms available in this entire city. Besides, I want you here tonight. I need you here tonight.”
They fell into a hug that quickly turned into more. They began kissing—long, slow kisses that shimmered with the promise of so much more. “Oh, God, Nik, I can’t keep my hands off you,” Eva mumbled.
“I don’t want you to.” Niki’s voice was tight with desire. She could hardly breathe as she ran her hands through Eva’s thick hair, clutching great gobs of it before pushing Eva’s head down to the V of her robe. When they were together like this, alone and in the vicinity of a bed, Niki couldn’t think straight. Her mind emptied of everything but one desire, one goal, and that was to come. And to come hard. Afterward, maybe then she could think again, because there was a mountain of things they had to talk about, to figure out. But not now.
Eva eased her onto her back, parted the terry cloth robe to reveal her nakedness beneath. Her mouth, warm, wet, firm but soft, licked and kissed and suckled her hardening flesh. Niki arched, pushing herself into Eva’s mouth, pushing the rest of her body into her too, like she might disappear inside of her if she only pushed hard enough.
She could come like this, simply from Eva’s skillful mouth on her breasts, but she didn’t want to be cheated out of the rest. She pressed her hips into Eva, moved them in undulations that beckoned Eva’s hands, her mouth. “Take me, plunder me, possess me,” her body screamed out. With Eva, she could never get enough.
The first stroke of Eva’s tongue on her wet, moist flesh sent a spasm of desire rocketing through her. She trembled inside, clutched Eva’s hair again, pushed against that expert mouth of hers and rode it faster and harder until she lost track of all sense of time and space. Immersed only in her own pleasure, everything else faded to black—every worry, every complication, even her grief for a wife who was never coming back. Only Eva and these crazy, magnetic feelings for her mattered now.
When Eva’s fingers entered her, Niki’s cries filled the room.
* * *
Eva snuggled against Niki, happy for the first time in a long, long time. An hour ago she’d been miserable. Distraught. And in denial that Alison had booted her from the team. She’d drowned her sorrows in a couple of beers and considered how she could get back at the woman who’d been a thorn in her side for years. And then all she could see, all she could think about, was going to Niki. Niki would make her feel better—safe, loved—and together they’d be able to figure out what to do next. It was Niki, she realized, who had always been the person she thought of first, the person she needed most, in the big moments of her life.
“Can you appeal Alison’s decision?” Niki asked. “Go over her head?”
“No. With only the semifinal and the final left, there isn’t time to go through an appeal. And let’s face it, the powers that be wouldn’t want the bad publicity from that kind of thing right now anyway. They’d bury it.”
“What about you going public with what Alison did to you? That would put the pressure squarely on her to explain why she dumped you. And it might pressure her, or USA Hockey, enough to put you back on the team.”
Eva had already thought about going to the media, but she risked forever burning all her bridges with USA Hockey. She also risked appearing petulant, disloyal, attention-seeking, selfish. And it would distract the team at a crucial time. “No. I don’t want to do that. Worst-case scenario, it changes nothing and I come out of it looking like a sore loser.”
“You don’t deserve to be sitting in the stands, sweetheart. I’d have you on my team in a minute.”
Eva brushed a strand of hair from Niki’s forehead and kissed the spot where it had been. “Thank you, my love, but I’m afraid there’s not enough time for you to marry me and make me a Canadian citizen.”
She glanced nervously at Niki to gauge her reaction. Niki only smiled.
“If I go after Alison,” Eva cautioned, “it can’t have anything to do with me getting kicked off the team. It has to be about the lines she crossed with you, with Lynn. And whatever she roped Dani in
to.”
“Then we need proof. And fast.” Niki cut her eyes at Eva. “It’s all in or else you walk away and forget about it.”
“I think you know me better than that.”
Niki hoisted herself onto her elbow. “Then let’s go after Alison and whoever else she recruited to help her cheat.”
“It might have some pretty big implications for you and your team too.”
“I know, and I don’t care. The chips will have to fall where they may, because what Alison, and by extension Lynn, did to our teams is unacceptable. And might still be doing to our teams.” Niki chewed on a fingernail. “Something’s going on with Lynn.”
“What?”
Niki told her how Lynn had thrown the playbook out the window against Sweden. “It was weird and totally unnecessary. I can’t figure out why she did it, but it makes absolutely no sense. It’s been driving me crazy. It’s like she’s trying to destroy the team from the inside out.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“There’s nothing we can do that will guarantee results, but I can’t sit around anymore doing nothing. I’m going to follow Lynn first thing in the morning. She always takes off on foot around seven, supposedly to get coffee.”
“Okay, good. I’ll follow Dani.”
“Why Dani and not Alison?”
“Because I think Dani’s up to her eyeballs in this. And I think I’ll have better luck getting something out of her than I will Alison. Alison’s a veteran at this game. She’s slippery.”
“Won’t it be hard to follow Dani without credentials allowing you into the village?”
“I’ll get Kath to help me. And I’ll have to hope that Dani goes outside the village.”
Niki’s forehead crinkled as she thought for a minute. “There’s got to be a better way than following people around like we’re in a 1920s detective movie. You said back in Whistler you thought you saw Dani texting Lynn. Can’t you just get Kathleen to have another look at her phone or something?”
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