Page 25 of Bad Teammate
“No shit?” Hath laughed.
“Yeah, man. She’s got an accent, but it’s not that bad. It’s actually kind of—” I caught myself before I saidsexy.“—well, it’s not bad at all.”
“Interesting. I guess you and Niko had a lot to finally say to each other, then.”
“You’d think, eh? But as soon as we got home, Niko and Katerina started arguing. I don’t know what the hell they were fighting about, but Niko locked himself up in his room just to get away from her.”
“Huh.”
I got nervous because Hath grew quiet.
To be fair, Iwasteeing up my ball.
But Hath is such a smart guy—both on the ice and off it, too. I knew he could tell something was up—I sensed his suspicion. Maybe that’s what I was hoping for? Maybe, secretly, I wanted him to drag it out of me. Maybe I wanted someone to tell me what a fuckin’ idiot I was. And who better than Hath, whopersonallyknew the damage done by a teammate who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants?
With all that weighing on my mind, I flubbed my very first shot. My swing tore a chunk of turf from the earth and sent it sailing through the air. My ball hooked just far enough to land in the jungle.
Hathaway laughed. “Not gonna lie, Reavo. That was brutal.”
“What else is new?” I grumbled as we walked back to our golf cart. “Can’t fuckin’ score a goal. Now I can’t hit a golf ball anymore, either.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “Hey, bud, take it easy. You missed two years of hockey. It’s going to take some time before you get your feel for the game back. The pucks are gonna start going in for you soon. I can feel it, Reavo. You just have to loosen up a bit.”
I chuffed. “You missed two years, too. It didn’t slow you down any.”
“Yeah, but I was training every single day during those two years. I wasn’t rehabbing multiple injuries like you were.”
We hopped into the cart.
“So Niko hit the sack as soon as you got home,” Hath said, glancing at me from the side of his eye, “but you stayed up late with Katerina?” He stepped on the pedal and our cart sped off down course. “What exactly were you two doing? Just talking?”
“Wait, what? You think I stayed up latewithKaterina?” I laughed nervously. “No, no. I slept on the couch, see, because I gave Katerina my bed. I couldn’t really get comfortable enough to fall asleep—that’s why I was up late.”
“Ahhh. I see.”
Whether or not Hath believed me, or justwantedto believe me, I wasn’t sure.
Eager to prove I had nothing to hide, an idea came to me. An idea that would bring everyone closer together whilealsoeasing the tension between me and Katerina.
“Hey!” I said. “You got plans tonight?”
“Just hangin’ with Emma, why?”
“I thought I should invite all the guys over to meet Katerina. That way she gets to meet everyone—the boys and the WAGs.”
(WAGs: hockey lingo meaningwives and girlfriends.)
Hath nodded. “Great idea, Reavo. We’ll be there. Just let me know when.”
“I’ll check with the Russians.” I pulled out my phone and tapped out a text message.
I started to feel better already. I had the sun on my skin and the wind in my hair and an entire morning of golf ahead of me.
But when the cart came to a stop, Hath turned to me with a serious look on his face.
“I sure hope Katerina’s not a rocket,” he said.
(Rocket:hockey lingo for an extremely attractive girl, the kind of gorgeous woman that made even the most eligible bachelor lose his mind and do dumb things.)
