Page 79 of Bad Teammate
“She told us everything at the party,” Emma answered.
“Great.” I sighed. “Guess it’s only a matter of time before the whole team knows.”
“Stop that,” Austen chided me. “We’re not gossips. We promised Katerina we wouldn’t tell anyone and we won’t.”
“Yeah,” Emma said. “We’re friends with you and we’re friends with Katerina, too. And the way you’re acting with her seems awfully strange.”
I scratched the back of my neck. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to tell them, but they were all I had right now.
“So, last night,” I began with a sigh, “Katerina and I fooled around after the party. Niko caught us.”
The girls gasped.“He did?”
“Yeah. He was waiting in the living room. Caught me when I came sneaking out of her bedroom. It was like some kind of damn ambush.” I shook my head. “Katerina doesn’t know we got busted.”
“Why didn’t you just tell her that, Reavo?” Austen asked.
“Because Niko didn’t want her to know, and he threatened to go back to Russia if I told her. Kid nearly got me fuckin’ killed during our game today. He’s not joking around. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“So youweren’tjust trying to get laid?”
“No,” I said. “I mean, I don’t think so?”
The girls looked at me like I had two heads. “You don’tthinkso?”
I sighed. “I can’t explain it. I’ve never felt this way before. Of course I’m crazily attracted to her—she’s gorgeous, obviously. But it feels like there’s something more to it than that. At the same time, I must be nuts, because Katerina’s only been herethreenights; I barely know her. And yet, ever since she got here, she’sallI can think about. Obviously, I know better than to fool around with a teammate’s sister—but there’s something that just pullsme to her, something that makes me want to be with her, always. I want to get to truly know her, you know? But fuck, man, I can’t.”
Both girls touched their hearts, looking deeply moved.
“Aw!”
“Reavo, that’s so sweet!”
I sighed. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter now.”
“You need to hurry up and tell her all of that before she leaves,” Austen said. “She deserves to know the truth. Because she thinks you played her for a fool.”
My heart winced. I hated to hear that.
“I don’t have her number and I don’t know where she’s staying,” I grumbled, making excuses. “But even if I did? Like I said, if Niko finds out I told her, he’ll bolt back to Russia.”
“I’ll text you her number.” Emma pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and started tapping away at it. My phone buzzed against my thigh when the text arrived. “You should call her. Tell her everything you just told us.”
“But it’s hopeless,” I said.
“No, it’s not,” Emma said. “If nothing else, she deserves to know the truth. You can’t just lie to a girl like that. You broke her heart with a lie—a lie that will stick with her forever—just to save your own ass. That’s not right and you know it.”
Fuck.
“Yeah, but what if she gets pissed off and tells Niko?”
“She absolutelyshouldconfront him,” Austen said. “What’s worse is if he gets away with it! What if he does something like this again? What if she never even knows her brother is manipulating her life like that?”
“Yeah,” Emma said, “she needs to know just what kind of brother she’s got.”
I let out a heavy breath. “I understand where you’re coming from. But I need you to see where I’m coming from. If Niko leaves the Devils all because of me, the wholeteamis fucked, and it’s all my fault. That’s a career-ender, right there.”
“There’s more to life than hockey, Reavo,” Austen said.
