Page 60 of Bad Teammate
“Julia,” I said, as I threw on a t-shirt and sat in the couch opposite theirs. “How long have you two been waiting to ambush me?”
“Look, I’m probably even more embarrassed about this than you are right now,” she said. “Aleksander wanted to bust your door down and beat you up, but I managed to talk him out of it. It wasn’t easy, though.”
“Yeah?” I scowled at Niko. “I’d like to see you try. See what happens.”
“Whoa there.” Julia held up her hands. “Please, Mr. Reaves, don’t fight. Dallas needs youboth.”
Mumbling in Russian, Niko grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured it into a pint glass until the liquor overflowed and spilled onto the couch.
“No more, Aleksander! You’ve had enough.” Julia took his glass away, reprimanding him further in Russian.
Niko wildly waved his arms around in the air, gesturing at me, ranting to Julia about me.
“Careful with that guitar, bud. It cost a small fortune,” I said. “What’s he saying right now?”
“Honestly? He’s pretty drunk, so he’s not making a lot of sense. But he’s talking about Katya a lot, obviously. And um, he’s using a lot of swear words.” She sighed. “I really don’t want him to do what he’s threatening to do, though …”
“Which is what?”
“He says he’s going back to Russia first thing tomorrow. He’s going to leave the NHL behind to play in the Russian KHL instead.”
If Niko left because of me, it wouldn’t just be the end of his NHL career. It’d be the end of mine, too. I’d forever be known as the guy who couldn’t keep his hands off the superstar’s sister. There wasn’t a locker room in the league that would want a guy like me. I could kiss all this goodbye—the condo, the lifestyle, everything. Other guys had families, or another career they could gracefully pivot into to give their life meaning after hockey … but being an NHL player was the only thing I knew. I’d be lost without it.
“Fuck,” I hissed. “He can’t leave, damn it.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling him. But he says he can’t play with teammates he doesn’t trust, and he won’t live with a guy that fucked his sister.”
“I didn’t sleep with Katerina, though,” I said, with a small glimmer of hope. “Tell him that, will you?”
Julia translated back and forth. “He doesn’t believe you. He says we could hear Katya screaming from all the way out here.” She gave me a discrete nod as if to say,yep, that part is definitely true.
I slapped my forehead. “We fooled around, alright? But we didn’t sleep together.”
Julia translated. “He says he wants you to swear on your own life that you didn’t sleep with her.”
“Niko, I swear on my own life that I didn’t sleep with your sister. Happy?”
I watched Niko’s expression as Julia told him what I’d said. He smirked and gave a nod. Again, Julia translated his remarks while he talked.
“He says he’ll consider staying. But only if you break it off with Katya—he says if you doanythingelse with her, he’ll leave the team.”
My blood boiled. I hated myself for eventhinkingabout caving to his demands.
But I couldn’t see any other choice. I knew from the beginning that Katerina and I couldn’t be a thing, didn’t I?
“Fine,” I growled.
“He also says you can’t tell her why you’re breaking it off.”
“What?” I gnashed my teeth. “Why the hell not?”
“He doesn’t want her to know that he was involved. He wants Katya to think you got sick of her. He says, if she gets even a little bit suspicious that he had anything to do with it, he’ll leave—so you’d better be convincing.”
I balled my fists. “That’s fucking garbage and you know it, Niko.”
“He says he’s only protecting his sister.”
“No. You’re making melieto your sister and break her heart so you still look like the good guy. But hey, whatever. Tell yourself you’re protecting her if that’s what helps you sleep at night.”
