Page 85 of Heat It Up (Off the Ice)
The sound of the locker-room door opening mocks me. Shit. The good news, if you can call it that, is she’s still wearing the towel.
“You and I will be hot together,” she whispers. Damn shower acoustics. Even though she whispered it, her words are heard by the occupants in the other room.
Nik and his uncle enter the shower area. Nik’s face holds an edge of amusement. His uncle is less than impressed.
“What’s going on here?” Alvar Tikkanen says.
Before either of us can respond, he tells Lovisa, “I don’t care who you are, get out of here or else I will have you charged for trespassing.”
Lovisa doesn’t stick around to find out if he’s bluffing. I release a relieved breath. Hopefully that’s the last I’ll see of her. One thing I’m certain about is that not only does Joni knows about this, but he’ll make sure Sofia knows, too.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Alvar says, his face red, nostrils flaring.
I open my mouth to tell him it’s not what he thinks, but he doesn’t give me a chance to defend myself.
“You’re lucky we walked in when we did, and not when you and the girl were having sex. And you were lucky it was us who walked in on you and not one of the boys from the camp. Do you realize what your careless indiscretions could have done to the reputation of the camp? If I had known you would do something stupid like this, I never would have given you those recommendations.”
He pauses his rant long enough for me to get a word in. “I didn’t invite her in here. Nor did I plan to have sex with her. I didn’t even know she was in here until it was too late.”
Alvar digests this. His stance is still stiff, but I can tell he believes me. “Do you know her?”
I nod. “Not very well. I just met her once, and I have no idea how she knew where to find me.” Although I do have a strong suspicion how she knew enough to track me down.
“Do you think she’ll be a problem again?”
I have no idea. Who knows what else Joni has planned. “Hopefully not.”
“Well, for you own safety and for the safety of the program, you’re to ensure you’re never alone in here.” He looks at his nephew. “If he’s in here, then you’re in here.”
“Yes, sir,” Nik says, his face a mask of seriousness. Deep down he’s laughing that he now gets to babysit me.
Alvar leaves and I change into my regular clothes. Joni and Sofia should be leaving soon to drive back to Vantaa. I send her a text. There’s no easy way to put it so I simply type:Hope you had a great trip. Just want you to know that Lovisa came into the men’s locker room at the arena while I was showering. Nik and his uncle saved me from her. Miss you.
As I’m gathering up my stuff, Sofia replies.
Glad you’re okay. Miss you too. Talk to you soon. :)
Nik slaps me on the back. “Okay, loverboy. Let’s get out of here before anymore of your fangirls show up, naked.” Although from the way he says it, he wouldn’t be opposed to it.
Chapter Forty-Four
Sofia
The arena door opens and a group of boys exit. I recognize them from when I watched Kyle work the day I took photos for the photo album. The boy Kyle was talking to that day, after practice, leaves with two other boys. All three of them are laughing. I almost don’t recognize him. The last time I saw him, it looked like someone had died.
They walk past, talking in rapid Finnish. Eventually Kyle and Nik exit the building. It takes everything in my power not to run to Kyle and jump into his arms. Everything in my power, along with a pair of crutches.
The crutches I never told Kyle about.
His eyebrows draw together in a dark line. “What the hell happened to you?” He doesn’t have to say it; I can see it in his eyes. He thinks what happened is Joni’s fault, and in a small way it was. Except I have no intention of telling Kyle that. Yes, I want us to be honest with each other, but telling him that Joni kissed me is like wrestling with a hungry bear. Not the brightest of ideas.
“I didn’t see some broken glass in the sand and stepped on it. It’s really nothing. I just needed a few stitches.” Well, more like six.
Kyle takes a crutch and hands it to Nik. He wraps his arm around my waist and hands Nik the other crutch. Then his lips are on mine just like I’d fantasized all weekend, and everything else is quickly forgotten.
Who knows how long we’ve been kissing when Nik says, “Dude, I do have someplace to go.”
At first I can’t figure out what he’s talking about. Why does he have to wait for us to finish kissing, which if I had my way would be never? Then I remember why: he’s still holding my crutches.
