Page 36 of Triple Pucked
“I’m still the owner of your little club. I can take an interest in it if I want.”
“Why are you interested in the club now?” I demand. “You’ve left us alone for months.”
A veil settles across Heine’s face. It’s unsettling.
What isn’t he saying?
There is a cruel curl to his sly mouth that says it’s nothing good.
My pulse speeds up.
“I tried to stop this.” Coach sounds weary. It’s unlike him enough to startle me. “Robyn, whatever you think of me now, I have spent the entire season fighting for the club’s legacy and protecting the players. I took this to the board. I tried to?—”
“Yes, yes, nobleblah blah.” Heine rolls his eyes. “The irony is that your continued success has made the Bay Rebels international legends for the first time in their history. You are a few wins away from making the playoffs. And that has meant you’ve kept my attention. Your boy Shay is now a star of the NHL. Yet all I’ve heard from my father, as I’ve learned the ropesof the business here in Germany, is that I must sort out your finances and make this a success.”
“If this is about taking revenge on me,” I boldly meet his amused gaze, “then name it and do it. Keep everybody else out of it.”
Robyn makes a desperate noise of denial low in her throat.
I ignore her.
Heine pretends to look sympathetic but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “That’s sweet. On a business level, however, I’ve promised my father that the Bay Rebels are going to qualify for the playoffs. You do remember what that man does to me if I break my promises…? The next six games on points are crucial, so Silas Anderson tells me. On points, you can have clinched a playoff spot within the next six games if you play them right. Yet I’ve read Bolling’s report, and he’s disappointed in you.”
I take a steadying breath.
I can do this.
For Shay. Robyn. Eden. Bay Rebels.The entire town.
“What do you want?” I demand.
Heine appears thrilled, leaning forward toward the screen, as if he can touch me all the way from Germany. “Beg.”
My heart leaps into my throat.
Coach stiffens.
“That’s going too far,” coach says, gruffly. “Jude has led his team to victories and?—"
“I’m not talking to you, old man.” Heine never looks away from me. “I said,beg.”
I want to hurl.
“Please…” I cough, clearing my throat. This goes against my entire dynamic. Heine is watching me avidly. He knows how hard this is for me. “Please don’t target anyone but me. We will win the next games.”
Robyn’s expression is thunderous. Shay is as pale as I am.
“Good. Then you won’t mind a little bet,” Heine declares.
“Shit,” Shay mutters.
This isn’t about the success or failure of the team.
I knew that it was a mistake to become relaxed, comfortable, and happy.
Every time that I have, life has pulled the rug out from under me. I should have known from the call that Heine and Blythe made four months ago.
I never won against Heine.
