Page 196 of Skate the Line

He nods slowly.

“Rhodes Volkova,” I tease, “the most intimidating winger on the Blue Devils is a softy. Who would’ve thought?”

To my surprise, he doesn’t deny it or, at the very least, scoff. His hand falls to mine, and he gingerly pulls me to my feet.

“What can I say?” He wets his lips, and I’m captivated. “I’m a softy for my girls.”

His girls?

My stomach dips.

“Let’s get you some medicine, and if you're up for it, the guys brought donuts.”

“The guys?” I let him lead me to the bathroom.

Rhodes glances over his shoulder at me. “The team. I guess they’re softies for you too.”

I make a face. “They’re here for you. Not me.”

He chuckles. “I can assure you that they’re here for you, Sunshine. Not me.”

My cheeks grow warm.

“Welcome to the fam, baby. I guess you’re one of us now.”

Fifty-Eight

RHODES

Coach Jacobs standsat the foot of the locker room, and silence fills the tight space. With the entire team in here, it gets congested, and adding in each of our egos, it’s even worse.

“Listen up.”

Kane mumbles about it being silent, so clearly we’re all listening.

I send him a glare, and he lazily swings his attention back to Coach.

“We’re going to be making some changes with the playoffs in our future. We’re slotted for the wild card right now, but if we can get our points up for the next few games, we’ll be able to secure a spot for the first time in ten years.”

The locker room erupts in chants, and some throw up the new fan salute: their first finger and pinky up like devil horns. Some chick did it at one of the games, and it went viral. Now everyone is doing it.

“Alright, alright, alright.” Coach sounds eerily similar to Matthew McConaughey.

“The franchise has hired a skills coach to help tighten the line and work out the rest of our kinks.”

A murmur works through the locker room, and Coach continues.

“And we’ve added a few more players to our roster. It could change before the trade deadline, but I need you all to be aware of your new teammates and coach.”

This is nothing new. There are trades all throughout the season with injuries, unfit players, and more, yet Coach Jacobs always gives us a heads up.

Some of us, like myself, have even more of an advantage of knowing privy information. Like promised, I reached out to those that I knew playing in Washington, and their facts all remained the same:

Nicholas Tarvo knows his shit.

Nicholas Tarvo is skilled.

Nicholas Tarvo put our offense to the next level.

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