Page 79 of Heated Rivalry 1
“Anyway,” Shane said, gesturing toward the room with his beer bottle, “I should say hi to everyone.” He stepped away from the bar.
“Right.”
Ilya put his hand over his mouth to hide his ridiculous smile.
It was a fun weekend. Everyone had a lot of free time on Saturday, before the Skills Competition that night. A lot of the guys lounged around the pool, soaking up the Florida sun, orheaded to the beach. Shane spent some of the afternoon by the pool.
The league had asked the fans to vote for the All-Star team captains this year, and they had chosen him. Shane felt a little embarrassed about it because, even though he had been the captain of the Voyageurs for two and a half seasons now and this was his sixth All-Star Game, the honor of being named All-Star team captain normally went to one of the most senior players on the team. Shane was only twenty-five.
But being named captain over Rozanov had felt pretty sweet.
Rozanov was in the pool with a couple of other players and their kids, being loud and goofing around. Shane was sitting on a deck chair with a bottle of water, shaking his head and smiling as he watched him challenge the kids to a swimming race. He would “lose” every time, and then he would act outraged and accuse the kids of cheating. The kids were laughing so hard Shane was worried they might drown.
“Last race!” Ilya announced. “Championship match. Winner takes all! No other races count!”
“No way!” one of the kids yelled at him.
“Come on. One more race. If I lose... I will buy you candy bars from the machine.”
That was enough to get the kids to line up across one end of the pool.
“Hey! Hollander!” Ilya called suddenly. Shane nodded at him.
“You gotta watch, okay?” Ilya said. “Make sure none of these cheaters cheats.”
“Okay.”
“You kids know who that guy is?” Ilya asked.
“Shane Hollander!” most of them said at once.
“Really?” Ilya said, feigning shock. “You’ve heard of that guy?”
They laughed. One of the braver ones said, “He’s the best player in the league!”
“Okay, you’re out of the race. Out of the pool. Out of Florida. Goodbye. Where’s your dad?”
The kids laughed more. Shane laughed too. He wondered if Ilya ever thought about having kids. He was good with them.
Finally the race began. Ilya took an early lead, then pretended to have been attacked by a shark.
“You gotta buy us candy bars!” one of the kids said.
“Aw, damn. Hey, Hollander! I need, like, ten bucks!”
Shane almost flipped him off, but then remembered the kids. “Did Boston stop paying you or something?” He grinned.
“I forgot my wallet!”
“Of course you did.”
Ilya hoisted himself out of the pool. Shane’s breath caught a little as he watched him make his way over to his chair. His wet swimsuit clung to his thighs and his crotch, and water ran in little rivulets down his chest. When he reached Shane’s chair, he shook his head violently so water flew all over Shane’s dry clothing.
“Ah! Fu—” Shane stopped himself. “Knock it off!”
Instead, Ilya swooped down and wrapped his arms around him. Shane’s eyes went wide.
“Get off! What the—” He was shocked that Ilya would do something this...public. Shocked and a little thrilled.
