Page 14 of Desperate Pucker
“I just hope you’re not too tired because we’re just getting started.”
Chapter 6
Ryker
Igrit my teeth and swallow back the curse I’m dying to mutter.
This woman is a sadist.
I can tell just how much she’s enjoying watching me struggle…and I can’t even blame her.
I gave her so much shit about how she’s not qualified to be my skating coach, so now she’s taking every opportunity to run my ass off.
She skates around me, her fiery red ponytail swinging behind her. She’s wearing black leggings, a black long-sleeve top, and white hockey skates. She’s dressed like a figure skater who moonlights as an assassin, which I guess makes sense because she’s going to kill me with how hard she’s riding me during this training session.
She turns to look at me. “I wanna see how you accelerate quickly.”
I wipe my sweaty brow with the back of my forearm. “What do you mean?”
“When you’re standing still and you need to go from zero to a hundred, show me how you move.”
I angle my feet so the blades of my skates dig into the ice, then speed off across the ice.
When I skate back over to Maddy, her arms are crossed over her chest and she’s staring at me like she’s never been more annoyed.
“That was good,” she says. “Too bad that’s not how you actually move in the middle of a game.”
“What?”
“In the footage I’ve seen of you playing, you spin out.”
She makes a running-in-place motion with her skates.
I frown at her. “I don’t do that.”
“Yes, you do. I’ve seen it. You do it when you’re lazy or not paying attention.”
Irritation shoots up my spine. “I’m never lazy when I play. I’m always locked in on whatever’s happening on the ice. Always.”
She purses those plump lips and pulls her phone out of the side pocket of her leggings. She taps the screen, then holds it up. A clip of me doing the exact thing I said I didn’t do plays.
My face heats with embarrassment. “I never noticed I did that.”
“Most players don’t,” she says, slipping her phone back into her pocket. “Always angle your feet so that you can use your edges to accelerate quickly. When you don’t remember to do that, you end up running in place. That wastes so much time when every second counts.”
I exhale roughly. “Yeah, okay.”
“Do it again.”
I look at her. “I said I know what I did wrong. And you saw me do it correctly a minute ago.”
“You need to do it more so that you get used to it. So that you do it without thinking.”
I grit my teeth in annoyance, even though she’s right.
“Stand still, then take off as fast as you can. Use your edges.” Maddy says.
I do what she says, grimacing at the pain in my left ankle and knee. I stop, then turn back around and skate over to her.
