Page 13 of Puck my Prey
Coach blew air through his teeth. “Especiallywhen they do this shit, Cora. This is them hurting. Needing a protector. I can only do that on the ice. Right now, they need a hero. Do you need a goddam cape? Because today, their hero has to beyou.”
I smirked despite the overwhelming sense of responsibility that slammed into my gut. The mask I had to wear before it all grew too much.
I can’t save him and he’s relying on me.
No, I had to find a way. That’s the message that Coach sent to me.
“Alright,” I said softly. “Then I need someone to tell me what the fuck happened, so that I can fix the mess they started.” I gathered my files scattered across the desk, the pictures and black and white print blurring for the amount of times I’d read over them. “If they don’t trust me, how can I help them?”
“Cora, look at me.” Ward matched my tone. “Sweetheart,” —I knew it wasn’t derogatory, that pet name, and I stopped, giving him the attention he deserved for the hours he put in with the team he loved as much as I did— "Heroes don’t just save people who trust them. Those arrogant fuckers out there? When I first came on board, they hated me. Every last one. Right through to the playoffs. Do you know how many games that is in a season? No, don’t count. It’s a fucking lot, is what it is. Not one or two or three or four. Or even twelve. It’s daily practices with them bitching me out. Kicking players off the team who don’t make the cut. Subbing them through Injuries. Scandals just like this one. Hell, you were with me for the last of those. We weathered that one together.”
I frowned. “Yeah, you stood between me and them like a brick wall and wouldn’t fucking move.” I remembered that all too well. “You wouldn’t let me talk to them alone. I felt like a teacher about to do something wrong with your …squad.”
I’d felt dirty afterwards and questioned all my life choices. Months later I’d looked back on that time and wondered if that hadn't been Ward’s point. Then, I accepted it and moved forward. Now, I wondered again if I hadn’t screwed up.
“They hated on me so bad through that.” Coach grinned widely. “Solace slashed my tires twice. Hux threatened to quit the team altogether. You know what I did?”
“What?” I knew he didn't report that to the club or the police, because I’d never heard about the incidents until now, which meant no one had. He’d kept those secrets locked to his chest. I wondered what else no one knew about the team and where this speech was headed.
“I promoted Hux to captain. Gave him the responsibility he needed to take the team to the win.”
“You took the team to the championships," I objected. “I used to sit and watch those practices every morning at four a.m. asinspiration. Because if you could all get up and train that hard, then I should be working on PR strategy for you all.”
Coach nodded. “We know, and we saw you.”
That stopped me. “What?”
“They know, Cora. They respect you, even if right now they don’t trust you. Want that cape?”
I stared a moment longer, then kept gathering my things. “I’ll buy my own. A fucking sparkly one,” I muttered.
Ward laughed softly. “Good girl,” he murmured.
Goosebumps rippled along my arms as I grabbed my files and beelined for the door, ignoring Coach’s amused look when I ducked past him and almost ran into a wall of Chimera just outside. The scent of pure ambrosia hit me at chest level.
I grabbed the coffee in its reusable bamboo takeaway cup without thinking and looked up into Valentine’s smokey black eyes.
“That was some speech,” he murmured, staring down at me without blinking.
“He’s had some practice on you assholes,” I managed, clinging to my files and my coffee without wearing or dropping either.
“That last line is mine, Cora. Not his. Remember that.”
I nodded, backing up and made it down the hallway without dropping a single thing or ruining my panties, but damn, it was a close thing.
These Chimeras were murder.
Or maybe just one.
CHAPTER FIVE
HEATH
“I’ve got bad news and good news,” Coach announced at the end of practice the same afternoon as I watched Cora wiggle her perfectly curved ass down the club’s office hallway and disappear into the kitchen for refuge.
I didn’t follow her in there, though it was a close thing, the need to hunt her down and finish what started earlier in the week. Hell, a whole lot longer ago than that, though she didn’t need to know just how long my obsession with curves had been going on. Not…yet.
Coach didn't wait for the team’s response as we finished up our last drill, but he did motion me over, handing me his phone without looking. I took it the same way, not watching the video that scrolled along in my periphery with the sound turned down. We’d get to that in a moment.
