Her chuckle was low and throaty. “Oh, honey, fast is my middle name.”
The next morning we arrived together, hand-in-hand with our coffees just as I’d envisioned. Half the team was already in the gym warming up, and all activity abruptly ceased as I arrived with my shrew. Ugwyll shook his head and turned to look at Ozar who was scowling and clenching his fists. I jutted my chin upward and let go of the shrew’s hand so she could hold my coffee.
“Oh, knock it off. Both of you,” Willa said before turning to face the other orcs. “Listen up! Eng and I are dating. That means I’m going to make him work twice as hard as anyone else to prove he is worthy of me. Anyone who gives me shit about mypersonal life is going to have to run six miles through the city in his tighty-whiteys. Understood?”
“Yes ma’am!” the orcs shouted.
Bwat’s hand went up. “Ms. Willa, what are tighty-whiteys?”
I feltas if I were floating. The workout was strenuous, but my energy was renewed every time Willa smiled at me. The same with training. The coach had us focus on communication with our teammates. The two orcs playing defense were to be my eyes, arms, and legs. I was to keep my eyes on what was happening down the ice, telling them where I needed them to be. They were to do their best to keep the puck from coming near me, blocking shots and keeping the other team from finding an opening. If my view was blocked by the human team, they were to call out and keep me informed of where the puck was and where an attack would likely come.
My primary job was to keep the puck out of the net. And if I was given the chance, to return the puck to a teammate in a manner that would set them up for success in scoring against the human team.
It reminded me of the defensive strategies in the Hnefatafl game. If I played the attacker, my goal was not just to capture the king, but keep him from arriving safely to a corner of the playing board—the “net.” If I played the defender, my goal was to protect the king and keep the attackers from capturing him before he could arrive to safety. I loved that game, and I was beginning to see the appeal of this one. I didn’t need to skate well. My primary duty involved fast reflexes, bold action, and a strong sense of teamwork.
The last would be a struggle, but I was trying.
Willa watched from the stands, this time not attempting to hide behind a support column. I tried to focus on the coach, but just knowing she was there improved my game enormously. When we finally took our cool-down laps and the coach released us to the locker room, he took me aside to tell me how well I was doing and that I was going to make a huge difference in the team’s ability to win games.
I shouldn’t care. But I did, and the “thank you, Coach” I said in reply was heartfelt.
39
WILLA
At lunch on Wednesday when Eng made his intentions clear, the dam of reservations holding my emotions at bay broke. I suddenly understood that Grinch cartoon when his heart swelled three times its size. I’d always joked that such an event was a serious cardiac condition, but for me it felt like heaven.
Eng loved me. He wanted to make me his bride, his princess. He swore to always put me and my feelings first. The hurt, scared part of me wanted to not believe him, but that warm and somewhat fragile expression in his brown eyes convinced me of his sincerity, and I was swept away on a wave of love.
I wanted to drag him home, or drag him back to his home, but the guy really did look in need of a serious nap, so we kissed and I told him to text me when he was awake so we could make plans.
Again, the orc surprised me. I’d envisioned him taking me out to some swanky expensive place for dinner—the sort of place that served twenty-dollar cocktails and where the seventy-dollar entree was just a plate of meat with the sides costing extra, thesort of place with artfully arranged plates with one bite of food on them.
Instead he told me he was going to bring over a pizza.
Relief washed over me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved a fancy dinner as much as the next girl, but I really wanted to just curl up with Eng, eat some comfort food, and bask in the glow of love.
The pizza was enormous, wood-fired, and loaded with meat—just how I liked it. I’d Googled a top fifty list of romantic movies, quickly doing the film version of swiping left on most of them. Too sappy. Too cheesy. Good Lord, how the hell did someone thinkthatwas a romance?
In the end I settled onScott Pilgrim vs the Worldwhich may not seem like a romance to a lot of sentimental folks like Abby, but it was to me. Eng loved it, and when he offered to kill all of my exes to win me over, I nearly swooned.
I insisted he spend the night, in spite of some half-hearted chivalry on his part. The sex was slow and tender, so different from our usual frantic pairings, but absolutely right for the first time we’d been intimate since he’d left with the team for a set of away games. It was perfect, and I adored being able to fall asleep in his arms.
The next morning I truly felt like we were in a relationship as we raced around my tiny studio apartment, grabbing breakfast and showers and barely holding back from falling into bed again and letting the world pass us by. It wasn’t until we arrived at the arena and I saw the expression on the team’s faces that I remembered I hadn’t told any of my friends that Eng and I were an item. Or about our past.
Oops.
Judging from Ozar’s scowl, he was ready to beat Eng down. And from his worried expression after I’d put them both into a corner, he would be telling Jordan as soon as he could about the threat to my person and heart from Eng. They were allegedlyenemies, but I got the impression from watching the two orcs that they were more like frenemies. Either way, I needed to text Jordan right after the training session, then let Abby and Stephanie know as soon afterward as possible.
Eng worked his ass off at training, and he was equally dedicated on the ice during their practice. The guy had it in him to be an outstanding goalie, and I was happy he was taking this seriously. In between watching Eng practice, I was overwhelmed by phone calls and texts from my friends.
“You are fucking kidding me,” Jordan yelled into my ear. “I got your text and immediately abandoned a patient to call you, so this better not be an early April Fool’s joke.”
“It’s not a joke,” I told her. “We…okay, you’re going to kill me for this but we’ve been kind of sleeping together from that first game.”
“What!”
I had to pull the phone away from my ear at her shriek. “I know, I know. It was just supposed to be a one-and-done, but I ran into him after a date with another guy one night, and things just happened.”
