“You did great,” Coach says. “You are an excellent pair.”
I frown.
That wasn’t the point of this.
“We were just skating together. We shouldn’t work together. We hate each other. Like… super hate.” I nod multiple times to emphasize my point.
For some reason, Coach looks puzzled.
I know the man’s Swedish, but he’s never had problems understanding me before.
I glance at Enzo. “Back me up.”
“Axel is right,” Enzo says. “We hate each other. It would be a terrible idea for us to spend too much time together.”
Something scrapes against my chest when he says those words. It’s probably the sound of his stupid voice.
“Be that as it may,” Coach says finally. “You work well together. Better, Axel, than you work with anyone else. You both knew exactly where the other was on the ice. Every moment. This is rare.”
I flinch.
I’m a strong skater. But Coach is right.
Normally teammates aren’t my thing. I’ve had a rotating set of partners and a rotating set of positions.
“You both knew exactly where the other person was,” Coach says in wonder, and my legs are suddenly wobbly on my skates.
I stumble. Enzo’s breath catches, and he grabs my waist and steadies me, as my heart beats too quickly.
“Don’t touch me,” I mutter.
“You were going to twist your ankle.”
“Of course, I wasn’t.” I raise my chin. “I’m a professional.”
Coach watches us. “And as a professional, you’re going to continue to skate with Enzo.” He shrugs. “You have chemistry.”
“We don’t!” Enzo exclaims.
Coach blinks.
Like Enzo and I have chemistry. Please. That’s absolutely crazy.
Enzo shoves past me and drops onto the bench beside Jason, as far from me as possible, leaving me standing in front of Coach like an idiot. At some point the hatred will show on the ice. It has to. And then Coach will understand why I warned him.
Coach turns his attention to Evan, and I sit beside Vinnie.
The others know I hate him, and though they’re not treating him as poorly as Enzo deserves, they’ve restrained themselves from rolling out red carpets or thrusting champagne flutes at him.
When Noah joined last year, Finn threw a party for him, then married him in Vegas. Though maybe they knew each other before then. Finn and Noah always get cagey at that part of the story.
Good thing Finn is already married to Noah and can’t marry Enzo.
I squint. That was a weird thing to think.
Definitely proof that Enzo being here is bad, no matter how enthusiastic Coach is when he looks at statistics.
Makes me wonder how Coach ever got recruited from Sweden to become an NHL Coach in the first place. Clearly our wins are more because of our wonderful skating than we’re given credit for. Definitely not Coach’s skills, that’s for sure.
