“Right.” He slapped a hand against his forehead. “I forgot, raccoons sleep in dumpsters.”
“I’m not a raccoon!”
“You’re scrappy and you leave a trail of chaos wherever you go. It’s very raccoon-like.”
It was too early to be arguing about raccoons with Parker. And while he probably thought being called scrappy and chaotic was an insult, I actually took it as a compliment.
“Can you just keep shooting?”
“I’ve scored five in a row,” he said. “You’re not concentrating. Are you too tired for this?”
I was exhausted, but that didn’t matter. “I don’t have time to be tired. I need to get ready for the weekend.”
“Well, playing like this isn’t going to get you ready. It’s goingto get you injured.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be if you keep going. You’re clearly stiff and hurting. That last save attempt was agonizing to watch. My grandma could have gotten off the floor quicker than you did.”
“Your grandma must be a beast.”
He smirked. “She’s in a nursing home, Mackenzie.”
I swallowed as he said my name. Only a few days ago he’d been deliberately getting my name wrong just to piss me off. Now suddenly he was worried about me hurting myself and getting enough sleep. I quickly dismissed the thought. He didn’t really care about me. All he cared about was winning, and for some reason, right now, he thought I was his best chance of achieving that.
“I didn’t sleep well, that’s all. Keep shooting, I’ll save the next one.”
“No, I think that’s enough for this morning. We’d be better off spending some time stretching.”
“Stretching?”
“Yep. We’ve got practice tonight with the rest of the team. You need to save your energy for that.”
“So, we’re done?”
“Out here? Sure.”
Grumbling under my breath, I started skating for the boards. I wasn’t sure why we’d even bothered with training this morning; it had been a complete waste of time. As I left the ice and started for the locker room, Parker called after me.
“I’ll meet you in the warm-up room.”
I sighed. He was serious about the stretching? I almostconsidered bailing, but I couldn’t deny how stiff and sore I was.
There were a few figure skaters heading out of the warm-up room as I arrived, so it was just Parker left when I stepped inside. He was in the back corner, already stretching, and the corner of his mouth started to lift as I walked toward him. Parker’s smile always made me feel like I’d missed a joke. Either that, or he just found my mere existence highly amusing.
“You made it,” he said. “Thought you might make like a raccoon and scurry out of here.”
My exasperated expression only made him chuckle. I hated that sound. It was deep and rumbly, and it lit up his eyes, making them impossibly blue. Maybe I was just jealous of how cheery he seemed to be, considering the sun wasn’t even up yet and I was already wishing I could crawl back into my dumpster.
I sat on the floor beside him and stretched one leg out in front of me, reaching my hands down to grip my foot.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I said. The sooner we finished stretching, the sooner we could go our separate ways for the day.
“So, does your dad hate all women playing sports, or does he just have special rules for his daughter?” Apparently, Parker hadn’t understood I’d been planning to stretch in silence.
“I thought you wanted my bad mood gone,” I replied.
“I never said that. I don’t mind you being in a bad mood. It’s like a challenge; can I make it worse?”
