I bite my cheek, nodding slowly. “I heard.”
“It doesn’t excuse the shit she’s pulling, and we all hear about it. As soon as she pulls that crap in front of me, I’m beating her with my pads.” She cracks her knuckles, and there’s something ironic with her saying this, being at least half a foot shorter than Taylor. Her presence in the net is terrifying, and with the pads she could easily take any of us down.
I’ve watched her do it in games.
Somehow, she never gets called on it either.
“I’ll let you know if I need you to come defend my honour,” I say with a smile. She grins back, hugging me with one arm as I stop in front of my car. “Want to follow me to the Resonance, or do you want to meet me there?”
“I’ll meet you there. Get the bubbly flowing, and we’ll look at apartments and gossip.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I watch her leave and feel a weight lift off my chest. At least the imposter syndrome is lessening. This is starting to feel a little bit more like home.
If only Taylor would get with the fucking program.
Eleven
Eloise
To the surprise of no one, Taylor never responded to my text to get drinks to go over our stories before Grouse Grind. We’re closing in on it, and my heart has started to have palpitations at the thought of lying to Brynn. I’ve started to really like her. She’s bright and bubbly, and she really pulls the team together.
It’s been delightful getting to know her, and I think it would kill me to lie to her.
I’m sitting in the booth that the team has at Gin and Bear It, enjoying the antics of a few sophomore players and one of our new rookies, Hazel. The ink on her contract is still wet, but we’re out here supporting her as a team.
The warm, fuzzy feeling that settles in my bones is different from when I was playing for the Chill. I don’t think that the team ever felt as much of a family as this has.
“Eloise, just the woman I wanted to see!” I hear a loud voice coming from the door and turn to see Winnie. She pushes her way over before sitting besideme, wrapping her arms around me tightly. I hug her back, pretending to squeak as she tightens her hold for a second.
“Winnie, who did you just finish terrorizing?”
Her laughter fills the room and her eyes narrow mischievously.
“It better not have been the equipment room manager. Inaya has been on my ass about it,” Brynn says, sidling into a seat across from us. Winnie’s cheeks grow pink.
“Pffft, I would never do that to Inaya.”
Brynn rolls her eyes, taking a drink of her beer. “Right,” she turns her attention to me, “How are you doing, Eloise?”
I smile, but it doesn’t feel right. Her brown eyes narrow slightly as she takes another drink. She knows something. “I’m good, everything’s good. Winnie helped me find a place earlier this week and-“
“How are you and Taylor getting on?”
I try to keep from flinching. “We’re good.”
She raises an eyebrow, and Winnie wanders away for a moment, giving us some privacy. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, we’re having fun. We’re getting drinks later this week.”
Not a total lie. “You know that Taylor and I live together, right?” she asks, and wow, wouldn’t that have been great to know?
“Yeah, she mentioned that. We didn’t want toinvade your space.”
Brynn leans back, her perfectly manicured eyebrow arched. There has to be some sweat rolling down my face. I don’t know how much more I can withstand. “You know that wouldn’t have been a problem.”
I feel my smile start to slip. “Yeah, of course. We’ll try to get a board game night on the schedule soon so you can join.” Someone—I’m assuming Winnie—slips in beside me.
“Yeah, of course, Brynn. We’ve just been trying to get to know each other on neutral ground.” The hard voice says beside me. Shivers run down my spine when I turn to look at Taylor. She’s glowing in the light, eyes wide and lined with kohl. Her cheeks are bronzed and dusted with a golden highlight. My heart is blocking my throat when I try my hardest not to look at her entire outfit.
