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I’m not an adequate fill-in, but it’s the best I can do for now. That is… if she’ll let me anywhere near her.
“Is that Penelope Roberts on the screen?” I hear Wrenley's voice cut through my focus from her routine.
I glance over to find his head still leaning back against the headrest and only his left eye open, peeking through and staring back at my screen.
I want to hibernate my phone as quickly as possible and deny his question, but it’s not a question at all. He knows it’s her.
I don’t appreciate him spying over my shoulder to see what I watch on my own time. I haven’t asked him what music he’s listening to, but I’ve been caught red-handed, and telling the most senior of the Hawkeyes team to pack sand won’t serve me well here.
“Yeah. It’s one of her routines from college,” I tell him and then turn back to watch it.
If I’m already caught, there’s no point in stopping now. It will only look like I’m hiding something or guilty for watching the video. Frankly, I don’t care what he thinks about me watching the GM’s daughter, but I do care that he keeps it to himself.
“I heard she almost tried out for the Olympics, but her partner got hurt,” he says, now both of his eyes are open as he lazily watches the phone in my hands.
“Who almost made it to the Olympics?” I hear a player ask.
Brent Tomlin peers over a window seat two rows in our same aisle after he asks the question.
“Penelope Roberts,” Seven says, giving Brent a quick glance and then his eyes come back to Penelope on my screen.
Another player, Reeve Aisa, turns in his aisle seat, two rows down and on the adjacent side of the aisle. His eyes lock with Wrenley’s as he speaks. “I heard she was good enough. She and her partner were supposed to be the standouts during the preliminaries. A lot of people figured they would medal in the Olympics.”
I see Brent nod in agreement on his side of the row.
“It sucks that her partner got in that accident. Why didn’t she go out and find a new partner or skate singles?” Brent asks Reeve.
Aisa just shrugs his shoulders. “No clue. But it’s too bad all that talent went to waste.”
I could answer that question for him, but I don’t think it will be well received in this group, considering how all the players and coaches avoid the rink during her skating hours so that she can have it to herself or how she seems to be best friends with half the team's fiancées. Even the Zamboni driver comes in half an hour earlier to polish the ice after she’s done skating.
Reeve and Brent start discussing something about the history of Olympic sports, and I tune it out, turning back to my phone and watching the rest of the routine.
“So, what’s with having a video of the GM’s daughter on your phone? You played for Sam back at the University of Washington, right?”
Shit… I had a feeling he wasn’t just making small talk earlier.
“I did. For four years.”
“Then you already know how he feels about her,” he says.
His voice is calm, and his facial expression is vague and unreadable. I have no idea where he’s going with this.
“Better than anyone,” I say back.
That’s an understatement, considering my stint in Canada.
This time, he still didn’t exactly give me his blessing not to date Penelope but admitted that he couldn’t bench me since he’s no longer my coach and she and I are both adults. His only recourse is to trade me if I fuck up on the ice. So, I’d better play better than I ever have in my life.
“Good, because Penelope Roberts is the unofficial little sister of this league, and if you screw with her or hurt her in any way, you’ll struggle to find a single guy on this team willing to pull you out of the bottom of a player pile-up. Do you understand?” he asks.
His expression is still unemotional, barely looking like he’s talking about anything more than the weather. Still, the seriousness in his eyes tells me that I’d prefer being in a dark alley with a ninja holding a samurai sword than Seven with a dull butter knife.
“Got it,” I say, not breaking eye contact with him and finally hibernating my phone by feeling for the side button.
I make a mental note to finish studying Penelope's routine in a more private setting from here on out since Seven mentioned that the entire team feels his sentiments about her.
“The Hawkeyes are more than just a team. We look out for each other. From my experience over the years that I’ve played for this team, outsiders coming in either embrace it… or they end up not lasting very long. It’s your choice how this goes,” he says.
