Page 49 of Uncoachable

The words jump out of my throat before I can think. “It’s Finland, by the way!”

Saying it aloud makes me exhale half the tension I didn’t realize I was still holding. It feels like a piece of armor falling into the gutter.

Cash’s neck snaps toward me, delight written all over his face.

“I knew it! I love you, Finland!” he shouts into the empty D.C. street.

I laugh. Callahan shakes his head, looking amused as he tells Cash to go away and shut the door.

Finally, the street quiets around us again, the silence of the night rushing back in to fill the space. Callahan turns back to me, his eyes softened.

“Thank you,” I say softly.

“For what? Telling Cash to beat it?”

“For everything tonight.”

We stand there in the quiet. Neither of us knows exactly what to say, and neither of us seems to want to move.

I glance at his profile, the curve of his jaw highlighted by the streetlight, and I realize that for all his teasing, he is incredibly careful. He is protective and precise. Calculated. And somehow, that draws me closer without my permission.

“Are you going to just stare at me all night, Coach?” he asks softly.

“Maybe,” I murmur. A small smile tugs at the corners of my lips.

“Good answer,” he says. For a moment, I think he means it as a joke—but the look in his eyes tells me he doesn’t.

The moment is swallowed as the rest of the team spills out of the bus, a chaotic surge of suits and travel bags. Marcus is barking orders about morning skate times, and we are swept up in the tide, moving into the hotel as a single, loud unit.

We pile into the elevators, the space tight and smelling of cool night air and sweat.

Callahan stands right in front of me, his back a broad wall that blocks out the rest of the space. He doesn’t turn around, but I can feel his presence like a physical heat.

The car empties floor by floor until it’s just me. I watch the numbers glow, the ascent silent and smooth. When I finally reach my floor, I step out into the empty, carpeted hallway.

I’ve trained myself for years to compartmentalize everything.

Work, emotions, personal life—they are all separate boxes. Neat, tidy, and closed.

But Callahan is a complication; the kind that refuses to be boxed up.

Tonight proved one thing:

Iveline Talvi St. James can control a locker room. She can control a game. She can even control herself in public.

But she cannot control Callahan Eli Moore.

And he, in turn, will not be controlled by her.

13

Iveline Talvi

Nico changed the name to “THE GROUP CHAT RICK SHOULD NEVER SEE”

Cash: Coach Talvi looks like she hasn’t slept.

Nico: That’s not exhaustion, that’s her tactical glow.