Kickin' It (Red Card) - Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,49

The one who got naked and—”

“Son of a bitch.” Jagger looked up at the sky. “Nothing happened, Matt, I swear.”

“Yet,” Slade coughed.

“I’m uninviting you for Christmas.” Jagger glared at him.

“Fine, you can’t come for Thanksgiving.” Slade grinned.

Jagger’s face fell. “But Mack makes the Hawaiian bread stuffing.”

Slade kicked him the ball. “Exactly.”

Matt was staring off in the distance, and then looked back at me. “Footwork drills, then a bit of two-on-two.”

“Losers take ice baths!” Jagger announced.

I gave him the finger.

“Ah, I love your girl, just love her.” Jagger chuckled to himself, and Matt and I both froze. Slade hid a laugh behind his hand while Jagger looked up and gave a lazy shrug. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “We doing this, or are you ladies just gonna talk all day?”

“Oh, we’re doing this.” Slade kicked the ball to me, I stopped it with my cleat. “Now get past me with your best, girl.” He taunted me with a smirk, so I answered with a middle finger and swift fake to his left, then right, and then danced around him a bit before getting by and having to face Jagger.

I went at him hard and ate grass; one minute I was up, the next I was down. I jumped to my feet, wiped dirt on my shorts as sweat streamed down my chin. “Again.”

I could feel Matt’s smile from the sidelines as he blew his shiny new whistle at me.

We repeated drills for the next hour, and then we had to scrimmage, which wasn’t going to be all that exciting since it was two of the league’s best against Matt and me, not that we couldn’t hold our own, but still.

“Ready for this, Cheetah Girl?” Matt kicked the ball to me as I stretched my hands in the air.

“Are you?” I teased.

He licked his lips, his gaze traveling from head to toe before giving me the smolder of all smolders.

All talk of Erik forgotten with one lazy look from Matt.

The guy wasn’t human.

How did he do that to me?

I instantly felt the buzz from his look and then attacked. Fake and side kick ahead as Matt bounced it between both guys and then fired it back to me. It was like we could read each other’s minds.

We had no plan, except to score.

And every single time I needed him to be downfield he was there, every time I needed a block he was there. It was incredible.

Like working with a teammate who knew me inside and out.

Now if only I could wipe the grin from my face as I careened toward Jagger.

He naturally blocked my kick and then gave me a Nice try look.

It didn’t matter, because the journey to that kick had been invigorating. It had breathed life into my soul and made me think that maybe even with all this Erik business, things were going to be okay.

Chapter Twenty-Two

MATT

“It’s like they knew we weren’t going to win,” I said as we stared at the two metal troughs filled to the brim with ice and water.

Slade wrapped a sweaty arm around me. “Should we light a candle for this special moment?”

“Chilled wine?” Jagger teased.

“Yes, please,” Parker said sarcastically, chewing her bottom lip as she stared at the water. “It’s going to feel good, it’s going to feel good.”

“Your girl’s resorted to chanting,” Slade joked.

He really needed to stop calling her that in front of me.

People might get the wrong idea.

Then again, she might get the right idea.

I jerked my shirt over my head and then pulled my joggers down to the ground. “Fuck it.” I went all in to my chin and nearly lost my balls in the process.

Parker’s movements were even faster as she got down to her sports bra and black Nike underwear and then jumped into the tub next to mine. Ice spilled over the edge.

Slade grinned down at both of us. “We should do this again next time.”

And then he gave a serious look toward my bath, my knee. “Make sure you ice it later too, okay, man?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off and closed my eyes as the door shut behind the maniacs.

“Must have been hard, getting an injury that severe,” Parker said in a calm voice that got my full attention. It was cold as fuck in that tub. I couldn’t even feel my spleen. At this point I wasn’t even sure I had one.

Funny how she’d given me her entire life story from the past year, and all she knew about me was my job