Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“I’m not hiding,” I lie. “This is my desk, and I thought I’d enjoy it while it’s still mine.” I pick up the Legends pencil cup and put it down again. The ugly truth is that I was never really part of this team. It doesn’t matter if I’m wearing a Legends jacket or not. If they don’t accept me, it doesn’t count.
“The boss wants to see you,” Darcy says gently. “He seems pissed off. Although that’s just a normal Monday.”
“Great.”
“Don’t panic. Maybe he just wants to ask how your class went.”
Not well. I rise wearily from my fancy ergonomic chair and follow her. If he asks about the clinic, it’s hard to know what to say.
There’s also the matter of the abrasion and bruising on my face. I look like I lost a fight.
Which, fine, I guess I did. “Bet you ten bucks he’s going to tell me that if I can’t control the team, I won’t make it here. How about you let him know I already get it, and we’ll save everyone the ritual disembowelment ceremony?”
She grins. “Nope, sorry. But I will get you drunk later.”
“I can’t even afford that.”
“It will be my treat.”
I follow her to Sharp’s office, because I have no other choice. The man is behind his desk, as usual, an unnaturally large mug of coffee in his grip and a glower on his face. “Carson! Get in here and plant yourself in that chair.”
On shaky knees, I do.
“I just had Bernie sitting there.” He points at my chair. “He’s losing his mind. He says someone sabotaged your skates, but that can’t be true, right?”
I open my mouth and close it again.
“Because if it was true…” He pauses to take a gulp from his giant coffee. “I know my newest coach would knock on my fucking door and tell me herself.”
Oh. I guess it figures that a grump like Sharp would be insulted whenever he’s the last to know something. “Well, sir…” I swallow hard. “It’s been a busy morning.”
“A busy morning,” he growls. “In the first place, Bernie is worried you’ll think he did it. And he wants to install a lock on the equipment room.”
“Oh.” I relax a little bit, because that’s easily cleared up. “Tell him not to worry. Whoever did this was counting on Bernie getting the blame. It’s just logic.”
“It’s just logic,” Sharp hisses, sounding like a snake coiling to strike. “So you’ve had some time to think this through?”
The question confuses me. “Well, sure. Someone tampered with the rivets on my skates. But Bernie is too good at his job to give them back to me that way.”
“Then maybe you can tell me, if this is all so fucking logical—” He thumps a fist on the desk. “Why you’re not shocked—” Thump. “As—” Thump. “HELL that someone destroyed your skates in your place of work?”
“Destroyed?” I yelp. “That had better not be true. You’re not paying me enough to replace them.”
“Zoe Carson,” he snarls. “I’m only going to ask this once, and I expect an honest answer.” He narrows his eyes at me, and my stomach sinks. “Has anyone in this organization fucked with you before today?”
Gulp. “This is the first time anyone has tampered with my gear,” I say carefully.
“But is it the first time someone in this building has behaved in a manner that does not befit this team?”
And now I’m trapped, because if I say yes, I look like a weak loser. And if I don’t, I’m a liar, and I’ve involved poor Darcy in my deception, too. “There were a couple of rude messages, sir. But no cause for alarm.”
His face turns a frightening shade of reddish purple. Like a ripe plum. “Coach Carson, why would you tolerate behavior like that against a coach?”
“I wouldn’t!” I insist. “But the culprit is a sneaky little rat. I don’t know who he is, but until today he was too cowardly to do more than hide notes in my belongings, like a seventh-grade bully.”
“And it didn’t occur to you to tell management about your harassment? We don’t tolerate this kind of shit. It’s a hostile workplace environment!”
I didn’t think a guy who shouted all day would even know that phrase. Unless he’s just worried about lawsuits.
“Zoe,” he rumbles. “I asked you previously if all the players had done their duty by signing up for your skating sessions, and you said they did. Was that true?”
My blood pressure climbs a few more notches. “Many of them have, sir. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Now it’s his turn to give me a look of disbelief. “How widespread is this lack of respect?”
I squirm in my chair. “Things are getting there, sir. And to be perfectly blunt, you don’t strike me as the kind of boss I can ask for help. You told me on my first day that you didn’t think I had the chops to be your skating coach. As if I’m not a better technical skater than anyone else in the building.”