Drive (2 page)

“Asshole,” she muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

The lady in the suit clapped her hands, commanding attention. “Let’s get started, shall we? I know which two people to keep as far apart as possible.”

A ripple of nervous laughter sounded and I snuck a glance at Sadie. She was still glaring, and she discreetly gave me the finger in front of her stomach, where no one else could see. I shook my head, trying not to laugh. It was too damn bad I’d blown my chances with her, ‘cause I could tell she’d be a wildcat in bed. She was all fire.

But she hadn’t been earlier. At the bar, she’d been sweet and even a little seductive, moving closer to me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention. I’d been looking forward to seeing her again later.

It sure as fuck wasn’t happening now. I glanced at the other bridesmaids, besides Kate, to see if there was any potential. No, not one of them was remotely as alluring as the woman who was giving me the evil eye right now. Even pissed off, she was beautiful.

The clueless foreigner bit had served me well with women many times. But now I wondered what would’ve happened if I’d been straight with Sadie. I shrugged it off, reminding myself that it was too late. I’d never know.

Three months later

Niko

The cool ice rink air moved over my skin, but it wasn’t enough. Sweat had soaked through my practice clothes. It was even rolling in streams down my forearms and dripping from the ends of my hair.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Tanner Welch said to the entire team with a disgusted flick of his wrist. Apparently he’d punished us hard enough for losing last night. It was bullshit that I’d scored and still been put through a practice that easily took a couple pounds off me. I was going straight to the buffet from here to make up for the calories I’d burned in the last two hours.

“I’m fucking starving,” Matt Vanderschmidt said to me as we walked toward the locker room. “You wanna hit that place with the buffet?”

“Yeah. I was just thinking about that place.”

V looked like he’d just run a marathon in a desert – his hair was drenched and his face was a deep shade of red.

All the guys stripped off their pads and let them fall to the floor. I undressed quickly and went straight to the shower. Since our female trainer, Dell, had moved up to the big team, we didn’t have to cover up in the locker room anymore.

I turned the knob and the cool stream of water that hit me was both a shock to my system and a relief. Usually I let the water warm up before I stepped in, but today I was too damn tired. Our bus had gotten home from the game at 3 am, and I hadn’t gotten much sleep before practice.

Pressing my palms against the wall, I leaned down and let the warming water spill down my back. Buffet, then a nap, then the weight room. And tonight I was catching the Chicago/Indy game at a sports bar.

I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed for my locker. There was none of the chirping that usually filled this room after practice. We were all beat. Fucking Welch. He’d been a good player in his day, but sometimes he was an asshole just for the hell of it.

My phone was buried in the pocket of my jeans, and I dug it out to check the messages. There was a text from Nicki, the chick who’d stolen my fucking cell number by texting herself from my phone when I was passed out drunk at her apartment.

I wanna suck ur balls

I deleted it with a disgusted shake of my head. Why didn’t women listen when I told them one night meant one night? The more I distanced myself after banging them, the more aggressive they usually got about wanting more.

There was a voicemail from a number I didn’t recognize, and I listened to it as I pulled on my boxers.

“Vereshkova, you need to call me,” an authoritative male voice barked before hanging up. I was relieved there was no Russian accent, which meant it wasn’t one of the slippery bastards from my New York neighborhood. I found the number the call came from and swiped the screen to dial it.

“Butch Price.”

What in the hell was Butch Price calling me for? He was the coach of the Chicago team, the major league one mine was affiliated with.

“Coach Price, it’s Niko Vereshkova.”

“Hey, Niko. I just wanted to give you the good news. You’re moving to Chicago. Ready to play with the big boys?”

My head swam with dizziness as I listened. I ran a hand into my hair and pulled, squeezing my eyes shut.

“What?” I choked the word out. My throat constricted and I sank down to the bench.

“We’ll see you tomorrow for practice, then?” Price said.

I cleared my throat and got ahold of myself.

“Yes, sir. I’ll be there. Thank you for this. I won’t let you down.”

We said goodbye and I rested my elbows on my thighs, letting my head fall down toward my knees. This was it. The call I’d worked my ass off for. The call I wasn’t sure I’d ever get. A lot of guys never did.

I hadn’t cried since I was a kid, but tears fell as I dropped my head into my hands. It wasn’t the call I was emotional over, but what it meant. This was my chance to finally come through for my family. My parents had sacrificed for me, and now I could begin to repay all the blood, sweat and tears they’d shed getting me here.

As soon as I got my shit together, I’d call them. Who was I kidding? I’d probably cry again when I told them. Other people would think I was a pussy, but they didn’t know. My teammates came from all walks of life, but none of them knew poverty. Not the kind that means you get a free lunch at school – the kind that means stomach-cramping hunger and no heat in the winter.

This moment didn’t belong just to me. It was for my parents and my younger brothers and sister, too. Dad had always taught us that family meant sticking together through the good times and the bad, but there’d been more bad times than good for the Vereshkovas. That was about to change.

Sadie

The date from hell replayed in my mind as I drove to Lucky’s, the downtown bar I was meeting Dell at. Luke was with her, since this was their day off, but he was probably used to my rants about men by now.

Why the hell had I tried online dating? It was so damn embarrassing. Not to mention rife for issues like the one I’d just encountered. Colin had sounded pretty great in his profile – funny and laid-back. But now I knew that my first clue should’ve been the way he described his height – “5’8”-ish”. More like 5’8” minus four inches.

And the picture that accompanied his profile? Was not him. It was literally another man. Apparently he thought I wouldn’t notice. I planned to suck it up and be nice until he asked me how I wanted to handle the check before the waitress even came to the table.

Peace out, Colin. If that was even his real name.

If there was a bright side, it was that now I had a subject for my column that was due in two days. What better topic than a bad date for a space devoted to the musings of a single twenty-something living in the city?

Sadie Says
occasionally sounded like it was written by a man-hater. But really I was just a woman in the trenches of singlehood.

I walked into the bar and made my way to the back, where Dell had texted me I could find her. Her long, dark red hair caught my attention and a sigh of relief escaped my chest.

A hand gripped my ass as I made my way past a group of men. I turned to find a 30-something guy in a baseball hat winking at me.

“Asshole,” I muttered.

When I was almost to the table, I saw that it wasn’t just Luke, but also Ryke and Kate with Dell. I didn’t mind sharing my misadventures in dating with Luke, but I didn’t know Ryke and Kate all that well yet.

“Hey,” Dell said, grinning at me as she rose to give me a hug. “I got your text. Not so great with Colin?”

“Ugh.”

“I saved you a seat,” she said. I shrugged off my hoodie and hung it on the back of the chair next to her.

“Hey, Sadie,” Luke said, waving from next to Dell. Kate smiled and nudged Ryke, who turned away from the guy he was talking to and waved at me.

I glanced at the guy next to him when he turned back to his conversation. He looked like … I did a double take. Yep. Niko, the playboy groomsman from last summer. Could this night get any better?

“What are you doing here?” I asked, an edge in my tone.

“Hey, Sadie. I’m on Ryke and Luke’s team now.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you kidding me?”

“Sadie.” Dell arched her brows at me. “You’re in a bad mood. Don’t take it out on him.”

“What’s got your panties in a bunch?” Niko asked, grinning.

“My panties are
not
in a bunch.”

“You wearing a thong?”

My mouth fell open. “Like I’d tell you if I was?”

“She had a bad date,” Dell explained.

I glared at her. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“You said in your text that he looked like one of the Munchkins from the Wizard of Oz.”

Niko and Luke had a good laugh over that. Dell and Kate looked at me with a mixture of pity and amusement. I shook my head, wishing I’d just gone home to drown my sorrows in some ice cream and a good book.

“I need a drink,” I muttered.

“I’ve got it.” Niko stood and met my eyes. “What’ll it be?”

“You don’t need to do that.” I looked away and slung my bag over my shoulder, heading for the bar. He was hot on my heels, following me as I wove through the crowd.

“Hey.” He slid in next to me, leaning on the bar. “You still pissed over last summer?”

“I’m not pissed.”

He arched his brows, about to speak when the bartender approached. She licked her lips as she eyed Niko.

“How can I help you, sweetie?” she asked him.

“Newcastle,” he said, reaching for his wallet. “And whatever she wants.”

The bartender looked at me, just realizing I was there. I shook my head at her.

“I’m getting my own drink.”

Niko glared at me. “Come on, Sadie. Don’t be like that.”

The faint Russian accent in his voice was
hot
. Even that aggravated me. A lousy date plus PMS made for a fairly nasty bitch.

“If your phony accent didn’t work, a drink sure as hell won’t,” I said.

His lips curved up at the corners. “First of all, the accent wasn’t phony. It was exaggerated. And it did work. You were all about getting together later that night.”

“I was not
all about it
,” I protested.

“Were too. Now tell the lady what you want to drink.”

I fought the urge to argue with him, pressing my lips into a thin line.

“Bring her something fruity,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Long Island iced tea,” I said to the busty bartender. She left to get our drinks, and I spoke to Niko without looking at him.

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

He snorted, making me look up at him. He rubbed a hand down his face, grinning.

“Can’t I just buy you a drink?”

“I’m just letting you know.” I raised my hands in the air.

Niko leaned over to speak near my ear in a low tone. “If I was trying to sleep with you, I wouldn’t need to buy you a drink to do it.”

This time I was the one who snorted. “There is nothing – and I mean absolutely
nothing
– that you could do to get me to sleep with you.”

He gave me a smug look. “Not true. But I’m not trying to sleep with you, so let’s just drink and have some fun.”

Two women approached, both beaming at Niko.

“Niko?” the blonde one said. “I’m Cassie, Chris Thompson’s girlfriend. Welcome to the team!”

She embraced him and then the woman next to her did the same, mumbling an introduction into his ear.

“Is this your girlfriend?” The blonde turned to me with a giant grin.

“No,” I said emphatically. “We hardly know each other.”

The bartender returned with the drinks, and Niko flashed her a smile that made my heart beat faster when he passed her the cash. I took a giant swig of the tea to distract myself.

“Slow down, champ,” Niko said to me before turning back to the overly happy women. “Nice to meet you, ladies. I hope to see more of you.”

“You can see more of me anytime,” the brunette said, biting her lip. Niko gave her that charming smile and I tried to suppress an eye roll. I made my way back to the table, not looking behind me to see if he was following.

“Tell me about this hellish date,” Dell said as I sat down.

“It just sucked. Nothing to tell.”

“I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “Status quo. I’m considering a dating hiatus.”

“What would you write your
Sex and the Sadie
columns about?”

Kate gave us both a puzzled smile.

“She has a column,” Dell explained. “About the life of a kickass single girl in Chicago. I think they should have called it
Sex and the Sadie
.”

“That’s really cool,” Kate said. “So you get to write about funky spunk and such?”

I smiled at her reference. “I haven’t gotten to the spunk stage with anyone in a while. But yeah, it’s fun writing about my misadventures in dating. You have to laugh at yourself, right?”

“Any guy would be lucky to be with you,” Dell said. “Don’t give up, and do
not
lower your standards.”

“I need a break,” I said. “It’s exhausting. Getting my hopes up, waiting for someone to call, shopping for clothes for what will inevitably be a shitty date …”

“You don’t need that stress,” Kate said. “You should take a break. Maybe you can take a break from the column, too.”

“Or maybe I can write about women not needing a man, or even the prospect of one, to be happy,” I said, thinking as I spoke. “I can write about being kickass while completely alone.”

“To that,” Dell said, raising her bottled beer in the air.

“To being kickass,” Kate said.

“What are we toasting?” Luke asked, looking over from his conversation with Ryke and Niko.

“Sadie’s singlehood,” Dell said.

We all raised our glasses and bottles, and I chanced a glance across the table at Niko. His warm brown eyes met mine. Damn, that was one sexy Russian. His smolder was effortless. His dark stubble and intense gaze reminded me of my instant attraction to him at the hotel bar.