Heated Rivalry (Game Changers #2)(54)

Shane had managed to pull his head from Brophy’s bicep, and gave the big man a wary smile. “Should be fun, yeah,” he said.

“Don’t listen to a word this fucker says, though,” Brophy said, elbowing Ilya roughly. “Can’t trust this asshole. Whatever he tells you, he’s probably fucking with you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Shane said.

Brophy left, with departing arm punches to both of them.

“I think we can expect a lot of that kind of thing this weekend,” Shane said. He turned so he was leaning back against the bar on his elbows.

“They should give us a chance to get to know each other,” Ilya said. He leaned in and dropped his voice. “We might even have something in common.”

Shane smiled at the floor, the color rising in his cheeks.

“You look good too,” Ilya said. “Someone take you shopping?”

Shane looked at him. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone? Or make fun of me?”

Ilya felt an icy stab of dread in his stomach. He braced himself, and said, “Sure.”

“I, uh...” Ilya waited for the words. I’m seeing someone. I’m engaged. I don’t need you anymore. “I hired a personal stylist.”

For a moment, there was silence. Then Ilya burst out laughing. “Fuck off!” he said, delighted.

“I shouldn’t have told you.”

“No! I love it! Got tired of looking like shit?”

“I didn’t—” Shane was trying to look angry, but Ilya could tell he was fighting a smile. “I just mostly wore, you know, athletic stuff. I guess. Track pants and T-shirts and stuff. Some guys in the league are so fashionable and I just thought... I could use some help.”

“This has nothing to do with Rose Landry?”

“What? No. I mean...yeah, her friends were all really well dressed all the time. I guess maybe I felt like a slob when we went out together. I’ve never really cared about clothes and I thought... I don’t know. I just want to present myself better. Not always dress like I’m heading to the gym.”

Ilya didn’t miss the past tense of what Shane was saying about going out with Rose, even with his imperfect English. “Are you and her not...”

Shane shook his head. “We’re not. No. It was just a short thing. She’s great. We just weren’t, um...compatible.”

He looked seriously at Ilya then. Ilya wanted to kiss him.

“Anyway,” Shane said, gesturing toward the room with his beer bottle, “I should say hi to everyone.” He stepped away from the bar.

“Right.”

Ilya put his hand over his mouth to hide his ridiculous smile.

It was a fun weekend. Everyone had a lot of free time on Saturday, before the Skills Competition that night. A lot of the guys lounged around the pool, soaking up the Florida sun, or headed to the beach. Shane spent some of the afternoon by the pool.

The league had asked the fans to vote for the All-Star team captains this year, and they had chosen him. Shane felt a little embarrassed about it because, even though he had been the captain of the Voyageurs for two and a half seasons now and this was his sixth All-Star Game, the honor of being named All-Star team captain normally went to one of the most senior players on the team. Shane was only twenty-five.

But being named captain over Rozanov had felt pretty sweet.

Rozanov was in the pool with a couple of other players and their kids, being loud and goofing around. Shane was sitting on a deck chair with a bottle of water, shaking his head and smiling as he watched him challenge the kids to a swimming race. He would “lose” every time, and then he would act outraged and accuse the kids of cheating. The kids were laughing so hard Shane was worried they might drown.

“Last race!” Ilya announced. “Championship match. Winner takes all! No other races count!”

“No way!” one of the kids yelled at him.

“Come on. One more race. If I lose... I will buy you candy bars from the machine.”

That was enough to get the kids to line up across one end of the pool.

“Hey! Hollander!” Ilya called suddenly. Shane nodded at him.

“You gotta watch, okay?” Ilya said. “Make sure none of these cheaters cheats.”

“Okay.”

“You kids know who that guy is?” Ilya asked.

“Shane Hollander!” most of them said at once.

“Really?” Ilya said, feigning shock. “You’ve heard of that guy?”

They laughed. One of the braver ones said, “He’s the best player in the league!”

“Okay, you’re out of the race. Out of the pool. Out of Florida. Goodbye. Where’s your dad?”

The kids laughed more. Shane laughed too. He wondered if Ilya ever thought about having kids. He was good with them.

Finally the race began. Ilya took an early lead, then pretended to have been attacked by a shark.

“You gotta buy us candy bars!” one of the kids said.

“Aw, damn. Hey, Hollander! I need, like, ten bucks!”

Shane almost flipped him off, but then remembered the kids. “Did Boston stop paying you or something?” He grinned.

“I forgot my wallet!”

“Of course you did.”