That was debatable.
My mind was racing. Had he acted all buddy-buddy with the rest of his partners before? I couldn’t remember. Paul and I had been a little affectionate with each other, but not anywhere near as much as other pairs partners were. And at least half the time, I didn’t look at him like I wanted to kill him, I thought. But Ivan and the partners before me? I really couldn’t be sure; I didn’t think so, though. Then again, I hadn’t paid that much attention to them because I was always so focused on his annoying ass.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Ivan raise his hand and cup the back of his head with it, but I was too busy taking in the expression Coach Lee was shooting him to really absorb his actions at first.
Her face was turning pink… and was she giving him big eyes?
“Ivan,” the woman said, slowly, carefully, another message hiding in his name alone.
He blinked. Those long, sweeping black eyelashes hung down over his eyes, and I could see the hard breath in and out of his throat and chest.
Something told me there was something wrong about this. The way they were looking at each other… I couldn’t figure it out but….
“Sure,” he huffed unexpectedly, shooting me a look I almost missed that seemed like I was putting him out and making him do something he would rather not.
“Sure?” I croaked.
He nodded, looking pissed off. “Yeah. Sure. I can do it.”
“What the fu—” I closed my mouth and pressed my lips together. Think. Think, Jasmine. I had given them my word.
“It’s not the best idea I’ve ever heard, but we should do it,” Ivan muttered. Then he looked in my direction and his forehead scrunched up. “It’s only a year before I get rid of you.”
Motherfucker.
Coach Lee groaned, but I barely heard it over the need for me to call him a little bitch.
He sighed and tipped his head up toward the ceiling. “I can fake a smile,” he went on as I leaned over in my seat and planted the tip of my elbow onto the armrest. “She don’t have to marry me or have my kid… right, Lee? Or did I miss that?”
That had me rolling back to sit up straight so I could glare at him. “I wouldn’t have your kid if you paid me a million dollars.”
Something strange happened to his cheek before his facial features went completely smooth. “I’m not asking you to. It isn’t that big of a deal. I can do it.” Those dark, thick eyebrows of his went up just half an inch, max. “You can’t do something so small?” he asked, and I swore he was purposefully trying to egg me on.
If that throwdown wasn’t enough to calm me down and get my thoughts in order, I didn’t know what was. Of course there was nothing he could do that I couldn’t do better. Except a quad—a jump with four revolutions—but that was beside the point. I wasn’t about to let evil think they were better than I was. So I kept my voice nice and even as I tried to explain, “I can do it, but I’m just not good at pretending, all right?”
Neither one of them said a word.
“I’m not,” I reiterated.
They were asking me to be affectionate. All right, maybe not affectionate, but… at least not act like I couldn’t stand him. I guess.
Of course I could do it. I just didn’t know if I wanted to. I’d never been a good actress. I had never seen a point in pretending to feel something that I didn’t, or like someone I couldn’t stand. I had dealt with enough shit like that in my life.
“You’re not exactly my type, if that helps any,” Ivan threw in, forcing me to turn my head slowly to look at him. “I can look at you like I don’t hate you.”
I blinked. “Good. You’re not my type either.”
He blinked.
I blinked.
And then Coach Lee let out an uncomfortable noise. “I’m glad neither one of you is each other’s type. So, can we agree that you can be nice to each other in public? I have an interview set up for both of you next week.”
Ivan shrugged as I stared at him, his own gaze not going anywhere. “I can do it. It’s up to her if she can.”
Years from then, I’d look back on that moment and see how well they played me. How well Ivan knew me after so long. Because I walked right into that shit. My pride led me there. “Of course I can do it.”
And with a clap of her hands, it was settled. “Good. Let’s move on to the next thing.”
“Sports Documented wants to have you in their magazine,” Coach Lee said, her fingernails scratching at her neck in a way that told me she was anxious.
And she was never anxious.
I glanced at Ivan to find him in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest, looking totally unfazed… until I saw the way he was shaking his foot.
“Okay,” I said slowly, still watching Ivan as he sat there, looking almost checked out.
But I knew his form of evil too well. He wasn’t.
Coach Lee let this small, awkward smile cover her mouth, putting me on edge. “Both of you.”
Well, no shit both of us. Why would they only want me when it was Prissy Pants over here that was the most well-known one between us? There was more to this, my gut knew there was.
She was just taking her time telling me for some reason.
So I waited. And I didn’t say anything as I stared at her, ready to hear the rest of it.
When Coach Lee’s eyes flicked in Ivan’s direction, it just confirmed everything. Her voice was higher than usual as she said, “It’s for a special issue—”
The idiot in the seat coughed.
“It’s highest-selling issue every year—”
Oh.
Oh.
I knew exactly what she was talking about.
But I kept my mouth shut and didn’t let her know I knew, because what would the fun in that be when she was nervous and maybe even a little embarrassed to be trying to talk me into something that would require me to get naked? She didn’t know I wasn’t shy, but she should. I’d strip down right then if I had to. I’d been changing in front of other people since I was a kid starting off in competitions.
“It would be great publicity if you did it—”
I kept on watching her. Kept the blank look on my face too.
“It would only take a morning or an afternoon—”
I nodded that time and did it slowly.
“Possibly a day at the most, but no longer than that,” she finished up her pitch with a tight smile.
I blinked at her, looking as innocent as I was capable of. “What’s the issue?” I asked her, keeping my tone light.
Her face flushed red, and her gaze moved to Ivan quickly.
“You already know it’s for the Anatomy Issue, Meatball, quit being a pain in the ass, dragging it out.” Ivan snickered, shaking his head.
There went fucking Meatball again. Focus. Be better.
I shot him a bland look and shrugged. “Sorry,” I said, only half meaning it.
Her face immediately went into a frown. “You knew?”
“I figured when you were trying extra hard to sell me on it.”
She still didn’t look happy, but she didn’t look mad either, just… surprised. “You’re fine with it?”
I raised a shoulder. “All they need to do is take pictures of me in my skates, right?”
Coach Lee blinked. “Yes.”
“I get to tape my extra private parts, right?”
She nodded slowly, her face still twisted into an apprehensive expression.
“And it’s only the staff that are around?”
She did the same gesture, her expression not going anywhere.
“It’s fine with me then,” I told her easily. “I know that would be good publicity.” Plus, I had always secretly hoped I’d be invited to do it. It was pretty much an honor in a sport with so many talented people.
Coach’s eyes narrowed almost suspiciously, and she took her time saying, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m having a hard time accepting that you’re being so understanding with this.”