4.The Problem With Kovacs
1500 Words
Chapter 4: The Problem With Kovacs
~KAITLYN~
By eight the next morning, Nate Kovac's fight was everywhere.
It wasn't even because he fought.
Hockey players fough and that was practically written into the culture of the sport.
The problem was that Nate Kovac wasn't supposed to lose control.
I stood outside the Wolves' executive office, scrolling through the latest article on my tablet.
KOVAC TEMPER RETURNS: HAS THE REAPERS CAPTAIN LEARNED NOTHING?
I hated the headline and it wasn't because I cared about Nate Kovac.
I didn't.
I just hated it because it was lazy and weak.
Nobody cared why it happened or what pushed him there.
They only cared that it fit the story they had already written about him.
All they saw was Captain Kovac becoming exactly what everyone expected.
The door behind me opened with an almost inaudible sound. "You look annoyed."
I didn't turn."That's because I am."
Nate walked beside me, dressed in a dark suit instead of his usual training gear.
He looked different without the ice between us.
He somehow appeared untouchable and more human. Unfortunately.
"You read the article."
"It was difficult not to." I sighed, pressing my tablet against my chest. “It's currently everywhere."
He looked at my tablet. "People like simple explanations."
"They like convenient ones." I corrected him.
His eyes moved toward me."You're defending me again."
I lowered the tablet, narrowing my eyes from the shock of wherever that was coming from. "I'm criticizing bad journalism, Nate–"
"But that's a very professional way of saying you're defending me." His lips were almost curving and it forced a sigh out of my lips.
The fact that he sounded amused irritated me.
"You nearly created a media disaster."
His expression immediately changed and the amusement disappeared.
"I know."
The answer was so quiet that it caught me off guard. I’d expected an excuse or a defense or something else but not regret.
"I know what I did."
I watched him carefully, expecting him to say more even though I wasn't expecting him to be that honest. "And?"
"And I shouldn't have done it."
The honesty in every word of his was unexpected. "That's it?"
"What do you want me to say, Sterling?"
"I don't know." I looked away."Usually people like you have a reason, Nate."
A shadow crossed his face."People like me?"
I realized my mistake a little too late."Nate—"
"No."
His voice wasn't angry and that almost made it all worse.
"Say it." His gaze dropped to mine.
I hated that he wasn't letting me hide behind professionalism. " I meant people who carry a reputation."
He nodded slowly. "Right."
Silence stretched between us and then he looked at the ice below through the glass.
"My whole life, people have waited for me to prove them right."
Something in his voice made me stop and it was definitely not because I felt sorry for him.
I just understood.
"You know, I know what it's like," I said quietly.
He glanced at me like he didn't believe. "What?"
"I understand what it's like when you're judged before you even speak."
For a moment, we just looked at each other. Then someone cleared their throat behind us.
We both turned and it was Ricks, his teammate, looking between us. "Should I come back later?"
"No," I said immediately. "Yes," Nate said at the same time.
He should have kept his damn mouth shut. Ugh!
"Interesting."Ricks grinned.
I narrowed my eyes. "Don't you dare, Ricks"
He raised his hands like a criminal surrendering. "But I'm not saying anything."
"You were about to. Your eyes say otherwise though"
"I was only thinking it." His lips pursed.
"Even worse."
As he walked away, I rolled my eyes so hard they almost hurt.
I looked back at Nate. "Your teammates are annoying."
"You noticed." His lips tucked in one side, revealing the smallest smile I'd ever seen.
"I notice everythig.." my lips twitched a bit.
"Do you?"
"Well, I like to think so..."
"I know" he muttered. The way he said it made me pause because it sounded less like an observation and more like a fact.
The league's solution to the fight was predictable.
A mandatory leadership program because apparently, executives believed emotional tension could be solved with meetings and printed schedules.
The email arrived at noon.
Captain Nate Kovac and Director Kaitlyn Sterling will oversee the joint player development initiative for the shared facility.
I stared at the screen and exited the page almost immediately. When I opened it again, I hoped the words would change but they didn't.
"This has to be a joke." Nate's rough voice came from behind me.
"You received it too." I didn't intend to let out a sigh, but within the few seconds it took him to walk beside me, I let out a sigh.
"I was hoping mine was a mistake, Director."
"Unfortunately, the league does not make mistakes."
"That sounds like something you would say." His hands folded, his huge frame standing against mine side by side.
"Because it's true."
"That must be exhausting." Was it just me or was his snort a little bit annoying? Especially at a moment like his God damn one?
"What?"
"Being right all the time." I looked at him admittedly. "Trust me, you know nothing about that."
Being right always had its perks as well as its cons too.
A quiet laugh escaped him.
Wait. Nate Kovac laughed. He actually laughed.
My eyes froze as I turned to my side, raising them to his.
"What?" His brows furrowed.
"You laughed." To be fair, I was close to being impressed if not impressed already.
"No, I didn't." The little warmth in his face drained as he turned.
"You did, Captain."
"You are imagining things." he was quite terrible at pretending that it somehow cracked me up from inside.
"I didn't know the great Nate Kovac was afraid of admitting he laughed."
His expression changed and there was this little challenge there. "You enjoy annoying me."
"I enjoy accuracy, Captain."
"You're impossible." I couldn't tell if he'd said that because he was shy, or trying to be dismissive but it didn't feel real.
"And yet here you are."
The words hung midair between us because neither of us expected them.
For some reason, neither of us moved and then the sound of someone coughing interrupted us.
One of the Wolves' players quickly looked away as soon as I turned.
I frowned.
"What?” Nate asked in his usual rough tone and deep pitch.
The player smiled as he walked away.
"Nothing."
I knew that expression on the player’s face.
I ignored it as Nate walked away when a couple of his people came to fetch him.
An hour later, we were seated across from each other in the conference room.
The leadership meeting had lasted two hours instead because Nate Kovac and I had different ideas about almost everything.
“And you believe everything can be fixed with instinct."
I’d straightened my back, placing all fingers on my part of the table as I leaned forward. "Instinct wins games."
"Preparation wins championships."He snapped.
"You must really love that word."
"What word?"
"Control." He was so loud that if his expression hadn't been so calm, it'd have sparked an argument.
By the end of the day, the entire facility had noticed and I almost stopped trying to win every argument, trying to avoid the way we somehow managed to disagree without destroying the room.
"You know they're going to start rumors." I looked up from my tablet.
It was Mason, our assistant coach, standing beside the bench.
"What rumors?"
He smiled. "That you two don't hate each other as much as everyone expected."
"And that's so ridiculous." I rolled my eyes.
"Is it?"
He looked toward the ice where Nate was helping a rookie fix his skating technique.
"Funny."
"What?"
"You keep saying you don't like him, but you keep looking at him."
I paused, then shot him a death glance.
“You're supposed to be the closest to me here in the whole of this place and yet, you don't know if I like someone. I'm so done with you, Mason."
Mason and I had been college friends all the way.
We'd stuck to each other through "thick and thin” even though we barely had bad day and technically, we were best friends.
His eyes didn't move away from me and it somehow forced me to immediately look away.
"You do know a lot is going to be at stake if anything happens between both of you, Kaitlyn."
From the rink, Nate's eyes met mine and he winked.
I didn't know why, but it made something in my chest.
I blinked even harder, snatching my wandering gaze from Nate.
"There's nothing between us…"
"You know what your dad will do..."
I already knew.
Because Nate Kovac wasn't just the last man my father wanted me anywhere near.
- Writer
