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  “Well, now you know.”

  “You went to Finland. LP Viesti was your team, right?”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I just remembered. You signed a nice contract with them, but I didn’t hear anything more about you once I was in Italy.”

  “I got injured. I couldn’t play after that.”

  “Therapy didn’t help?” Wyatt asked, donning her t‑shirt.

  “I was in a car accident on my way to my first match. I hadn’t gotten a car yet or worked out how to get around on my own, so I took a cab. It got hit by a semi-truck. The driver was killed.”

  “Oh, my God.” Wicked sat on the bench.

  “I got lucky, I guess. But I shattered my calf, broke a few ribs, a couple of fingers, a wrist, and a few other things. I was in the hospital there for a while. I came home as soon as I could.”

  “Where’s home?” Wicked asked, sliding her socks on.

  “Here. I’m from LA.”

  “So, your career was over after that?” Wicked slid her shoes on.

  “I decided to go back to school. I got my master’s degree in psychology, and then, earned my doctorate with a focus on sports.”

  “Do you miss it?” Wicked wanted to know.

  “No, I love what I do now.”

  Wicked almost told the woman she could tell Everly was lying but decided against it.

  “We should get going to lunch. If I’m late twice in one day, Kara might just kick me off the team.”

  “Yeah, right.” Everly laughed. “No coach would ever kick Wyatt Wicked off their team.”

  “I’m pretty good, huh?” Wicked teased with a wink.

  “You’re all right,” Everly replied.

  CHAPTER 4

  It had been a good first day so far. Everly hadn’t done any real work yet, but part of her job involved preparation. She had to understand the players, the team dynamic, the coaches, how they coached, and how people interacted with one another outside of the practices and meetings. This team dinner would be a good start. What she noticed immediately was that everyone flocked like moths to a flame around Wyatt Wicked. She couldn’t necessarily blame them. Wyatt was an Amazon among goddesses. She was the tallest person on this particular team, and she was also possibly the most beautiful of the women that were all very pretty. Her dark hair was shoulder-length now, but Everly had seen it when it was much shorter, when they had played against one another in college. She had also seen it longer. Wyatt’s freshman year, she hadn’t yet cut it short. It had been to the middle of the numbers on her jersey back then. At any length, it always seemed to look good. Wyatt usually wore it back, and today was no exception. The only reason Everly knew it was shoulder-length was because of their locker room run-in. God, she’d seen Wyatt Wicked naked. An Amazon among goddesses was accurate; that woman had abs of steel. Well, they weren’t abs of steel, necessarily. What was the metal in the comics called again? Captain America’s shield was made out of it… It was all over Wakanda…

  “Vibranium,” she accidentally said out loud.

  “I’m sorry?” Wicked said, sitting down at the table beside Everly. “Is it okay if I sit here?” She put her plate down.

  “Are you done being fawned over?” Everly asked.

  “They’re not fawning. They’re just in their first year of playing professionally; they have a lot of questions.” The woman took a drink of her bottled water. “What was that you said when I sat down?”

  “Nothing.” Everly dropped her fork on her plate.

  “No, what was it? Come on.” Wicked bumped Everly’s shoulder with her own.

  “Vibranium.” Everly looked away immediately. “The metal from–”

  “You’re a Marvel fan?”

  “You’re a Marvel fan?” Everly looked back at the woman.

  Wicked laughed and said, “When I first moved to Italy, I was twenty-two and knew no Italian. One of the players suggested I buy American comics and their Italian versions to help learn the language since the stuff isn’t all that complicated, and there are pictures.”

  “She suggested you use picture books? That’s cute, Wicked.”

  “I didn’t say I needed picture books.” Wicked glared at her. “I had a 3.7 GPA at Stanford, thank you very much.”

  “Not in Italian, apparently,” Everly teased.

  Wicked laughed and said, “Anyway, I kind of got into them. I’m not a collector or anything, and I mostly just watch the movies now, but I used to read them, yes, so I know what Vibranium is. Why did you say it, though?”

  “Oh, I was just thinking I might watch a movie when I leave here. It popped into my mind.”

  Wicked shook her head at that as she laughed silently.

  “What? Why do you keep doing that?” Everly asked.

  “Because you’re lying again. Or, you’re not telling the whole truth, if that sounds better than lying to you.”

  “How can you tell I’m not telling the whole truth?” Everly rested her elbow on the table and her head on her hand. “You keep doing that. I want to know how.”

  “Is this a session? Are we in session now?”

  “No, we’re just talking,” Everly replied.

  “I think I’ll keep my secrets to myself, doc.” Wicked placed her knife and spoon on her plate. “Enjoy your movie later. The first Avengers movie is my favorite. Not sure if it has enough Vibranium for you, though.” She stood, offered another knowing smirk, and left Everly at the table alone.

  Abs of Vibranium. Everly nodded to herself. Eyes like the fucking ocean.

  ◆◆◆

  A week later, Everly was finally starting to feel like she was doing something productive with the team. She’d met with several players one-on-one in her makeshift office, which was really an equipment room in the locker room that they had emptied out, cleaned, and put a desk in for her. It had a window, though, leading outside, that had an old curtain covering it. She had not had time to decorate yet, but she’d brought in some of her books with her own chair and was starting to make it her own.

  Many of the players who had taken advantage of her services were the first-year ones. There were seven women on this team who had just graduated from their respective universities where they were the top dogs. Now, they would be fighting for some playing time with pro players and also hoping to make a spot on the Olympic team. Team USA already had its players, but it hosted open try-outs once a year and was always looking for great talent and the right mix of players. Only a few of the players on the Legends were on the national team.

  One of them was likely to retire before Tokyo, having been in three previous games and at the end of her career. She’d also spent some time with Everly, talking about how she just wanted one season in this league. She wanted to play at home in front of the US fans. She would play for the national team in their tournaments as needed, but she had been a substitute in recent matches with them. She knew her time was coming to an end in the sport.

  Everly talked to them all. She tried to hype up the younger players. She tried to talk to the more experienced players about how to help develop the younger ones and how to adjust to playing at home. Most of them had only played in countries where they didn’t speak the language, where they had no support system outside of the team, and where they lived in tiny apartments because they wouldn’t be sticking around long enough to get anything bigger. The adjustment was a hard one for many of them with families or who were trying to have families.

  The one member of the team she had yet to talk to professionally was Wyatt Wicked. Everly continued to watch her in practice and with her teammates. Her level of play was high. Her arm was still a rocket launcher that delivered the hardest serves to return that Everly had ever seen. Wyatt’s body always seemed to twist just the right way, enabling her to make a textbook block. Her passing wasn’t great, but she was 6’4” and a front-row player, so that was pretty normal. It was still good enough to keep her on the court instead of opting to substitute her out for a libero. Most teams would use a defensive specialist in the back row and sub them out for a much taller player who specialized in blocking or hitting. The Legends had two liberos on their team that were used often, but never for Wicked.

  “When she passes, her feet always move,” Everly said to Kara.

  “Who?”

  “Wyatt,” Everly replied. “She shanks it every time they do that.”

  “Really?” Kara asked, glancing at Wyatt’s feet from her spot, sitting on the bench.

  “It’s weird; she only does it when Myers is next to her,” Everly said again.

  “Huh.” Kara glanced at her clipboard. “Myers, switch teams for me. Nixon, go in for Myers.”

  The two women switched sides of the net, not asking why.

  “Don’t tell Wyatt you’re serving her, or you’ll mess up your test.”

  Kara held up the clipboard sideways, placing her hand in a fist against it in order to show the server the signal to serve zone six, but not allowing Wicked on the other side to see the call. The server hit a floater not that different from her previous serve that Wicked had sent into the bench. The ball landed right into Wicked’s lap. Wyatt used her regular stance, keeping her feet straight, and passed to her setter. The setter gave a sound set to her middle hitter, and the hit landed on the other side of the net.

  “Her feet stayed straight.”

  “Damn, doc. I never would have spotted that. You’re sure it’s only when Myers is next to her in the rotation?”

  “Yes, I’ve been keeping an eye on it. She and Myers have a history. I assume you know.”

  “Myers played with her in Spain. I didn’t know about a history. How’d you?”

  “I’ve been doing my research on all the players. It was in the volleyball news over
there that Myers had stayed out past curfew one too many times. When the coaching staff found out, they went to her room the night before an away game. Wicked was her roommate. I guess Myers thought Wyatt snitched on her, and they fought when she got back. She was fined and suspended for three games. One of the subs that were filling in for her played well, and she ended up losing her spot. She blames Wicked.”

  “I didn’t know that. Had I known, I wouldn’t have picked her for this team.”

  “I can talk to her if you want,” Everly offered.

  “Wicked or Myers?”

  “Myers. I think the reason Wicked makes those mistakes is that she doesn’t trust Myers. She leans over to her side, which causes her feet to move, and she loses that balance that’s needed for a good pass.”

  “If Wicked needs to trust Myers, why would you talk to Myers?”

  “Because Myers needs to earn her trust back. That incident was years ago. They’re both adults. Let me work with her for a bit and involve Wicked if I need to.”

  “Okay, doc. I trust you. I’m going to break them for the day unless you need to talk to any of them now.”

  “No, I’d rather talk to her before practice.”

  Kara dismissed the team. Everly went to her office to get some work done. That research she mentioned before, it took time. If she could get some more of it done before she left, she would have more time to relax at home with her TV dinner and a good movie.

  “Hey,” Wicked said, standing in her doorway with only a towel on.

  Everly swallowed and said, “Hey.”

  There was a blessing and a curse to her office being in the locker room.

  “Some of us were going to have dinner at the Mexican place down the street. Are you interested?”

  “I can’t, but thanks for the invite.”

  Wyatt took a few steps into her office and said, “Because you’re busy or because you don’t want to go?”

  “Because I shouldn’t go.” Everly nodded confidently.

  “Because of the job?”

  “Yes, Wyatt.” She gave her a patient glare.

  “Is that a team or league policy or something?”

  “No.”

  “So, you don’t want to go, then?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “We’re all getting changed and heading over. If you want to join us, I’ll save you a seat. How about that?”

  “I’m going to finish up work and head home,” Everly replied.

  “You’re missing out. Nixon says this place has kick-ass margaritas.”

  “You’re all going to get drunk? You have an early practice tomorrow.”

  “I don’t drink when I’m in season,” Wyatt corrected. “The others might not have that policy, but I’ll make sure the young ones don’t get too crazy. You’ll be there tomorrow, though, right?”

  “Practice? Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Wyatt shook her head and said, “Never mind. I’m going to get dressed.” She backed out of the office and disappeared behind the row of lockers separating the office from the rest of the room.

  Everly considered going out with the team. She wanted to. A lot of them were around her age, and she loved the sport. They loved the sport. She knew she would have fun if she went. But people in her line of work frowned on that kind of fraternizing. It wasn’t a traditional therapist and patient relationship, but she still needed to keep some professional distance between everyone.

  She finished up her work, drove out of the parking lot and toward the entrance ramp to the freeway, and then noticed a Mexican restaurant with an outdoor patio with a lot of very tall women laughing and having a good time. She thought for one moment about turning left instead of right toward the freeway, but when the light changed, she took the safe road and went home instead. She made her TV dinner for one, sat in front of her television, and put on a movie.

  CHAPTER 5

  Everly had grown up playing beach volleyball. She had been born in Los Angeles and was a fan of the sport. Her father had played in the AVP, the professional beach league, before she came around. He was never in the top echelon of the players, but he made a semi-final in a handful of tournaments and won one. It, however, didn’t pay well enough to support a family. When Everly’s mom had come along, and they had married, his beach career came to an end. When Everly was around five or six, he started taking her to the beach. That was how she had fallen in love with the sport. Back then, though, there was no beach at the college level. Players had to play indoors if they wanted to get into college or make the national team. Then, they could go pro on the beach circuit if they wanted. By the time Everly had gotten into indoor volleyball, though, she was hooked. She loved the feeling of having five other teammates on her side of the net, working seamlessly with one goal: get the ball back over to the other side.

  “Any beach experience?” Everly asked Wyatt.

  “Nope. I mean, we played some for fun when I was at Stanford, but nothing serious,” Wyatt replied. “You?”

  “I’m from here, so yeah.” Everly kicked off her flip-flops. “You’re supposed to be out there, stretching.” She pointed at the rest of the players who were on one of the beach courts they reserved for the day.

  “I wanted to talk to you for a second if that’s okay,” Wyatt said.

  “Is it okay with Kara?”

  “She knows, yeah.” Wyatt kicked off her own flip-flops.

  “Okay. What’s up?”

  “Did you talk to Myers about something?”

  “Wyatt, I can’t talk to you about what I do with the other players,” Everly replied.

  Wyatt nodded and said, “I get it. She just came up to me at dinner last night and asked to talk. She was late, so Nixon asked her why, and she said she’d stayed late to talk to you.”

  “She talked to you?”

  Wyatt looked at her with those ocean-blue eyes and said, “Whatever you did, I guess, thanks.” The woman nodded then. “We talked for a while after dinner. We had some old issues to work through. After this incident where she thought I told on her about curfew, she kind of said some things about me and got a few members of the team back then to give me a hard time. It died down, eventually, but I was in a foreign country with no one outside of the team there to talk to, so it kind of sucked there for a while. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for anything.”

  “Wicked, let’s go. You’re with Godfrey, Manners, and Nixon. You four will run first. One mile on the sand.”

  “I guess I’m running first,” Wyatt said.

  “Have fun,” Everly replied.

  Wyatt took off along with three other players down the beach. Another group of players was doing drills. A third group was working on running from the backline to the net and back again before they went side to side and so on. Everly remembered that drill well. It helped strengthen the core that was so important for volleyball players. Everly worked alongside the coaches for a bit until the next group was sent for their run and Wyatt and the rest of her group returned to do drills.

  The day at the beach had been Kara’s idea, and it was a good one. They had been cooped up inside the gym every day. The team could use a day outside. Everly had agreed that it would be good for all the players to play a fun scrimmage on the sand at the end of the training day. When all the drills were done, and the players were exhausted, Kara told them they had one hour to play. They got to pick their own teams. She also made two of the younger players captains at Everly’s suggestion. Wyatt was the first player picked, of course, surprising no one. What did surprise Everly was when Wyatt pushed her captain to pick Myers after her. Everly smiled, staring down at the sand when she did that. The even bigger surprise came, though, when Everly heard her own name.

  “Come on, doc,” Wyatt said.

  “What?” Everly looked up. Everyone was staring at her. “Me?”

  “You played,” Godfrey, the other captain, said. “If Wicked wants you, I’ll pick Kara.”

  “I don’t play anymore,” Everly replied.

  “Come on, doc. I’ll play on Godfrey’s team. You play with Manners, Myers, and Wicked over there.” Kara pointed.

  “I haven’t played since…” She nearly said since the accident, but not everyone knew about that. “Since right after college.”