The Goalie Bet novel · Chapter 14 of 32

Chapter 14: The Erased Tally

Thursday at 4:28, and the lights were already on.

I stopped in the doorway with my keys still in my hand.

Logan was at the whiteboard with the marker.

"It's not even 4:30," I said.

"I know."

"You're never early."

"I know."

I set my bag on the stool.

He was reading the tally. Twenty-two marks on the left. Nine on the right.

"I want to do something," he said.

"Okay."

"Don't say okay yet."

I waited.

He drew one long line through the left column.

Then he wrote my name across the top. DANA.

He set the marker in the tray.

"That's the tally," he said.

"You just crossed it out."

"I'm saying I lost."

"The week isn't up until Sunday."

"It was up on Monday. I just didn't want to say it out loud."

I looked at the board, then at him.

"Say the whole thing."

"I lost the bet," he said. "And I want to pay up."

"Up on the table."

He sat, swung his legs around, and lay back on the vinyl.

"Everything off."

He worked out of his clothes and dropped them on the floor and lay back down.

His hip had gone yellow at the edges of the bruise.

I dragged the stool to the side of the table and sat down.

"Lace your fingers behind your neck."

He did it.

"You're nervous," I said.

"I'm not."

"Your whole chest is going up and down like you ran here."

"I ran here."

"No you didn't. You've never run anywhere in your life."

He laughed, and it came out unsteady.

I put a hand flat on his thigh and slid it up.

"How's the hip tonight."

"Fine."

"Try again."

"Tight. Since Tuesday."

"Thank you."

I found the spot and pressed with both thumbs and he exhaled through his teeth.

"Higher?"

"Higher."

I went higher and pressed again and he made a low noise.

I held it there for a full minute and then took my hands off.

"Why'd you stop," he said.

"Because you don't get to decide when this ends."

He looked at me along his own chest.

"You're enjoying this."

"I'm working. There's a difference."

I stood up and walked to the head of the table and looked down at him.

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