The Athlete

by Elin Peer

  He rolled to his side. Every part of him was covered in mud. Curses I’d never heard in my life spewed from him as he raised his hands and wiped mud from his eyes and mouth.

  “Are you okay?”

  Hunter was fuming as he struggled to get the neck protector off. It had done its job, and he now had a large bubble covering his neck, ears, and scalp.

  “Do you need help?”

  “No!” He finally got it off and still on the ground he turned to face me. “You fucking tricked me!”

  “You sure you don’t need help?”

  Hunter stood up but slipped and fell on his behind again. This time I couldn’t help laughing.

  “I told you to slow down in the curves.”

  He was growling and cursing some more as I walked over and turned off his machine. “Good thing this bike is so robust.” I used all my strength to raise it up from the ground. “Do you think you can ride it back? I can show you where there’s a water hose and I’m sure my brothers can lend you some clean clothes.”

  Hunter walked toward me with stiff legs and mud dripping off of him. “I know you did this on purpose.”

  I blinked my eyes with innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  His eyes narrowed, but then he was distracted by Sander, who came down the road and stopped to ask, “What happened?”

  I threw up my hands. “Hunter took the corner with too much speed and ended up in the mud.”

  Sander raised his protective glasses to his forehead. “I’m so sorry, Hunter. Do you need help?”

  “No!”

  “It’s okay, Sander, I’ve got this,” I assured him. “You just do your rounds while I get Hunter into some clean clothes. He and I can do our rounds later.”

  “Okay. As long as Hunter isn’t hurt.”

  Hunter muttered low under his breath as he wiped mud off his clothes. Sander seemed fascinated and stayed to watch until a few minutes later Amy came driving by at a slow but steady pace.

  “Go, Amy, go!” I shouted and waved her by. She was so focused on the road in front of her that she didn’t stop to ask what had happened.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Hunter swung a hand in the direction of Amy, who was driving off, now with Sander starting up his bike to follow her. “Amy is in the lead. How the fuck did that happen?”

  “It happened because you couldn’t stay on the road.”

  “Oh yeah? And where is your bike? I don’t see it on the road either.”

  “Do you really want to stand out here in the woods and fight about it, or do you want me to help you get into some clean clothes?”

  “I want to fucking strangle you, that’s how annoyed I am.”

  “You don’t mean that.” When he took his bike, I moved out of the way and walked over to get my own. “If you don’t want everyone to see you like that, we’ll have to take a back road up to the private section of the park.”

  Hunter looked skeptical. “How do I know you’re not just steering me toward a cliff?”

  I ignored that comment and led the way through the trees and up the hill. My family lived in a large old house on the outskirts of the park.

  “Maybe it’s easier if I hose you down.” We had parked the bikes and I had taken him to my mother’s herb garden, where the water hose was.

  “What? You don’t have showers here?”

  “Of course we do, but you’re not coming into the house with that amount of mud on you.” I picked up the hose and directed him to a spot of grass before pointing the spray at him. “Ready?”

  With a small nod, he held out his arms and closed his eyes as I hosed him down. The water was cold but he didn’t complain.

  “Turn around.”

  For once, Hunter did as I told him.

  “Would you mind kneeling down so I can get the mud out of your hair?”

  He hesitated for a second, but then he squatted down and allowed me to use my hands to get the mud out. It was everywhere including his eyebrows, nostrils, and ears. He used his hands to clean his face but with the mud dripping from his hair it was hard.

  “Just keep your mouth and eyes closed and let me do it.”

  Now that we weren’t racing anymore and my body wasn’t pumped with adrenaline, I had a bad taste in my mouth over what I’d done to him. “At least you didn’t get hurt.” The comment was more for me than him.

  “What now?” He was soaked in water.

  I put down the hose and rubbed my nose, thinking. “You probably still need a shower.”

  “You think?” His tone was unkind.

  “The only thing is that you would be dripping all over the house. Would you mind taking off your clothes?”

  His jaw was tight when he pulled off his shirt, pants, socks, and shoes.

  Standing only in his boxers he gave me a defiant stare.

  “I know you’re shy, but there’s no one home. Everyone is working so you can take them off.”

  I could see his tongue pushing at his inner cheek but he didn’t answer me and he didn’t take off his boxers.

  “Fine, keep them on then. It’s not like I have a need to see your deformed penis anyway.”

  He followed me as I walked to the house. “Just for the record, my cock isn’t deformed.”

  “So you say, but I’ve never met a man so shy of being naked. You can understand how it makes me think you have something to hide, can’t you?”

  “I’m just cold from the water, that’s all.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Cold water makes a man’s cock shrink.”

  “So?” I looked at him over my shoulder as we entered the house. “It’s not like I care what size your penis is.”

  “I swear, Ella, you are the strangest woman I’ve ever met.”

  I sighed. “I’m not even going to correct you this time. There can only be two reasons why you always say my name wrong. Either heading the soccer ball too many times has truly done severe damage to your brain, or you enjoy being rude to me.”

  “Rude to you?” he scoffed. “Are you sure you wanna accuse me of being rude after you just got me into a mud-hole?”

  Opening the door to one of the three bathrooms in the house, I let him pass me. “The shower has a drier function. It’s old and sometimes it doesn’t work, but in that case you’ll find towels under the sink.”

  Hunter put his hand on the door, ready to close it.

  “I’ll put your clothes and shoes in the washing machine, and see if I can find something for you to wear in the meantime.” Letting my eyes take in the size of him, my eyebrows pinched together. “You’re taller than my brothers, but hopefully I can find something that fits you.”

  Hunter was already closing the door, leaving me standing outside with my palms a bit sweaty. I hated how he affected me in a way no one ever had before. My fascination with him and the way my body hummed when he was near – it was disturbing and unwelcome.

  Ten minutes later, Hunter came out of the house dressed in the clothes I had found in Cole’s room and placed in a pile in front of the bathroom.

  “Is this your sense of humor?” Hunter was pulling at the pink hoodie I’d found for him. It was tight over his chest and the sleeves were short.

  “It was the biggest one I could find.” I was braiding my hair after I had rinsed out the mud from earlier.

  “I’m not complaining about the size, but did you have to find the most girly one?”

  I didn’t understand what he meant, but with his strange Nman ways, Hunter often made little sense to me. “What about the pants? Are you at least satisfied with them?”

  It was a baggy pair of sweatpants that I’d never seen my brother wear.

  “How long until my own clothes are dry?”

  “At least half an hour.”

  “And my shoes?”

  “Your feet are bigger than my brothers’.” I looked down at the slippers I had found for him. “Do you think you can wear those?”
>
  “Are you expecting me to go back to the others dressed like this?”

  I nodded my head. “Yes, but if you want, you can stay here and wait. I can come back in an hour to get you.”

  “What would I do here?”

  “Do you read?”

  Hunter raised an eyebrow. “How stupid do you think I am?”

  “No, I didn’t mean if you can read. I meant do you enjoy reading?”

  He was calmer now, but still grumpy as he took a seat on the staircase leading up to our house. “It’s okay, I’ll just sit here and regret the day I first met you.”

  I pretended not to be affected by his harsh comment and was about to walk back to my red bike when my brother Cole came up the hill on a hoverbike, parking right next to us.

  “I heard what happened.” His eyes shifted from Hunter to the green bike.

  “Both Hunter and the bike are okay,” I assured Cole but he still walked over to inspect it.

  “Ema, can I talk to you?”

  My shoulders sank as I walked over. “I’m sorry.”

  “The old mud trick, huh?”

  I looked down. “He had it coming.” We were speaking in hushed voices as I explained how Hunter had humiliated me all day.

  “Cole,” Hunter called out.

  Both my brother and I turned.

  “Yes.”

  “Could you explain to me how it is that your sister’s motorbike was a lot faster than mine?”

  Cole stiffened next to me. “I’m sure it only felt that way.”

  “No, I was going at full speed and she still overtook me. That shouldn’t be possible.”

  “Maybe it’s because she’s lighter than you.”

  “Yeah, that’s it.” I gave a shrug. “It happens all the time.”

  Hunter looked suspicious as we turned our backs on him.

  “Tell me you didn’t activate the high-speed function,” my brother whispered.

  My silence confirmed it.

  “Are you trying to get us caught? Enough with your stupid pride. We can’t risk anyone knowing.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I don’t care if you have to let him win in every competition from now on, just don’t jeopardize our side business.”

  When I didn’t answer, Cole gave me a stern look. “Tell me you understand.”

  “Okay, okay, I understand.”

  “Is everything all right?” Hunter’s voice was too close and looking over our shoulders we saw that he had moved in on us without our noticing.

  “Absolutely.” Cole gave a chirpy answer and broke into a smile. “I was just scolding my sister for not paying enough attention to you. It’s bad for business when a visitor gets hurt.”

  Hunter crossed his arms and looked straight at me. “That’s right. Maybe I should mention in my next interview how you fucked with me.”

  Provoked by his words, I stepped closer to him, leaned my head back, and crossed my own arms. “Good idea. I encourage you to use that word in an interview and see what happens.”

  “Whoa, whoa.” Cole gave a placating laugh behind us. “There’s no need to mention this to anyone.”

  Hunter lowered his voice for only me to hear. “Humiliating me was a big mistake, Manu. They should have warned you not to mess with an Nman.”

  Despite my brother’s plea for me to swallow my pride from now on, I just had to take a last punch at Hunter. With a casual shrug, I smiled. “If by they you mean management, then I stopped listening after they promised us that you’d be a great athlete. They were clearly misinformed.”

  Hunter’s eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to speak when Cole came between us.

  “Hunter, on behalf of the park, I apologize for the bad experience you had on the bikes. I would be grateful if it could stay between us.”

  Hunter broke eye contact with me and turned to Cole. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone.”

  Cole’s shoulders eased and he gave a relieved smile as he took Hunter’s hand to shake it. “Thanks. We appreciate it.”

  “All I’m asking in return is for Emanuela to give me a heartfelt apology because I fucking know she did it on purpose.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she didn’t, but an apology is a small thing to ask, so sure…” Cole gave me an encouraging look. “Go ahead, Ema.”

  My jaws felt like they were glued together as I looked from my brother to Hunter. It was like being four years old again and being forced to apologize for every little thing I did that might annoy people. I had hated apologizing then and the words wouldn’t come.

  “Ema.” Cole’s tone was commanding.

  “I’m sorry.” The words felt like coughing up a hedgehog.

  Hunter still had his arms crossed. “That didn’t sound very heartfelt.”

  “Honestly, Ema, you can do better than that.”

  I gave Cole a dirty look and he shook his head. “I have to get back, but make sure that Hunter is comfortable and give him a real apology, sis.”

  Hunter and I watched Cole take off on the hoverbike and I’d hoped he would drop the apology thing, but Hunter wasn’t that easy to distract.

  “I’m still waiting for your heartfelt apology.”

  “I told you I’m not the nicest Motlander, so what did you expect?” This time I wasn’t looking at him. “I’m also not a liar, so I’m not going to stand here and say that I regret what I did. You’ve been arrogant from the moment you arrived. It was time that someone took you down a notch.”

  “I see, and that someone is you?”

  “I’m the captain. I step up when I have to.” Before he could start another argument, I moved to the house. “Let me go check on your clothes.”

  “Sure, you do that.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Female Touch

  Hunter

  I heard enough of Emanuela’s and Cole’s conversation to know that they were hiding some kind of side business. Their nervous smiles only confirmed that they didn’t want me to know.

  When Emanuela walked into the house, I saw my chance to investigate. I got on the red bike and rode it down the hill. My bike had only reached a maximum of fifty, but hers still had more to give when I reached a speed of seventy.

  When I returned, Emanuela stood with her hands on her hips and a murderous expression on her face.

  “So much for fair competition. And here I thought that Motlanders were supposed to have a high level of integrity. You might not be a straight-up liar, but you are nothing but a cheat.”

  My accusation painted her face crimson red and her fingers were pressing into her hips. “I’m not a cheat.”

  “Oh, honey, don’t even go there. I just rode your bike and it’s much faster than mine. Not only did you cheat, but you made sure I landed in that mud hole.”

  “I admitted that much before. You needed to eat a little dirt to be less arrogant.”

  “Seems to me that you’re twice as arrogant as I ever was. Maybe I should feed you a little mud too.” My eyes went to the grass where she had hosed me down. It would be easy to pick up some mud and get back at her.

  “Oh no, don’t even think about it.” She turned and ran into the house, but I wasn’t done with her.

  “I’ve never met a Motlander who can’t give an apology when they’ve done something wrong.”

  Emanuela stood in the large living room of her family’s home. She was frowning and watched me as I circled closer with a small smile on my lips. Moving to the kitchen, she made sure to keep the kitchen island between us.

  “I’m sure we can solve this dispute without me having to apologize.”

  “Not fucking likely.”

  “How do you solve disputes in the Northlands? No wait, let me guess. You kill the people you don’t like.”

  “We fight or wrestle. It’s a very satisfying way to settle our disputes.”

  “I assume that it’s only satisfying if you win.”

  “Which I always do.”

  Emanuela lowered her brow.
“Well, here in the civilized part of the world we’re taught to solve conflicts in a nonviolent manner. My teacher always insisted on the resolution recipe.”

  “Does it involve a love circle?”

  “Sometimes, but not always. Usually, the resolution recipe requires you to hold the hands of the person you share the conflict with and then you have to say, ‘I feel hurt because you did blah blah…’” She swung her hand. “And then the other person listens and responds, ‘I’m sorry you got hurt because you felt that I did blah blah…’ After both have explained themselves and recognized the other’s feelings, they say, ‘It was never my intention to hurt you and I’ll do my best to be more aware of your feelings.’”

  Hunter groaned. “And that is supposed to solve the problem?”

  “Well, we also had to hug.”

  “Yeah, I remember my teacher, Kya, trying to make us kids hug it out too but I never believed in that strategy.”

  “You prefer fighting?”

  “I do.”

  For a moment we stood in silence before Emanuela tilted her head. “Okay, then let’s work it out the Northlander way.”

  “You’re not seriously asking me to fight you, are you?”

  “Not fight. Just wrestle. My brothers did that sometimes when I was younger.”

  “They wrestled with you?”

  “A little.”

  “But I thought you were all devoted pacifists.”

  “We are, but it was just for fun.”

  I gave a small snort. “Yeah, on second thought, you’re probably the most aggressive Motlander I’ve ever met, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

  Narrowing her eyes, Emanuela took two steps and got right in front of me. “I’m not a violent person.”

  My grin was soft. “Yet you’re challenging me to a fight.”

  “Sure, but I’m not stupid enough to wrestle against someone significantly bigger and heavier than me. There will have to be some kind of modification. How about you don’t use your arms?”

  I snorted. “You can’t wrestle without using your arms. Wrestling is about grappling.” I paused for a second. “And besides, what makes you think I’ll wrestle you when you know how hard it is for me to get close to any women during practice or games?”