Kulti

by Mariana Zapata

  Ur #1 fan,

  Sal

  <3 <3 <3

  P.S. Do u have a girl friend?

  P.P.S. Why don’t u cut ur hair?

  “I was nineteen when that showed up to the club’s offices. It was my third fan letter ever and the other two were topless pictures,” he said in his low, steady voice. “That letter stayed in every locker I used for the next ten years. It was the first thing I looked at before my games, and the first thing I saw after I played. I framed it and put it in my house in Meissen once it started to wear out. It’s still there on the wall of my bedroom.”

  Oh my God.

  “You didn’t put a return address on the envelope, you know. It only had your street’s name and Texas on it. I was never able to write you back because it wouldn’t have made it, but I would have, Sal,” he said.

  Looking at the picture reminded me so clearly of writing it, so many years ago.

  He had kept it.

  “I still have the three others you sent me.”

  If I was someone who swooned, or whatever kind of crap happened to people when they were in shock, I would have been doing it. This was… there was no word for what this was. “Did you know it was me when you took the position here?” I asked, still looking at the picture.

  “No. I didn’t realize it until you introduced yourself in Gardner’s office. I couldn’t believe it. I knew your last name from the videos of your playing but I didn’t know your first name,” he explained. “I only remembered your first name from your letters.”

  Good grief.

  “So you’ve always known?” My voice cracked a little at the last word.

  “Did I know you’d been my number one fan once?” he asked, nudging my rib enough so that I looked up at him. A gentle look replaced his harsh, usually brooding features. “Yes, I knew. If I would have paid attention the first day of practice, I would have figured it out sooner. And then you cussed me out—“

  “I did not cuss you out.”

  “—and I understood that you’d grown up.” Kulti rubbed my lower back. “I take so much pride in knowing you’ve become the player you are because you looked up to me, Sal. It’s the greatest compliment I’ve ever been paid.”

  Bah.

  He kept right on going, oblivious to my heart shooting off fireworks. “I’ve met enough people in my life that I can recognize who wants to know me for the right reason and for the wrong reason. I have trust issues, you know that. It took me time to figure out that you were someone I could trust, but it didn’t take that long. I know you. I know that someone who will defend her father and risk losing her career is someone I can trust, someone that I can respect. Loyalty is one of the most precious things I’ve ever encountered. You don’t know the things people would do to get ahead, and I would bet my life you would never turn your back on anyone that needed you.

  “Every single thing that has ever happened in my life has led me here, Sal. Destiny is a ladder, a series of steps that takes you where you’re supposed to go. I am the man that I am, and I have done the things that I’ve done, to get me to you.”

  What do you say to that? To a man that kept your childhood letter for half a lifetime and mentioned you and destiny in the same sentence?

  I bit the inside of my cheek and leveled a look at him. “Are you sure you don’t care? I used to kiss your posters. Now that I think about it, I’m really surprised no one in my family spilled the beans and said something.”

  Rey palmed my face. “Not at all.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “I was really sad to hear you ladies lost last night,” the front desk employee said as he handed me a visitor’s pass.

  I’d have to give myself a pat on the back later for not even wincing at the reminder. Somehow I managed to shrug, pinning the pass to the bottom of my T-shirt. That damn Pipers and Wreckers mural above the desk taunted me. “Me too.”

  “I’m sure y’all will get ‘em next year, don’t you worry about it,” the nice man suggested as I put my bag over my shoulder to go through security and up the elevator.

  “Hope so. Thanks,” I told him before giving him another smile and continuing up the stairs.

  Really, I did hope the Pipers would win next season. It would be great for them.

  All right, I’d be fine if they didn’t, but I wouldn’t be mad if they did.

  I’d been doing a lot of thinking since talking to Rey the night before, and even though I wanted to vomit at the insecure point my life was in, I realized I really was doing the best thing for me by leaving the WPL. If it were up to Cordero and the rest of the coaches who hadn’t given me a second thought, I would never play for another Altus Cup.

  Or screw it, for a gold medal. Why not?

  If I moved, played somewhere else and got my nationality…

  Why not?

  If I moved. But I wasn’t going to worry or psych myself out too much. Things happened if they were meant to happen and if they didn’t, I’d figure out something else.

  What I was doing now was moving on with this stage in my life, and I was surprisingly more than okay with it.

  I found the equipment manager’s office halfway down the hall on the Pipers floor. She was inside and looked a little surprised to see me, but she took my things and said she’d see me later. So apparently, the news hadn’t gotten around that I was out.

  This was all was totally fine. There was only one other person I’d want to see before I left, and his office was two doors down. It sure as hell wasn’t Cordero either. I had no interest in seeing that miserable man ever again. Plus I wasn’t sure if he was aware Rey had lied about rejoining the team or not, and I didn’t want to hear about it. His part with me was done. The German had already assured me once more that I didn’t have to worry about him. His money gave him a great legal team, so he said.

  Legal team. Jesus. That’s what I’d gotten myself into. He didn’t just have a lawyer, but a whole legal team. God.

  You only live once, right?

  Gardner was in his office with the door open when I stopped by. I knocked twice. He looked only slightly frazzled as he typed away on his keyboard, frowning when he saw it was me. “Sal. Come in,” he waved me forward. “Shut the door.”

  I closed the door behind me and took a seat across from him, hands on my knees.

  “Where were you last night?” he asked first thing.

  “I left right after the game. Sorry. I just wasn’t in the mood,” I explained truthfully, taking in his tired features. “Are you all right?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Same old hell as usual from Cordero, it’s nothing I wasn’t expecting. You? Hold on, what are you doing here?”

  I gave him a small smile. “I came to drop off my things with the EM, and to tell you bye.”

  Gardner leaned forward. “Where are you going?”

  This was the whole reason I was here. I really did like Gardner, but I didn’t want to be a blubbering mess. “I’m leaving the team. My contract was bought out a few days ago. As of midnight, I’m a free agent.”

  The man, who had coached me for the last four years and ninety-eight percent of the time been fair and understanding, looked like I punched him in the gut. Sure he’d tried to bench me in the semi-final, but I knew that was Cordero’s doing. I wouldn’t forget four years of friendship with Gardner for one moment. “I don’t understand. You had a year left with us. Are you that angry about the semi that you bought your contract out?”

  He knew damn well I couldn’t afford to buy my contract out.

  “I’m not leaving because of you, G. I swear.” I’d already decided not to tell him about Cordero trying to trade me because really, what was the point? It didn’t matter. “It’s just time for a change of pace. Cordero hates my guts more than ever and half the girls on the team…” The word robot bounced around in my head for a second before I thought of this new opportunity in my life with green-brown eyes. “It hasn’t been easy for a little while. I can’t stay when they don�
�t respect me.”

  “Fuck, Sal.” His hands went to rest flat on his desk. “You’re not kidding?”

  “Nope.”

  It took him a long time to finally say something else. “Do you know what you’re going to do now?”

  I would have loved to have told him I’d already gotten signed with another team. I really would have. The fact was I hadn’t. I had no solid clue what I was doing. “I’m not sure yet, but this isn’t the end. I just wanted to drop by and tell you thank you for everything. Keep in touch. Good luck. I’ve loved working with you, and I think you’re great.” I raised my shoulders up and let them drop. “Promise to email me even if it’s just to complain about the girls?”

  Later on I’d realize that Gardner took it about as well as Marc had: plain shitty. That’s how well he took the news. He took it really shitty.

  He promised to keep in touch and wished me the best as always. That was the last thing we said to each other before I left his office.

  I made ten feet before a feminine voice called out, “Sal!” and Sheena came barreling out of the assistant coach’s office she’d been in a second before.

  “Hey, Sheena,” I greeted her.

  “Hey, hi. Sorry to come running out, but I wanted to talk to you before you left. You are leaving, right?” I nodded, unsure whether she was talking about leaving the team or leaving the office. “I won’t take your time then, but these pictures popped up last night of you and Mr. Kulti after the game. They aren’t good—“

  “I’m sorry, Sheena. I don’t mean to cut you off but,” I gave her a tight grin, “it doesn’t matter. The pictures don’t matter.”

  “They look bad, Sal. I know the league, and they’re going to be giving Cordero a call to complain pretty soon if they haven’t already,” she explained. “They’re more than likely going to want a statement from you apologizing—“

  Apologizing? I shook my head. “No. I’m not doing it and they can’t make me.”

  “But—“

  “No.” Dear God, I sounded like Rey. “I’m not going to.” She’d find out soon enough why. In the meantime… “I have a question for you real quick. Whatever happened to that video of the press conference you were going to release? You never said anything to me about it again.”

  From her facial expression, it looked like she wanted to keep going on about the pictures of Rey and I, but decided to answer my question instead. “We didn’t release it. Mr. Kulti had final approval and he demanded we shelve it. He said we would be humiliating you and he didn’t want to do that. I thought you knew? He bought the footage from the news stations so no one could do anything with them.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Snippet of the Transcript of the Press Conference

  [Back in April]

  ……

  KCNB REPORTER: Miss Casillas, how do you feel about having a player like Reiner Kulti coaching your team this season?

  CASILLAS: I think it’s great. He’s the best soccer player in the world. His ball handling is fantastic, his on-the-spot playmaking is unbelievable, the power behind his striking is incomparable and he’s a great penetrator. We have a lot of girls on the team that could… did I just use the word penetrator?

  KSXN REPORTER: You did.

  CASILLAS: [silence] Is that even allowed on television? That word? Can I say that?

  KCNB REPORTER: I don’t believe we can use it.

  CASILLAS: I’m so sorry. Really. I don’t think I’ve ever used that word in my life. I guess I’ve taken too many balls to my face… fuck my life, did I just… Oh God. I used the ‘F’ word and I said I’ve taken a lot of balls to my face in one sentence. I don’t…

  GARDNER: [cracking up] Sal…

  CASILLAS: I’m just going to shut up now.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “We’ll have breakfast in the morning?” Dad asked. We’d just had a late dinner out, following an afternoon spent at my apartment.

  I nodded. “Yes. I promise.”

  Dad eyed me critically. “You’ll call me if you hear anything from your agent?”

  It was ten o’clock at night. I highly doubted she was going to call me before the next morning, but I kept my mouth closed. My dad seemed more nervous than I was about everything now that the season was over, and I didn’t want to fuel the fire. One of us with indigestion was bad enough. “Promise.”

  “Okay.” He smiled over at me. “I’ll see you in the morning then.” One more hug and he whistled over to where Rey stood next to their car, talking to my mom while Ceci sat inside, the glow from her cell illuminating her face. “Amor, estas lista?”

  Mom had to have rolled her eyes considering she was the one who’d been standing by the car waiting for him for the last five minutes. “Ya vamonos. Salomé, dame un abrazo.”

  Snorting under my breath, I walked back and gave her the hug she just demanded, knocking on the window to wave at Ceci. I could see Mom and Dad arguing inside and a second later, the driver side window rolled down possibly an inch. I’m pretty sure the words, “Bye, Kulti,” were mumbled out a second before the window was rolled back up and my dad pulled the car away and out of the lot.

  “I’m pretty sure my dad told you bye,” I laughed.

  The German had a small smile on his face. “I believe so.”

  Dad hadn’t said a word to him during dinner, using me as a workaround to ask him questions. He was a freaking lunatic. “At this rate it’ll be six months before he shakes your hand and a year before he asks you how you’re doing.”

  “I’m in no rush,” he said, giving me a nudge.

  I nudged him back. “Listo?” I asked him in Spanish if he was ready. His Audi was parked two rows down.

  “Si,” he nodded, grabbing my hand.

  Him speaking Spanish… Dear God. It would never get old.

  We made our way to the car and got into the back. The driver must have turned it on when we’d walked out of the restaurant because the inside was nice and cool. Rey slid in after me, draping an arm over my shoulder. I tipped my head up to whisper, “I’m curious, when can you apply to get your license back?”

  “In two months,” he replied, looking down at me.

  “Are you going to get a new one?”

  Rey raised a single shoulder. “If we’re here.”

  If we’re here. The togetherness of his statement sent a chill down my spine. Two weeks ago, I would have laughed if someone told me I’d be sitting in the back of Rey’s Audi with his arm around me, talking about him following me to a different country. Yet here we were, and it made me feel so lame that I couldn’t find it in me to put up more of a fight. “You really will come with me?” I asked. “Even if I end up in Poland?”

  “You won’t end up in Poland but if you did, then yes, I would still go with you.” He nudged me.

  “What are you going to do? I don’t want you to get bored or hate me—“

  “I can do whatever I want. I’ve enjoyed my career and nothing would make me happier than to see you enjoy yours. Understand?” Rey raised his thick, brown eyebrows at me, as his hand slid all the way down until he reached my bare thigh.

  “I don’t see how I could get bored when I’ll have to keep you out of starting fights all the time.”

  “Oh please.” I laughed.

  “You’re a troublemaker, schnecke.” He grinned, the rough calluses on his fingertips brushed over my kneecaps as he shifted in his seat to get a better reach.

  Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “Whatever. I just want you to be happy. I think I can handle your circus—”

  “You can and you will,” he cut me off, trailing a line down my shin with his fingertips. His entire body was angled toward mine.

  I barely restrained myself from rolling my eyes. “But I want to make sure you can handle mine.”

  Those swamp-colored eyes seemed to swallow me whole. His fingers went over my calf, squeezing the muscle lightly. His big hand kneaded my calf again. “There is nothing I’m not willi
ng to do for you.”

  I was suddenly so thankful I’d put on one of my nicer dressy shorts instead of jeans. I shivered, arching my back without even realizing it. He was the one that made my chest tighten. The person whose face both seemed to be able to make me scream in anger, and within days make me feel like I was living a dream.

  “Sal,” he drawled in a low rumble, sucking me out of my quiet admiration. His hand crawled back up my leg and onto my thigh, slowly slinking up the material of my shorts to caress the skin there. Kulti squeezed the meaty, muscular part of my hamstring before shifting me forward on the seat so that his fingers could slide even deeper into the confines of my bottoms.

  I hissed when the tips of his fingers grazed my bare ass, dipping under the damp cotton of my underwear. “Rey, wait.”

  “No,” he said, toying with the band. “I’ve waited long enough.”

  “Your driver can hear us,” I whispered, way too self-conscious about the man sitting three feet away.

  He let out a grunt that I took as acceptance until his mouth covered mine, a deep groan rattled in his chest. Hot wet lips grazed over my parted ones as he gripped my leg tightly. It was endless. His full mouth was the Pacific Ocean; it was huge and dark and wide and so, so easy to get lost in. The little pleased noises he was making sucked me out into his ocean even deeper.

  He pulled away for a minute, swiping his hot tongue over my lip. He moved his hand to grip the width of my thigh, pulling my legs apart. “He has headphones in,” he said against my skin, pressing those perfect, straight white teeth into my skin. Kulti dragged his teeth over the curve of my jaw and the column of my throat, where he paused and bit gently.

  I sucked in a breath and jerked away just a little, conscious of the driver who seemed to be minding his own business, but… “Rey, I showered early this morning. I probably smell.”