He had the power to get under damn near anybody’s skin, I knew that. If it had been pretty much anybody else, any other coach, I wouldn’t have even blinked about.
But Sloane?
“You made him run laps until he passed out.”
“I bet he won’t question my authority again.”
“He might file a formal complaint though.”
“And I’ll make his ass run laps for that shit too,” Sloane shot right back, obviously not interested in the whole being the bigger person thing, at least not this time around. “He will not get a single fucking yard Sunday, and when he wants to know why, somebody can let him know that there are precious few people on that field who can question my authority, and none of those motherfuckers are named Terrence.”
She stared me right in the face as she said all of that, practically daring me to dispute it. But there was nothing to dispute. She was right – Terrence did need to respect her authority, just like all the other receivers, who had a great relationship with her. Even Amare, who everyone had expected to be the problem child. I wasn’t sure what was going on with him this season – he’d always had an attitude problem, but it seemed especially potent this season.
Still though – she’d made him run until he passed out.
Not like he was a little tired, claimed he couldn’t go any further, but more like “get a medic out here, he can’t open his eyes”. He wasn’t the first to get such a punishment, and wouldn’t be the last – Sloane wasn’t even in any actual trouble, and the other coaches thought it was hilarious.
But my job was a player advocate.
Terrence asked me to talk to her, so that’s what I was doing.
“Listen,” I started, standing to approach her, since she’d ignored my nonverbal invitation to sit down. “I understand that Grant is… challenging. I’ve wanted to crack his head more than once myself. But this shit… it’s not a good look outside the organization – and it’s not Terrence that’ll be the one getting the hard scowls. It’ll be you. It’ll be Underwood for letting you do it, and Eli’s for hiring you. It’ll be this team. Everybody except Grant’s dumb ass,” I explained, knowing that the best way I could advocate for Terrence wasn’t to point out how he was affected, but how others might be.
Grant wasn’t exactly a sympathetic character.
“Fine. So I won’t make him run again. But I damn sure won’t accept another word of disrespect or insubordination out of his mouth. I am not a hard person to work for – nobody is complaining, are they?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. I’ve heard nothing but raves. They like you a lot – and love what you’re doing for their game.”
“Okay! So… I don’t know what Grant needs to hear from you, or Eli, or Coach Lou, whoever, but… I need him to get in formation, or as far as I’m concerned, he’s eliminated. I will not put him in a game to embarrass this team because he thinks he knows better than everybody. I have other receivers who may not have the experience, but they damn sure have the heart and the work ethic. If he doesn’t straighten up, he’ll be replaced.”
I nodded. “That’s fair. And doesn’t require the injury cart,” I teased, grinning when I caught the tiniest hint of a smile at her lips. “You can’t be out here trying to kill them, Coach Brooks.”
“They need to know I don’t fuck around. At all,” she insisted, turning her head to hide the fact that she was smiling a bit more.
I grabbed the hem of her shirt, tugging her closer so I could wrap an arm around her waist. “Like… at all?”
“Nope.”
I dropped my head, planting a kiss just behind her ear. “Like… not at all?”
“Uh-uh.”
I moved in a little more, giving her a gentle nip to the neck that had her giggling and squirming in my grasp. “Not even now?”
“Nate, what are you doing?” she asked, even though she didn’t pull away, at all.
What I was doing, was getting ready to investigate the contents of her tee shirt when the door to my office swung open, and Cole stepped inside, with a big ass donut halfway up to her mouth.
Her eyes came to me, then went to Sloane, then dropped to my arm around Sloane’s waist, before I got over my surprise enough to remove it.
“Holy shit,” Cole whispered, mouth full as Sloane sprang away from me – way too fucking late.
“I… am going to my office. Bye!”
Before I could say anything, Sloane had darted out the door, closing it behind her. Leaving me alone with my twin sister and her Cheshire-catlike grin.
“Nigga,” she started, eyes still wide. “I knew there was somebody. I even suspected it was an older woman – I knew it would take a certain type to pin you down. But… Sloane Brooks? Used to be on a poster in your room Sloane Brooks?! I walked in there on you without knocking and damn near lost my eyesight Sloane Brooks?! Fine ass groundbreaking ass body goals fucking Sloane Brooks?! How dare youuuu???” she asked, dropping her donut onto my desk and wiping her hands. “Like… when did you get the swag? When did you get the nerve? Like… I can’t even deal with this; my mind is really blown right now. My brother had the juice to pull Sloane Brooks… I’m… proud of you.”
I shook my head. “Cole, can you not—”
“No, I’m serious! I mean, don’t get me wrong, you got ya lil money, ya lil body, lil handsome face and all that, you cute. I’m not like embarrassed to tell people you’re my twin, you look worthy of being my brother. But I had no idea you were hitting it out of the park like that, wow!”
“Relax.”
“I will not,” she insisted. “What is the tea?” she sat down, uninvited, and crossed her legs. “Is it serious, how long has it been going on? It can’t have been long, cause you don’t know you’re supposed to lock the door, and get a white noise machine for in here if you’re going to try to get booty at work. And get a padded mat for under the desk.”
I covered my hands with my face. “Cole…”
“What? I’m trying to help you out, and you still haven’t answered my questions! You know this was fate, right? You found out my secret from bursting into my office unannounced, and now it’s how I found out yours! We’re twinning right now Nate, do you feel it?”
Blowing out a sigh, I leaned on my desk. “Yeah, Cole. It’s potent.”
So potent, in fact, that I had no issue grabbing her donut and taking a bite before she rescued it from my hands.
“I don’t even need to ask you not to tell anyone, do I?”
She scrunched her face up at me. “Hell no. But if you’re careless, it won’t be a secret long, and it won’t be my fault.”
“We managed to keep it under wraps four years,” I admitted. “And nobody knew anything.”
Cole’s eyes went big. “You’ve been smashing Sloane Brooks for four years?”
“Don’t… say it like that,” I asked, that characterization feeling almost like an insult. “It’s more than that. Or at least… it is now.”
Which is why it was becoming harder to keep this under wraps. When we were just sleeping together, keeping it quiet was nothing. But now that things were deeper, we wanted to be around each other, and hiding it was already old as fuck to me.
I really didn’t give a shit what anybody else thought.
“Oh, so it’s… serious,” Cole realized, sitting up. “You didn’t just pull Sloane. You’ve… cuffed her.”
I shrugged. “Something like that.”
“Wow,” she nodded. “This really is… mind-blowing. I mean… what’s the end game? I know you’ve talked about not settling down, not having babies… it seems like only one of those is true now?”
“Yeah… it does. And as far as the end game… I don’t know. I just know we make each other happy, and that’s what we’ll keep doing until… I guess until we don’t anymore.”
“As long as you’re happy,” Cole agreed, breaking into a smile. “And if you ever decide you’re not… you better figure out how to break it to her easy,
cause I can’t fight her. Pregnant or not, Sloane would beat my ass.
I laughed, shaking my head. “Nah, it’s not like that. I don’t anticipate that happening any time soon. But um… how can I help you?”
“Scuse me?” Cole asked, her mouth full of donut again. She was approaching nine weeks now, and claimed she hadn’t noticed any symptoms so far, even though her pregnancy had been confirmed, and according to her doctor seemed to be progressing fine. But every time I saw her lately, she was eating.
My eyebrow lifted. “You needed something, right? That’s why you came to my office…”
“Oh! I wasn’t looking for you. I was looking for Sloane, and somebody told me she was up here, but there was nobody at the reception desk, so I came in, cause I knew you were just fussing at her about Terrence’s bitch ass.”
“Hey.”
She shrugged. “What? He’s not my player, and he gets on my husband’s nerves. I’ll call him what I want.”
“Okay,” I laughed. “So why were you looking for Sloane?”
“Well, if you hadn’t been playing grab-ass when I walked in, you’d know, because I would’ve just talked to both of you. But now,” she said, pulling herself up from the chair. “I’m just gonna talk to her. Bye.”
“Don’t ask her anything about us.”
Cole scoffed as she made her way to the door. “Yeah, I’m definitely not making that promise. Do you know me at all?”
“That’s why I’m asking you not to. As a matter of fact, don’t tell her anything either.”
“Fun-killer,” she whined. “You mean I can’t ask her why the hell she’s settling for you, and tell her she could do so much better? You’re not even going to have a job next season if you keep stressing Daddy out.”
I sucked my teeth. “Man, tell your Daddy to quit stressing me out,” I countered. “I’m good over here. I have a meeting about league certification tomorrow. You coming or not?”
“You know I am. Send the information to my calendar. Thank you, for not putting me on blast at dinner the other night. Cause I would’ve yelled, “Jordan got Cole pregnant” to get the heat off my ass. You’re a real one.”
Smirking, I lifted my fist for her to tap with her own. “You know I couldn’t sell you out like that. Besides – you’re his baby girl anyway, he would’ve been cool.”
“Nah, that’s Emma now,” Cole laughed. “But I can’t blame him, with those little cheeks of hers. She got mad at him when you left, you know.”
“Emma? Or Mel?”
“Both,” Cole said, shaking her head. “Anyway, like I said – count me in for that meeting tomorrow. This pregnancy won’t stop anything. I won’t let it.”
We parted ways, with me feeling surprisingly okay with Cole knowing about me and Sloane. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know how to keep a secret – she and Jordan’s little reunion had been kept on the low as long as she could.
The difference was though, that my father knew, and approved.
I somehow doubted he would be quite so open to the idea of me and Sloane.
If he doesn’t already know.
I shook my head, clearing it of that thought. Knowing Eli like I did, there was no way he’d stay quiet about it if he even had an inkling. Hell, he’d tried to intervene with Amare and Parker, and neither of them was even family.
He just couldn’t help himself.
Taking a seat at my desk, I did as Cole asked, forwarding the meeting information to her calendar. It wasn’t that either of us was in a hurry to leave, but if we didn’t start taking the steps toward independence from the Kings, independence from our father… it would never happen.
And that wasn’t an option.
My heart was still racing when the knock sounded at my door. From my seat at the desk, I looked at it, then reached for the remote to pause the TV.
“Come in!”
I was not expecting Nicole Richardson at my door, but there she was anyway, tall and beautiful, and striking in her similarity to her brother.
Because they’re twins, fool.
“Cole… um, how can I help you?”
“I’m not here to talk about you and my brother,” she assured, closing the door behind her when she stepped in. “But, just so you know, you don’t have to worry about me telling anyone. The secret is safe with me. Just… don’t break his heart? Please?”
I grinned, pushing out a sigh. “Um… I kinda already tried. Tried to get rid of him, and he wouldn’t let me.”
“Yeah,” Cole smiled back. “He probably never told you this, but whenever all our cousins and stuff got together for pickup games, Nate played defense. He’s always been good at pass interference.”
“Sounds about right. But… you said you weren’t here to talk about Nate. So how can I help you?”
She pushed out a breath, then sat down across from my desk. “Before I say what I have to say… I need you to promise me that you won’t mention this to Jordan. Ever. I know it’s unconventional, and probably breaking a few rules, but… I’m desperate.”
My brows wrinkled in concern as I leaned forward, elbows propped on the desk. “I… sure, Nicole. If you tell me something that I need to act on, I will, but this conversation can absolutely remain confidential. What’s going on?”
She swallowed, hard, staring into space for a moment before she met my eyes. “His shoulder. I know the team doctor says it’s fine, and I know he says it’s fine, but what my eyes see is him icing it every night. Asking me to rub it down. They won’t give him an MRI. Because they know something is wrong, but they also know he’s needed on that field. And he won’t push, because he…,” she stopped for a moment, her voice choked. “He loves this game. He loves this team. But… I don’t want him to not be able to hold our baby next year because he was trying to catch a fucking ball.”
My breath caught in my chest, as conflicting emotions dueled for control over my mouth. I empathized with her, God knows I did, but at the same time… “Whatever team I’m coaching, no matter where I am – I always try to act in its’ best interest. Full stop, no matter my personal feelings… I would never, ever put in a player who I knew wasn’t healthy enough to play. If I even think it, he’s sitting his ass on the bench, because the health of these guys is absolutely within the team’s best interest.”
“I believe you, Sloane. But you must know that not everybody is operating with the same integrity. In a lot of ways, this team is progressive, and innovative, but in other ways… it is just like the rest of the league. How else do you explain the team doctor writing him a goddamn hydrocodone script, and sending him on his way, saying he’s fine. Why a narcotic painkiller if everything is fine?!”
I pushed out a sigh. “Because it’s not.” I sat back, looking up toward the ceiling to organize my thoughts before I spoke again. “But my hands are tied here, Cole. As much as I want to take your word for it, if the doctor says he’s fine, and Jordan says he’s fine, and I don’t see anything… I cannot justify keeping our star wide-receiver off the field. I’m going to be honest with you – I noticed him favoring his other side, before the season started. I talked to him, he said he would rest it. I have not seen a problem since then.”
“Because he’s gotten better at hiding it!”
“I believe you,” I told her. “I honestly do. But the only thing I can promise is that if I see even the slightest indication that he’s having trouble, I will pull him. You know how this works, my say isn’t final on that field, I am not the head coach.”
She nodded. “I understand. But you’re the only one I can say this to. I know you care about him, you’ve cared since BSU. I know I can trust you with him.”
I smiled. “Yes. You can. And… a baby? Did I hear that right?”
She sniffled, pulling her emotions into check as she smiled. “Yes. I would say I’m surprised Nate didn’t tell you, but… no I’m not.”
“He’s very good at keeping things to himself,” I agreed. “But in any case, congratulations. Babies
are wonderful.”
“Thank you,” she gushed, then shook her head. “Although… part of me wonders if I would have ever dared to approach you about this if it wasn’t for these… damn pregnancy hormones. This is really out of line.”
I shrugged. “Sometimes that’s what it takes. Jordan is your husband, and you want to protect him. I completely get that. More than you know. You know who my ex-husband is?”
“Of course. Garrett Brooks.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Garrett developed horrible knees. So bad we actually went to an outside doctor who told us he was at risk to never walk again.” I shook my head. “But the team? Swore he was fine. And he was under contract, and I… was pregnant. I went to his coach – his head coach, because they were spouting that shit about the Kings being a family. So I went to my family for help, and they laughed in my face, and… that was Garrett’s last season on the field. It took years of physical therapy for him to not have a limp. But this was before Eli took over. Right before Eli took over. And he’s turned a lot of things around, but some things… like you said, are just a plague on the league itself. I don’t know what it will take to get it turned around.”
“Me either,” Cole whispered, staring into space again for a moment before she seemed to snap back into reality. “Anyway… thank you, for hearing me out.”
I stood when she did, accepting her hand when she offered it across the desk. “No need to thank me, at all. Thank you for trusting me enough to bring this to me. I will be watching him like a hawk.”
“I appreciate that, so much. And um… if you and Nate ever want company… Jordan and I are available. I know how lonely it can feel, even when you’re together, to have to always be behind closed doors to protect your privacy. We love a good double date.”
My lips parted. “I… wow. I really appreciate that. And I’d love to get to know you better, especially since…”
“You’re coaching my husband, dating my brother, working for my father. All the men in my life have their own separate piece of Sloane Brooks, and damn it I want in on that action,” she laughed, and I came around the desk, abandoning the shaking of hands to give her a hug.
Pass Interference (Connecticut Kings Book 6) Page 20