THE COACH (PLAYED Book 4)

by Marita A. Hansen

  A text from Riley came through, I know. What has she got on you now?

  I leaned my back against a locker, ignoring Devin as he talked about Brooke, telling me that I better not let her fuck things up for hockey. He was like a broken record, hockey this, hockey that. Fuck hockey! He was like Riley in that sense, hockey everything to them, which drove me insane. Yah, I liked the game, would probably continue it in college, but not to the point where it would take over my life. Family was my life, my dad’s business soon to be mine. Not accounting, his textile operation, something he’d invested in for me, guaranteeing that I had work after I got a business degree. He was setting me up for life, my cousins too, and Daniel was threatening all of that, because there was no way my dad would accept him into the family. Not only was he homophobic, he couldn’t stand Daniel’s father. The Sheriff was constantly in his face, well aware that my dad was dirtier than the streets of Chicago, he just couldn’t prove it. Dad knew how to cover his tracks, making sure that not one drop of blood could be traced back to him. He might not be mafioso, but he was linked to them, something my mother wasn’t happy about. But when you wanted your business to blossom, you needed fertilizer, and the mob provided plenty of that in the form of cash and protection.

  “Why won’t you answer me?” Devin asked. “I know you wouldn’t ever consider dating Brooke unless she was blackmailing you.”

  I grimaced, unable to tell him the truth.

  “Tell me!”

  “Just drop it, Dev,” I said, wishing he’d back off, the guy not knowing the meaning of space. But instead of doing what I’d asked, he grabbed my phone, causing me to yell out. He turned away from me, looking through my phone.

  “Give it back!” I barked, reaching around the big bastard, now panicking, worried he’d see my old texts to Daniel. Explicit texts I should’ve deleted.

  “Okay, okay,” he said, turning back, holding it out for me to take. “I was just texting Riley.”

  “You could’ve used your own phone, you asshole,” I spat, snatching my phone back.

  “What’s this?!” a deep voice boomed behind me, making me jump out of my skin.

  Recognizing who it belonged to, I turned around slowly, my heart already in my throat. Coach Cassidy stared down at me, his massive body dwarfing my six-foot frame. He narrowed his eyes when I didn’t answer, his reddening complexion telling me I better say something before he blew his stack.

  “Nothing,” I said, hating being near him, especially after my last run in with the scary fucker. He’d turned up at my home when my parents were out, threatening to out me if I didn’t stay away from Daniel. I’d threatened him right back, which resulted in a swift punch to the gut, dropping me to my knees. He then shoved the photo of me, Daniel, and Matt in my face, saying, ‘You wanna bet? All I need to do is crop Daniel out and send it to the cops. See where that gets you.’ He’d left without another word, the photo drifting to the ground in front of me, getting back with Daniel not as easy as Brooke thought. I hadn’t told her everything, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference. Coach Cassidy had the upper hand, and even if I could get around him, my parents were an even bigger barrier, my relationship with Daniel doomed from the start.

  “It didn’t look like nothing,” Coach Cassidy growled. “It looked like you were fighting.”

  “We were just messing about,” Devin said. “No big deal, sir.”

  “And there it is... respect,” Coach Cassidy said, giving Devin a nod. “You run along, son, while I have a word to Zuko about what respect means.”

  “He didn’t do anything wrong,” Devin replied, probably worried I’d get detention, clashing with practice.

  “That’s not for you to decide, Devin,” Coach Cassidy grunted like a bull pawing the ground, readying to charge. “So, leave before I decide you’re disrespecting me, too.”

  “Ah...” Devin’s attention moved to me. “See you at practice,” he said, his gaze flicking back to the coach, pretty much letting him know I needed to be there. Then he was gone, leaving me alone with the man, the other students walking past non entities, all of my attention on Daniel’s coach.

  He smiled at me, though it wasn’t a friendly one, those cruel eyes of his even meaner than some of my dad’s associates. “I see you’re with Brooke now,” he said, disdain written all over his hard face. He was attractive in a Conan the Barbarian way, just older and nastier.

  “Yah, Brooke’s my girl,” I replied, for the first time glad she’d talked me into pretending to be her boyfriend, anything to get Coach Asshole off my back.

  “You’re a sucker for punishment, first you go after my daughter...” he snarled, well aware that I’d fucked her, another reason for him to hate me. I wondered what he would do if he knew I’d done his wife as well.

  Probably kill me in the most painful way possible.

  He continued, “then the person we shall not name.” His nostrils flared, the guy obsessed with Daniel, and who could blame him? My ex was so fucking hot he could melt my dick. “And now Brooke. I hope you get what you deserve with that vicious little hell cat. Still, if you know what’s good for you, stay with her, and keep away from what’s mine.”

  All my fear disappeared in that instant, anger replacing it. “I’m not going anywhere near what’s not yours,” I sniped back, unable to help myself, Daniel not his to claim.

  He sneered. “I disagree with that, boy, but happy that you at least know what’s good for you, because if I see you going near my daughter again,” he said, clearly not speaking about her, “you know what that would entail.”

  I glared at him, unable to rein in my emotions, especially after what Brooke had told me he’d done to Daniel. “I know,” I spat back, jealousy rearing up, the fact he could do Daniel without consequences pissing me off. Daniel wanted me, not him, yet I couldn’t do jack shit about it.

  “Good,” he said, giving me a smile, knowing my hands were tied. “It’s nice to see you know your place, you little shit.”

  “What did you just call him?!” someone barked.

  Coach Cassidy spun around to face...

  My coach.

  Coach Cameron glared at the wrestling coach, his face a mask of anger, his green eyes boring holes into his colleague. “I said, what did you just call Zuko?”

  “A little shit,” Coach Cassidy replied, squaring his shoulders, the man considerably bigger than my coach. “Which he is. He was causing trouble—as usual, enough to get detention, which, by the way, Mark, would mean he won’t be able to make hockey practice today.”

  Brooke’s father didn’t take his eyes off the man. “He can’t have done worse than Daniel Greene. That boy put Riley in the hospital with a concussion. Riley won’t be able to play the next two games, not to mention, he’ll be missing training. So, whatever little thing Zuko did will not get him detention, unless you want me to make trouble for you. I can get Daniel kicked off your team, banned from taking part in the wrestling tournament you fought so hard to keep him in.”

  Coach Cassidy stiffened. “You keep out of my business and I’ll stay out of yours.”

  Brooke’s dad smiled triumphantly, the man clearly not liking Daniel’s coach. “Exactly. Zuko’s my business, which means I’ll deal with him, not you.”

  Coach Cassidy mumbled something, then walked off.

  Brooke’s dad turned to me. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing. Devin took my phone off me, so I snatched it back. Coach Cassidy caught that part, thinking we were fighting. Devin told him we weren’t, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  Coach frowned. “He’s probably riding you because you bedded his daughter, and I’ve just heard you’re with Brooke now, which better not be true.”

  “We’re just seeing each other, nothing serious,” I said, back to regretting Brooke’s bullshit. “And I wouldn’t do anything to her, she calls the shots not me. I’m her bitch.”

  Coach snorted out a laugh, a smile breaking through his stern look. “True. My girl will kneec
ap you if you cheat on her, and we both know you’re not the faithful type. End it quick, just do it gently.”

  “But she’ll kill me if I end it.”

  “I’ll have a good talk to her. I can’t have her blackmailing my players into being her boyfriend. You two are over, understand?”

  I exhaled. “Whatever you say, Coach.”

  “Good.” He patted my arm. Now, get to class.”

  I nodded and walked off, everyone making me dance like a performing monkey. I took a sharp turn into the restroom, needing to relieve myself, both coaches having held me up. I stopped by the urinals, sighing as I finally let it out, wishing people would just leave me alone, everyone wanting to control my life.

  Once done, I washed my hands and went to leave, stopping partway through the door, my wallet having fallen out. I went back for it, freezing as someone started talking behind a toilet stall, the voice belonging to Riley.

  “No, Melissa,” he said, making my eyebrows shoot up, surprised he was talking to her of all people. He’d told me a while back that she’d ghosted him, not taking any of his calls or texts.

  He continued, his tone growing more and more frustrated, “Stop calling and texting me, I’ve moved on, you should too.” He went quiet for a moment. “I don’t care, you cheated on me with Daniel, that’s unforgiveable.”

  My brows shot up even higher, not having realized he knew what had gone down between Daniel and Melissa. Daniel had told me he’d slept with her, bragging about it. I hadn’t told Riley, not wanting to upset him, plus she’d already left by then.

  “I don’t care, don’t come back!” Then the toilet door was opening before I could make a run for it, Riley catching me eavesdropping. “How long have you been here?” he snapped, pocketing his phone.

  “Um...” I grimaced, sick of getting on his bad side, which seemed to be happening a lot lately. “Enough to know you were talking to Melissa, and that she cheated on you with Daniel. Is she trying to win you back?”

  Riley nodded, his anger seeping out rapidly. “I told her that I’m not interested.”

  “You made the right decision,” I said, although I wasn’t so sure Lucy was right for him either, Riley’s taste in girls bad. All of them had something wrong with them: Brooke was psycho, Lucy was a pervert, while Melissa... what Daniel had said about her was disturbing.

  “You sure didn’t,” he replied. “Why are you pretending to be with Brooke? What does she have on you now?”

  “She’s my beard.”

  Riley’s brows pulled together, confusion on his face, which meant I had to spell it out, the guy clueless at times.

  “A beard is a woman who pretends to be a gay guy’s girlfriend to keep him in the closet.”

  Understanding finally dawned. “Oh, but it’s not like you need one considering your reputation with girls. After all, you’re bi, not gay.”

  “It’s more for my parents’ sake than school.”

  “You told your parents Brooke’s your girl?”

  “Brooke did.”

  “I’d watch your back with her. She doesn’t offer help unless there’s something in it for her.”

  “I know,” I replied, “plus it doesn’t matter anymore. Coach said he’s gonna stop her from seeing me. So, are we all good?”

  “Yah, but it should be me asking you that after what I did,” he said, indicating to my faded black eye.

  “No worries, I’ve had worse from hockey. Anyway, we should get to class.”

  He nodded, following me out, making me happy that I had my best friend back.

  7

  RILEY

  Melissa continued texting me, new messages appearing on my phone every day. She also left voice messages, what I’d unleashed getting too much. At least with Brooke, I could ignore her, but Melissa was a totally different story. Although I’d stopped replying back, I still read and listened to every message, acting like a fool for a girl who’d cheated on me with my enemy. It was even worse when Daniel returned to school, his suspension unfortunately coming to an end. Seeing him in the hallways made me want to sucker punch him like he’d done to me, stomping him in the head, not stopping until he regretted ever going after my girl.

  My girl.

  But she wasn’t my girl anymore, Lucy was. I glanced sideways at Lucy, who was eating lunch next to me. It wasn’t much, some kind of salad that could barely feed a rabbit let alone a teenage girl. She went still at my attention, her fork halfway to her mouth.

  “What?” she asked, looking self-conscious.

  “That’s boring,” I said.

  She lowered her fork. “What’s boring?”

  “Your food. You want a bite of mine?” I speared some of my lasagna and held it out for her to eat.

  She flushed, her pale skin lighting up brighter than Rudolph’s nose. “No, I’m fine,” she replied, tucking some dark curls behind her ear, “salad can be filling.”

  I shrugged and stuffed the lasagna in my mouth. She didn’t continue eating, instead watching me.

  I swallowed down the food, giving her a “What?” back.

  She wrinkled her nose. “Do you regret choosing me?” she whispered, her eyes flicking to the next table. My friends were surrounding it, and I would’ve been sitting with them if it wasn’t for Brooke. Zuko couldn’t shake her even with her father’s promise, the girl like a bad smell that wouldn’t go away. But it wasn’t Zuko Brooke was paying attention to, her eyes superglued to me.

  I turned my attention back to Lucy. “No,” I said, definitely not regretting choosing her over Brooke.

  No smile came, Lucy obviously not believing me, and I knew why. I’d been distant over the past week, Melissa constantly on my mind. It didn’t help that my ex kept dredging up memories, happy ones, her cheating unable to wipe them away. Maybe Zuko was right, I liked the bad girls. Though, Lucy wasn’t like that at all. She was nice, a character trait I wasn’t used to in a girlfriend, something I was gradually getting used to. She never put demands on me like Brooke and Melissa used to, and I liked that, liked it a lot. But one thing I didn’t like was how my distraction was affecting her, something I needed to fix.

  Knowing I had to stop living in the past, I wiped my mouth and leaned over, giving her a kiss on the lips—Lucy my present and future. It gave her a fright, but instead of pulling away, she returned the kiss. I jerked back a second later as something hit my head. A bread roll fell onto the floor, drawing my attention back to Brooke’s table. But it wasn’t her who had thrown it, Devin cheering as though he’d scored a goal. The rest of the table laughed, with the exception of Zuko, who climbed out of his seat and walked off. I wondered where he was going, the look on his face angry. Maybe he was sick of being wedged in between two assholes, Devin on his right, Brooke on his left.

  I flicked Devin the finger, then turned back to Lucy, our sex life also taking a hit since Melissa had started texting me. “You wanna head outside,” I said, determined to make a change, “maybe around the back of the gym, or possibly my place?”

  Lucy’s eyes went big, knowing what the second one would entail, my hand already on her knee, creeping under her cute plaid skirt. She was killing it in the short skirt as well as a tight green top, no more big sweaters for Lucy. It was attracting other guys’ attention, like Joey Fontaine from my team, who I’d noticed was looking her way more often than not. It was amazing how much had changed in such a short span of time, the guy going from telling Lucy where the stalkers’ club was to eyeing her up like a stalker himself. I needed to stamp that out fast, Joey needing to keep his eyes to himself.

  “Um...” Lucy said, going even redder, something I didn’t think was possible. It was cute, resembling raspberry kisses on her milky white complexion. “I can’t cut class.”

  I gave her a confident smile, knowing she would for me. “I’ll make it worth it.”

  She dropped her gaze, unable to hold mine, then looked back up, swallowing hard. “I thought you didn’t want any more sex with me.”


  “Of course I do, loads more, I just wasn’t feeling well from what Daniel did,” I lied, Melissa the real reason behind it, my old feelings causing me to be distant with Lucy. But that had to stop—like Melissa’s messages, which was why I needed to block her.

  “Really?” Lucy said, her face lighting up with hope. It made me feel guilty that she was way more into me than I was into her. But that was also how things had started out with me and Melissa. She’d chased me, doing everything to get my attention. I hadn’t been interested... until she’d started to grow tits, Melissa a late bloomer. Then over summer she’d gotten really hot, drawing my attention...

  Shit! I was thinking about her again.

  I leaned forward and planted another kiss on Lucy’s lips, desperate to wipe Melissa from my stupid brain, and it worked, Lucy’s soft lips drawing me in, making my dick twitch. I flicked my tongue out, pushing it into her mouth as something hit me in the head again. I broke the kiss and shot Devin a glare, another bread roll dropping to the floor. He pointed the blame at Brooke, who was waving her arms about, whooping loudly, the girl having great aim.

  “You know what?” I called out. “Why don’t you two go fuck each other? You’re made for one another.”

  That wiped the smile off Brooke’s face. She shot to her feet, her expression furious. “What did you say to me?!”

  I sneered at her. “You heard me, or are you deaf? Yah, you must be since you never listened to a damn word I ever said.”

  She sneered back. “Well, you must be blind, especially if you’re going out with that thing.” Her cruel gaze swept over Lucy, disdain written all over her face.

  I went to defend Lucy, but she sprung out of her seat, rushing off before I could. Snatching my bag up, I went after her, pushing between tables. Ignoring the stares, I shot out of the lunchroom and right into Coach Cassidy’s chest, almost landing on my ass, only just righting myself in time.

  “Sorry,” I said, and went to move around him, but he stepped to the side, blocking my way.

  “Riley,” he said, making sure I wasn’t going anywhere fast, his hard tone sealing it. “I thought we had an agreement.”