Shit.
Coach had put us through a grueling practice on that Thursday; he wasn’t happy with us, and we would feel it later. We weren’t hungry enough and taking too much shit for granted, he’d said, and he was right. We were acting like fools, he’d said.
I knew he mostly meant me, especially when he leaned into the locker room and called me into his office.
“Yes, Coach?” I took a seat in the plush leather chair across from him, my mind elsewhere, mostly on what kind of dare that fucker Sonny was going to come up with.
Coach Conley frowned as he looked at me for a moment. “Steele, you know I’m in your corner. Admire you for what you did last year; not many kids would stay and finish their degree when the pros come calling. I get that it’s important, but this year you’re acting like a royal ass. What the hell is going on with the DJ? In our locker room, acting like he’s part of the coaching staff? He’s been looking for a way in for years, hounding my guys.” Coach leaned his elbows on the desk and stared me down. “Christ, he used to make Jamel insane with bribes and deals just to get inside my domain.”
I focused on his shiny gray hair, not wanting to meet his eyes. One day, I hoped to coach. There was nothing that I loved more than ball. If I wasn’t playing it, I wanted to be rolling in it.
“I know, he’s gone a bit crazy—Sonny, I mean. But I got it under control,” I lied as the hallway erupted with shouts outside Coach’s office.
“Oh no, he did not just do that!”
“Shit, that man has brass balls.”
Coach stood and went to the door, propping it open with his elbow as he yelled, “Care to enlighten me?”
“Um, sorry to interrupt,” Ashton said contritely, his eyes twinkling as he faked an apology. He should have been an actor instead of a ballplayer.
“And now you did, so spill it.”
“It’s Sonny. He just offered up a pair of Phish tickets to the first dude to get his intern to go on a date with him.”
“So?” Coach demanded. “What the hell does that have to do with you?”
I ran my hand over my head and tugged hard on my hair, fearing I was going to pull out every hair on my head. Fucking Ashton, he was going to go into all of it. I knew it.
“That’s Steele’s lady. He likes her. She’s at the bottom of this mess with Sonny, sir.”
Sir? What a fucking actor.
Coach turned toward me. “What the hell is this? I called you in to get to the bottom of what I was hearing about you promising a ’ship to Sonny so he’d allow you to get laid again. He told me you needed to get back on your horse again. His stupid words, not mine. But you really want to hit on his intern?”
Ashton tried to quickly pass by the office, but Coach caught him by the shirt and pulled him in. I gave him an evil eye and mouthed, I am going to fuck Ava.
I wasn’t, but let him think that.
“Well?” Coach shut the door, and now it was the three of us.
“Don’t shoot the messenger.” Ashton batted his long eyelashes and ran his hand over his recently shaven head.
“Steele?” Coach looked at me.
“Sonny has this intern,” I said. “Cate . . . Catie P., and I met her when he threw down the original bet. He was making her do all this ridiculous crap for her job, and I called him on it. That’s why he called me a feminist. I just defended her and he went crazy. Turns out, she’s pretty fun . . . and a women’s studies major. Ironic, huh?”
“And sexy,” Ashton interrupted. “All woman, Coach, if you know what I mean.”
“Okay, that’s enough from you, Denube,” Coach growled and redirected his laser focus on me. “So, this intern? You’re hooking up with her or what?”
“Steele wants to date her,” Ashton offered helpfully. “So, he promised Sonny the ’ship and full access to the team if he lifted the no-girls ban. And now get this, the intern doesn’t want Steele back!”
Coach reached out and opened the door. “Okay, you can leave, Denube.”
With the door closed again—and I was more than certain, Ashton’s ear pinned to the wood on the other side—Coach said to me, “I’ll be damned. Steele likes a woman.”
I nodded like a chump.
“Not going to work this time. First, she’s a women’s libber—they don’t like the athletes. And second, we don’t promise championships to anyone. We work for them, so get the hell back into practice tomorrow and be the captain of this damn team like you’re supposed to be, and make these guys work for it. Forget the fucking girl for now. You hear me?”
I nodded again.
“Okay, get out of here,” he said, dismissing me.