Chapter Nine
Corey
After Dominic left her office, Corey spent an hour trying to focus on what to say at the staff meeting that night. But it was no use. Dominic kept invading her thoughts. Ugh. She was so mad at him, but every time she’d push him out of her brain he’d creep right back in a few minutes later. Finally she’d had to give up. She would wing it tonight. The dean wanted her to introduce herself, not give a thirty-minute monologue.
She needed to clear her mind and burn off her lingering anger. Which was how she found herself running around the track with about ten muscular baseball players. She could tell they were on the baseball team because they were all wearing identical shirts, the same shirt Dominic had worn to the bar last night. St. Leasing Baseball. They kept lapping her, but they were younger and in better shape, and she had never claimed to be some kind of track star. Every time one would pass her, she would feel their eyes sizing her up. After about a mile she walked to the grassy area in the middle of the track and started to stretch. Even though she had spent twenty minutes getting gawked at, she felt much better, more centered. She sensed one of the boys walking up to her.
“Excuse me, are you lost?”
He didn’t make the statement sound rude or accusing, it was as if he was genuinely asking if she needed help. Did all the males on this campus assume any female must be lost?
She smiled, looking up in his direction, shielding her eyes from the sun. “No, I’m not lost, just burning off a little steam. I’m Ms. Cooper, your new guidance counselor.” He had black hair and dark eyes, and he was huge. They all were.
The kid looked perplexed. She guessed the fact that she was a woman coupled by the fact that she had been out here running with them had thrown him for a loop. “I’ve never seen you before and teachers never come out here to run.”
Was he accusing her of something? Who lied about working out? “What’s your name?”
“Jace.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Jace.” She stopped stretching and walked over to grab her water off the ground as another player approached them.
“Well, what have we here? A new teacher? Please tell me you teach Sex Ed.”
And so it began. She looked over her shoulder at the boy who’d joined them. Instead of the leering creepy look she expected, he wore a big friendly smile on his face. He looked like Jace; they were almost identical, twins. Where Jace’s tone had been cool and calculated, twin number two sounded playful and full of life. “Nope, sorry, kid, not Sex Ed. I’m the new guidance counselor.”
“Kid? Come on, miss, I’m seventeen. Almost legal.” He still wore that big easy smile.
“Ms. Cooper, this is my brother Jasper. He has a hard time controlling the things that come out of his mouth.”
“Don’t worry, boys, I can take a joke. No harm, no foul. And I’m so sorry, Jasper. Even at eighteen I’m way too old for you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my office. I planned on spending the afternoon going over your files.” There, maybe that would knock some sense in twin number two.
“Our files? Why?” Jace calmly asked.
“I have to start meeting with you guys tomorrow. It seems that your old counselor never actually signed off on y’all so technically you aren’t cleared to start the season yet.” She kind of frowned to show she was as bummed about this as she assumed they were. Empathy was key when dealing with kids.
“What? That’s bullshit,” Jasper shouted. “We spent weeks meeting with that lame-ass Mr. Henderson. He asked us the most personal ridiculous questions. We had to miss practice. I’m not doing that shit again.”
She gave them a small smile. “Look, Jasper, I’m really sorry that Mr. Henderson dropped the ball. But this is something that has to be done or you can’t play. Believe me when I tell you that I am here to help. I want to get through these evaluations as quickly as you do. So if we work together, it’ll be over before you know it.”
Jasper’s shouts had brought a few other boys over. One of them punched him on the arm. “Jasper, what the hell are you yelling about? You want Coach to hear you? He’ll make us run more laps because you can’t ‘control your tone.’ So shut the hell up.” The new boy was larger than the others, and he had floppy red hair and a face full of freckles. His size was a contradiction to his boyish looks.
“Ms. Cooper, this is Riley. Riley, Ms. Cooper.” Jace made the introductions. “She is here to take over Henderson’s job. Seems he never cleared us to play.”
“All right, guys, look, I really need to get back to my office.” And away from all this teen angst. “How about I come meet with you guys at practice this afternoon and explain everything to everyone at one time?”
“Whatevs.”
Whatevs? That would be Jasper, flirty twin number two, sounding like a Kardashian. Corey walked off the field and back into the athletic building. She smiled to herself. It still smelled like vanilla in here despite the fact that she’d blown out the candle hours ago. She stopped at Dominic’s door and knocked lightly.
“It’s open.”
His voice sent unwanted shivers down her spine. Her body was a traitorous bitch. “Hey, Dom, look, I talked to some of your guys out at the track—”
“Oh, so now it’s Dom? We went from Coach Hardy, bypassed Dominic, and straight to Dom?”
His playful smirk wasn’t helping the attraction she was trying so hard to squash. “Sorry, Coach Hardy.” She mustered up an irritated look when all she really wanted to do was lick his neck. “I talked to some of your players down at the track. They came up and asked who I was, and I introduced myself and explained that I would be meeting with them all at some point. They seemed kind of pissed that they had to go through these evals again. Everyone started asking questions and getting riled up, so I told them I would come down to the field during practice and explain everything.”
His eyes narrowed and his arms folded across his chest. “What were you doing at the track?”
She chuckled. “You the track police?”
“I’m the athletic director so, yeah, pretty much.”
Damn, he had her there. “I was running. I couldn’t focus on my work, so I went for a run to clear my head. Is that a problem? Are teachers not allowed to use the track?”
He smirked. “Teachers can use the track anytime they want. You, however, aren’t allowed to use the track after dark. And before you start to argue with me, I’m sure the dean would agree.”
“Whatevs.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow. “I see you met Jasper.”
“Yes I did. I also met Jace and Riley.” She pushed away from the door. “Look, you have nothing to worry about. They were all polite and respectful.”
He snorted. “I know Jasper, and I know you are lying. Plus, Jace can be an asshole.”
“Are we allowed to call students assholes?” She winkled her nose and pursed her lips.
“I wouldn’t advise you calling students assholes, you are the guidance counselor. You are supposed to be uplifting. But I’m their coach, I’m allowed.”
“Well, I’m gonna go before you set any more rules for me to follow.” Corey turned to leave his office.
“Would you like to come over tonight after the staff meeting? We could have a beer. I’ll even buy you a six-pack of Coors. I really want to apologize for earlier today. Plus, I can give you some insight on the boys you are meeting with tomorrow.”
Corey took a deep, steadying breath. She should say no, her brain said fuck no, but her mouth and girly parts had other opinions. “Sure, that would actually be really helpful. Thank you.” And apparently the G-parts were stronger than her brain.
“Okay, great. Then I guess I’ll see you this afternoon, and then again this evening. Come down to the field around five. I’ll gather the boys up after practice.” She nodded and left the office before he could see the blush on her cheeks.
Why did he have to be so damn hot? The other coach was gorgeous too. Why couldn’t he be the one that gave her butterflies? He was nicer. And he had that Texas twang that kind of reminded her of home. She sighed and she slipped into her desk chair.
Was she destined to always fall for the dickheads?