I left Ryker’s in the middle of the night after we’d gone another delicious but heartbreaking round since I knew it was the last time I’d be with him. Afterward, he’d enfolded me in his arms, kissed me sweetly and drifted off. I’d waited until I was sure he was asleep before slipping out of his hold, getting dressed and leaving.
I thanked the Almighty that Sharee wasn’t awake when I got home and after getting into bed, I lay there staring at my ceiling for an ungodly amount of time, my stomach twisted in knots at knowing Ryker and I were finished.
I figured I could talk to Sharee and Gladys about it to see if I had other alternatives that might make things work out with us, but I knew Ree would only say, “You’re getting laid. Go with it,” and Gladys would probably tell me to enjoy it while it lasted, which were both basically the same thing. I wondered if I could do that, just sleep with Ryker not expecting anything to come from it then move on when it ended, but decided there was no way that would work for me. I was a relationship type of gal, a one-man woman, and knowing he was sleeping with other women was a huge turnoff and something I wouldn’t do (even though I’d now done it twice).
Besides, I liked him way too much and knew I’d only hurt worse if I continued seeing him.
I choked out a soft sob deciding I had to be finished with it all. I felt I deserved so much more and if Ryker Powers couldn’t give me what I wanted, I had no choice but to move on. So once again I was faced with a more than depressing romantic future when I realized he wouldn’t be part of it.
And that hurt my heart.
~*~*~*~
The next morning I got up in a better mood than what I thought I would, excited for my second day of coaching. I dressed in jeans and the Montlake Elementary t-shirt and zippered hoodie Coach Gilbert had given me yesterday, smiling as I laced up my tennis shoes because I couldn’t wait to get in there and have some fun with the kids. Maybe we’d get out the parachute today if Coach G approved, but knowing him he’d probably make us use it as a life net to catch kids while he had them jump from the bleacher tops.
I felt even better when the first class came in and I chuckled at all their smiling faces.
“Hi, Coach Man-ja-jelly!” the first graders cried which had me cracking up at their mispronunciation of my last name.
“It’s pronounced Man-ja-nell-ee,” I heard a deep voice say and I spun to see Ryker standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face.
What the hell was he doing here? And be still my heart because he looked so damned good. Shit!
“Surprise,” he said flippantly, still grinning then spun a basketball on his pointer finger making the kids race over to where he was to give him their oohhs and aahhs.
Shit again.
I turned back to Coach G when he shouted, “All right! Give me five laps!” then watched as the little ones took off, some colliding with each other while others complained loudly to Coach G that kids were cutting corners of the gym floor.
“You just happy to see me or is that a whistle in your pocket?” Ryker said from behind.
I’m sure I don’t have to describe the look on my face as I turned to face him.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked with a scowl.
He shrugged. “It’s where I was assigned.”
“But you weren’t here yesterday!”
“Had a meet.”
Oh, yeah. Double shit.
I walked over to Coach G who was in the middle of the gym floor watching the kids run as he drank coffee from a travel mug. “Coach? Um, I thought maybe we could get the parachute out?”
“Sorry, kid. Ryker here wants to play some basketball. We’ve already set up the six-foot goals.”
I glared back at Ryker whose mouth twitched at the corner. Ass.
“Oh, okay. You know, I played basketball at Hallervan. I’m sure I can show them a few things.”
“I’d like to see your moves,” Ryker mumbled from behind me as the kids came running over.
“Coach Powers! Are we playing basketball? Cool!” the kids said as they circled around him.
“Yep. Let’s get you divided into teams,” Ryker told them proceeding to take charge of everything.
Jerk.
It was decided that I’d coach one team and Ryker would take the other, and, oh, I was going to beat his ass but good. But with one minute left in the game, Ryker’s team scored a basket to tie the score 4-4.
“Why don’t you two get in there and play? Help them out a little,” Coach G hollered at us.
A timeout was called and I made the adjustments.
“Okay, everyone stay with the man you were guarding,” I instructed.
A little girl named Ella raised her hand. “But there aren’t any men out there.”
I chuckled. “That’s just what you call the person you’re guarding,” I explained.
“What’s guarding?” Jason inquired.
“It’s staying on the man—er, person, you’re assigned to and keeping them from scoring.”
“Oh!” he said. “I can do that!”
“Good. So here’s what we’re gonna do. Jennifer, you’re the best shooter so when I bring the ball down, you go stand right by the basket. Aaron, you get on the free throw line.” I described as clearly as I could what I wanted them to do and they all nodded their heads when I asked if they understood. “Okay, let’s break!”
We all put our hands in then said, “Go, Geckos!” which was the name they’d come up with for our team.
I had Zach take the ball out and throw to me and I dribbled it up the court where I was met with Ryker who was guarding me. I dribbled right up to him making it look like he could get the ball, but when he swiped at it, I did a between the legs dribble to switch directions sweeping right by him and took off right down the middle of the court to the basket. My team had surprisingly set up just the way I’d told them and when I got to the middle of the lane, I bounce passed to Jennifer for her to take the shot. But I never got to see it.
Ryker came in right behind me, and trying to knock the ball out of my hands he missed but ended up running smack dab into my back and we both went flying. Luckily, he grabbed me around the waist and making some bizarre superhero move, twisted us in midair to where when we landed I came down on top of him, my back to his front both of us letting out an OOMPH! as we hit the floor.
As I lay there in shock at what just happened, gasping for air, I felt him shaking with laughter underneath me.
“Seem to recall being in this same position with you last night,” he muttered, wrapping his arms tighter around me.
“Let me go!” I hissed elbowing him in the ribs hard enough to make him grunt. Good. He let me go and I scrambled up quickly, turning to glare down at him as I smoothed out my mussed hair and jacket. He stood up slowly, a wicked smile on his face and then the questions began.
“Are you okay, Miss Coach Manjajelly?”
“Do you need to go to the nurse’s office? I know where it is! I go every day!”
“I’m okay! No, I don’t need to go see the nurse!”
“Coach Powers, you hurted her!” said one little girl who was tugging on his hoodie.
He squatted down in front of her. “I think Coach Mangenelli will be fine. But if you think I should, I can kiss her booboos all better later.”
“Yay! You should kiss her booboos! She’ll feel a lot better after that! My mommy always kisses my booboos and they don’t hurt no more!”
“Okay, Bridget, I’ll definitely do that,” he agreed giving me not only a smirk but a wink as Bridget danced around him singing a song about booboos not hurting anymore.
Lord.
“Coach?” Jennifer, my little shooter said quietly.
I looked down at her and asked, “Yes?”
She gazed shyly up at me shuffling her feet around. “I made the shot so we won.”
My smile was so big it hurt my face. “Thatta girl!” I picked her up and spun her around as she giggled then gave her a high five after putting her down.
“All right. Time to head back to class! Line up!” Coach G called gruffly and I watched as twenty-two first graders immediately obeyed getting into their respective lines fairly quickly (and neatly, I might add). “Tomorrow’s Friday so it’s free day. You can play whatever you want.”
Twenty-two little voices cried out, “Dodgeball!” which amazed me that they’d choose to come back for more of the grueling game.
“We’ll decide tomorrow,” Coach G declared.
“Thanks, Coach Gilbert,” their teacher who’d shown up called with a wave.
Arms across his chest, Coach G nodded at her then looked first at Ryker then me. “I need coffee. Fifth graders’ll be coming in in about five. I’m not back, get ‘em started with some laps.” I watched as he followed the first graders out then turned to see Ryker adjusting the goals to eight feet.
“What’re you doing?” I asked.
“Getting ready for the next class,” he explained.
“No. I mean, what are you doing?”
He glanced at me then turned back to his task. “Told you already.”
I knew my ego was talking as I surmised he must’ve seen where I was doing my teaching and had put in a request for it even though it was highly unlikely that would happen. But I still wouldn’t have put it past the fact that he could’ve charmed some lonely, flattered, giddy professor into placing him here.
“Just so you know, I’m finished with you,” I mumbled as I bent to pick up a basketball. When I stood and turned to him, I gasped because he was right there all up in my space.
“Are you now?” he asked looking down at me, his expression and tone bordering on dangerous. He took a step forward making me back up against the wall. “You weren’t finished with me last night after I made you come so hard you couldn’t even move.”
I pushed off on his chest with the basketball I was holding, getting away from him. “That’s all you ever think about, isn’t it? Just because you can give me amazing orgasms doesn’t mean we have something. You even said it yourself. All you want from me is another hookup, right?”
He stared at me with narrowed eyes. “What do you want from me, Francesca? We’ve fucked twice. You expecting me to propose?”
Was he serious right now?
“No!” I hissed. God, he was such a jerk. “I don’t want anything from you.”
“Hey, Coach Mangenelli!” a couple of the fifth graders who were coming in called.
“Hey, guys!” I answered, ignoring the fact that I’d allowed my heart to break once again at the hands of Ryker Powers.
~*~*~*~
I didn’t say another word to Ryker as the day went on. It wasn’t that I was ignoring him; there just wasn’t a reason for me to chat him up. When Coach G came back from his coffee break, we jumped right back into the routine with the other classes, Ryker and I coaching against each other (without incident but at least my teams won) before he left at lunch to go to wrestling practice.
When I got home late that afternoon Sharee was on the couch FaceTiming with Gladys on her phone.
“So you didn’t come home last night, you whore!” Gladys accused.
Great.
I cut my eyes at Sharee before announcing, “Yes, I’m a whore. A huge one. But that’s all over now.”
“Why?” they said in unison.
Letting out a sigh, I sat on the couch next to Sharee. “He doesn’t want a relationship. He just wants to hook up. I want more. It’s over.” Gladys started to say something and I interrupted. “Before you both tell me to enjoy being laid then to move on, you know I can’t do that. I’m just not made that way.”
“But he was good, right?” Gladys inquired.
Another sigh. “The best.”
I thought their silence at the demise of my dream was generous until Gladys started talking.
“You need to make him jealous.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can’t make someone jealous who doesn’t want you in the first place, Glad.”
“But you can try!” she said with a giggle.
“No, I’m not going to try to make him jealous. I’m just gonna move on and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to. Or at least that’s what Mrs. Bertolini told me this morning when I was sneaking in. Since when does she go out on her balcony at four in the morning? She scared the shit out of me when she whispered ‘Gotcha!’”
“She’s psychic,” Sharee muttered. “She knew you’d be coming home.”
“I’m beginning to think she is,” Gladys whispered reverently.
“Anyway,” I began, shaking my head and rolling my eyes at both of them, “I’m starting over.”
“Good idea!” Gladys agreed which made me snort since she’d just been the one telling me to make Ryker jealous.
“Party Saturday. Wish you could be here,” Sharee told Gladys.
Gladys’ pouty face filled the screen. “Me too. But, ooooh! Perfect opportunity for you to meet someone, Frankie! Then rub that shit in that Ryker guy’s face!”
“God. I just told you I’m not doing that. And, oh, yay! Another party! Like the last one didn’t land me in a shit ton of trouble.” I gave Sharee a look. “I’m not going.”
“Oh, yes, you are,” she informed me. “SAE’s are having their annual Welcome Back to Hell party and it’s huge. Everyone who’s anyone will be there.”
“Guess I’m not anyone,” I declared.
“Yes, you are! And you have to go!” Gladys begged.
I frowned. “Why’s it so important to you that I go?”
“Because… because you’re a senior and you’re gonna graduate soon and be an adult and not have time to party anymore. That’s why!” Gladys declared.
“We’ll see. Okay, I’ve gotta run to Mom and Dad’s for dinner.” I looked at Sharee. “You sure you can’t come?”
She shook her head. “I’ve got class.”
“Mom’s gonna be disappointed because she hasn’t seen you in forever but she’ll deal, I guess,” I told her. “Love you, Glad!” I said to the phone, kissing my fingers and putting them to the screen then got off the couch and went to my bedroom to change.
After coming out of my bedroom and hollering goodbye, I headed to the front door and heard Gladys telling Sharee that it was sad that my dreams had been destroyed.
“It doesn’t mean my life is over just because some guy and I didn’t work out!” I hollered through gritted teeth. “I’m gonna be fine.”
I knew they were only concerned for me, but I couldn’t help slamming the door just a little when I left.