13
RYDER
I was in the trainer’s room, in an ice bath, when Coach came in looking grim and pulled up a stool next to me.
I had headphones in and was trying to zone out after all the crazy shit that had been going on, but I just felt him there staring at me. Judging me and finding me lacking.
Finally, I couldn’t take his silent scrutiny anymore. I yanked out the earbuds and glared at him.
“Can I help you?”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he grumbled, his bushy brows knotting together.
My bear growled at his unwanted presence.
Icing my sore nuts, what’s it to you?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, resisting the temptation to mouth off. The last thing I needed right now was to get on Coach’s bad side too. He was already up my ass enough as it was and by the looks of it, something had shoved an all new stick up his ass. Fucking fantastic. Playing innocent was my best option though. I didn’t know exactly what he was pissed about, so it was better to not incriminate myself if I could help it.
“Did I not make myself clear before?” he asked, his voice low and menacing.
I was suddenly very aware that I was naked in a tub of ice with nowhere to go.
“Sir?” I asked, straightening up, trying to calm my bear down to avoid a fight. Even as I thought it, I knew that was absolutely insane. I knew Coach wasn’t going to fight me, but I didn’t appreciate him taking that tone with me; it spiked my temper and it was hard to shut it down.
“I thought I told you to get your head in the game and eliminate distractions. What part of that confused you?”
I frowned, my hands clenching under the ice, my jaw tense. I forced myself to take a steadying breath before I responded so I didn’t say something I’d end up regretting.
“No part of it, Sir. I heard you loud and clear.”
“Did you?” he asked, eyebrows raised, something dark and challenging sparkling in his steely gaze. I knew this was a test. And I had a sinking feeling I was going to fail.
“Absolutely,” I answered, my voice as solid as I could make it.
Coach stood up quickly, the stool skittering backwards, screeching across the tile before a grout groove caught the end of a leg and sent it tumbling over.
But the stool was a distraction. Coach was looming over me, his face turning redder by the second, his whole head vibrating like a volcano ready to blow. Instinctively, I shrank away from him, ice cubes biting into newly submerged skin, making me shiver. I hated being trapped like this. I hated having no escape except for the power of my bear. But we all know how poorly that would have gone, if I let one loose on the man who was single handedly pulling for me to make it to the pros.vI’d just having to take the chewing out.
But he was right. I was still distracted. I was still letting Keely occupy my thoughts and knock me off my game.
“If I made myself clear, then do you care to tell me why in the hell I just saw my star running back assault my star wide receiver and quarterback?”
I sighed, shaking my head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it. It’s between Mason, Kingston, and me.”
“This have anything to do with the blonde that security caught running out of here?” he asked, arching his brow.
I shrugged. “It might.”
“I warned you, Ryder. Don’t fuck with me. If you throw this game for some stupid high school bull shit, I will make sure you never play another down, do you understand me?”
It was crazy, but I believed him. I knew I had a school and fan base backing me, a whole bunch of people that would try to fight him, but I also knew that coaches had the final stay in college athletics, and if he decided I was done, my career would be over before it even actually started.
Was it worth it?
That was hardly even a question. Football had been my life practically since I could walk. Keely had been in it for a couple hours. But still, I didn’t appreciate someone trying to dictate what I could do with my life, so I narrowed my eyes at him and pulled myself up in the tub as straight as I possibly could, leveling a cold look at him.
“I told you, don’t worry about it. I’ve got it under control.”
Coach glowered at me, then shook his head. “See that you do. I’d hate to see such a promising career end so soon.”
My bear started clawing at him, filled with rage. It was like he was reading my mind and knew exactly what to say to get under my skin.
“Is there anything else?” I said, my voice gruff enough to make it clear I wasn’t going to cower under any of his threats. He could tell me to get rid of distractions, but he couldn’t force me.
“Not as long as we’re clear,” he said, eyes narrowed.
“Crystal,” I ground out through a clenched jaw.
He gave a stiff nod and walked away only for Mason to come in right after him.
“What the hell was that about?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, hauling myself out of the ice bath.
“You sure?”
“He just wanted to know what happened with Kingston.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“I told him it was under control. What the fuck do you think I told him?”
Mason held up his hands defensively and I shook my head.
“I’m sorry, man. Coach’s just got me on edge.”
“Yeah, he’s been riding you pretty hard,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder.
“You should put some ice on that eye, it’s looking nasty,” I told him, nodding toward the bath I’d just come out of.
“Uh… I’ll get some ice that doesn’t have a chance of having touched your ass, thank you very much.”
I chuckled, drying off, trying to shake some life into my half-frozen muscles while Mason got dressed.
After a couple minutes, he huffed out a heavy sigh. “What are we going to do?”
“About what?” I asked, though I knew damn well what and he knew I knew. He gave me an unamused look and just waited for me address the elephant in the room.
“What do you want to do?” I finally asked. Better to deflect.
Mason groaned. “I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s got in my head like no one has in a long fucking time.”
I nodded, understanding exactly what he was saying. It was crazy, ridiculous, and unheard of, but it was undeniable. The connection was there. The attraction was there. And even though she’d kicked me in the balls and probably hated me right about now, I knew I had to give it a shot. I knew I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t at least try. The way my bear was raving about her, roaring at every thought of her that popped into my head.
“I know what you mean,” I said finally. Mason gave me a look. I held up my hands in self-defense.
“No, really, I mean it. There’s something about her,” I said. “Something fiery and somehow also pure and good. It’s not just some fling. I want to get to know her. I don’t know… It’s not like I have any experience with feeling shit like this.”
Mason looked thoughtful for a moment, then sighed. “It doesn’t really matter what either of us wants to do, you heard Kingston. He doesn’t want either one of us near his sister.”
I laughed. “Can you blame him?”
“No,” Mason snorted. “But that doesn’t exactly help.”
“I know,” I grumbled. “I don’t want this to tear apart the musketeers. We always said we’d never let a girl come between us.”
“Yeah, but that was before we considered one of us might have a hot sister,” he argued.
I sucked in a breath thinking of Keely and her curves, her soft smile, the challenge in her blue eyes. Hot didn’t even begin to describe it.
“And Coach is right,” I said. “We’ve got the championship coming up and can’t afford any distractions. We should probably just put this whole thing aside until after that.”
Mason looked unsure, but eventually he nodded.
“That’s not a bad idea. We don’t need to rush into anything and that’ll give Kingston time to cool down.”
“Not to mention winning a championship will make it pretty damn hard to be mad about anything,” I said, grinning.
Mason chuckled and shook his head. “You know, you’re going to look pretty fucking stupid if we don’t win,” he said.
“Good thing I have every intention of winning then, isn’t it?”
He shook his head, still smirking at me. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”
I nodded, sensing some apprehension, but I didn’t know what it was from. Did he expect me to immediately go off and make a move on Keely behind his back? I was no saint, but I wasn’t that shitty. I had some standards.
“If anything changes, I’ll let you know,” I said, hoping to reassure him some. I still felt like an asshole for not realizing how I’d been stepping on his toes all these years. We were supposed to be the three musketeers, all for one and one for all, but apparently I’d been dropping the ball.
Mason looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. “Thanks,” he said, before he turned and left.
And then I was all alone in the trainer room. No other teammates around. Coach was around somewhere, I knew, but I really didn’t want to get ambushed by him again, so I just headed home too.
But I was alone at home and that wasn’t really better. I tried to find something on TV, a movie or something to keep my mind occupied so I couldn’t think about Keely, but I wasn’t sure there was anything on the planet that could stop me from thinking about Keely. The girl was like a barnacle. There was no way to shake her once she’d latched on and I didn’t even think she really meant to do it.
I knew most guys wouldn’t still be turned on by a girl that kicked them square in the family jewels, but even as I thought about it, blood started surging toward my cock. I tried to shove those thoughts aside since her well-aimed kick made erections kind of painful, but the pain only made me think about it again, and how fucking hot she’d been with her eyes flashing dangerous fire at me.
I turned the TV off and tossed the remote aside with a long heavy sigh. I had to do something. I couldn’t just sit here thinking about her. Looking out the window of my hilltop mansion, it was hard to deny what a beautiful day it was. Normally, on days like this, I’d go on the back patio and down a few beers, but that just made me think of when I’d met her and how much I’d like to get her to my house again, drink a few beers, and see where that would lead us.
A drive, then. I didn’t have any associations with her and cars. A drive was safe.
So, I grabbed my keys and hopped into the big SUV with all the leg room that I liked so much and drove. I didn’t know where I was going, but driving with the windows down felt nice. It was no wonder dogs liked to stick their head out windows on the highway.
It wasn’t long though before driving proved no good either. I was restless, even after the grueling practice, even after being assaulted as Coach put it, my leg was still bouncing erratically, my fingers drumming the steering wheel with too much energy.
“Fuck it,” I said, pulling into the parking lot of the next park I saw. It was a beautiful day, I had too much energy, and I needed to clear my mind. My bear growled beneath the surface ready to break free. I got out of the car and made my watch to a patch of trees where I could strip and break out of my shell. My bear paced in anticipation, finally freedom.