“Obviously not,” I grumbled, shifting back to put space between us, thinking that if I moved slowly she wouldn’t follow after me again.
“Then what the hell is wrong with you? I get you're some sort of social outcast, but this is for the good of your career. Do you really wanna get sacked all because some kid has a bigger following than you? A following you could have if you just gave a shit.”
“Ms. Davey!” some guy shouted and both Kodi and I turned to see Hansen off to the side, hands on his hips. My brow furrowed, confused as to why Hansen would be here and butting into this … argument or whatever it was.
“Goddamn it,” Kodi hissed under her breath before walking around me to head to Hansen, head down.
Confused, I took a step towards her. But before my foot hit the ground, somebody’s arm wrapped around my chest.
“All right, Kean,” Gallagher said, pulling me backwards, damn near bending me over with our height difference.
“The fuck are you —”
“He’s keeping you from making a bigger ass out of yourself,” Brooker said, looping his arm around mine, joining Gallagher in this keep me from Kodi mission.
“Yeah. You should be thanking me.”
I huffed, but gave up fighting as they thunked my ass onto a bench.
“Why’s the stick up your ass bigger than normal?” Sosa asked, tossing a towel at me.
“I don’t have a stick up my ass.”
“Uh-huh. And the sky isn’t blue,” Brooker said with a huff, sitting next to me and knocking his leg into mine. “Seriously, dude, you’re being a dick to Kodi.”
I made a grumble, not too happy to talk to him when he kept saying Kodi’s name like he knew her.
“Is she a bad assistant or something?” Sosa asked. “She’s only been here a couple days, cut her some slack.”
“She’s a great PA.” I might not want all these guys talking about her, but I didn’t want them thinking poorly of her either.
“Then why’re you being such a bitch to her?” Brooker asked. “She seems like a nice girl. She —”
“Don’t,” I warned, voice low. Brooker didn’t back down, though. Instead, he leveled me with a stern look and put an arm around my shoulder.
“No,” he said, bringing his hand up to thunk my head. “I don’t listen to dicks who’re mean to women.”
“I’m not —” I tried to argue, only to be cut off by another towel hitting the back of my head.
“Kean. Drinks after practice. Not optional,” Christenson shouted from behind me and my whole body stiffened. I hated going out with the team, especially on a game week. We should be preparing our bodies to perform at their best, but instead, my teammates preferred to blow off steam at a local pub.
Normally everyone respected my choice to not participate in their little team building parties, just like I didn’t chastise them for risking a hangover.
But given Christenson’s tone, that unspoken agreement didn’t count today.
“Understood.” I threw a thumps-up over my shoulder, not wanting to turn and see Christenson’s disappointment. As a captain, Christenson always encouraged us to do better, be better, all that good shit. But if you pissed him off … well, let’s just say I’d rather spend a miserable night at a bar than be on Christenson’s bad side.
“Good. Let’s get back to it then.”
A Quick Menty B
Kodi
“What in god’s name made you think it was okay to chew Kean out on the field like that? In front of everybody? In front of thecoach?” Hansen shouted at me when we rounded the corner to the back halls behind the field.
“I’m sorry, sir. I was just trying to talk to him about —” I tried to explain, my stomach in knots.
I fucked up, Ireallyfucked up. While Hansen was in charge of all the hiring and admin shit that comes with a team and a stadium, that didn’t mean much compared to thecoachof the team. Sure, Boyd wasn’t the boss, he wasn’t even that great of a coach, but the owners would listen to him over Hansen. And interrupting practice to — from his point of view — yell at a player could sure as hell get me fired if Boyd complained to anyone.
