“Give us an hour.” Eli tosses his phone on the nightstand and sinks back onto the bed. “Fuck.”
“What now?” Nico blows out a breath and his hand trails over my shoulders. I get it. It seems like we keep rolling from one crisis to the next.
“Breakfast with the girl squad.” Eli groans and meets my eyes. “I want one more fuck before we have to face the day.”
My cheeks flush with heat, but I get it. It’s a way to focus on something we can control. Before we go out into the real world and figure out how all this ties together.
CHAPTER 5
Moving the Pawns
Caden
“You didn’t have to come with.” Jack takes the coffee I hand him before I pull out of the coffee shop’s parking lot.
“We don’t know what he wants with you.” Maybe I’m being overprotective, but I just get this feeling about Coach Turner. And it’s not a warm fuzzy one.
“We talked. He knows I’m with Harper and that I’m not looking for a hookup with the equivalent to a teacher at school. He doesn’t want to risk his job.” Jack shrugs like it isn’t a big deal, but I remember how he was after his hookup with Darius Turner.
It wasn’t just a hookup. Maybe it only had the potential for more, but that still exists. And maybe Turner isn’t looking for more from Jack, but he wants him under his thumb. I need to know why.
“Good. Because if he tries anything, I’ll make sure they fire his ass.” I take a drink of coffee. It’s way too early to be awake, especially after fucking Harper until the crack of dawn.
I hope she’s resting, because I’m going to need her again. There’s this tight coil of tension inside me. Too much shit is going on around us.
Harper needs our protection from whoever is playing us and I need her to relieve this tension, to work out the aggression that pulses through me without a fucking target to take it out on. Well, besides Ethan Parker, but we want to make an example of him.
Luke will want to do something dramatic instead of me just kicking his ass. I’m still going to kick Ethan’s ass, but after Luke’s little drama plays out.
“He’s a good guy, Caden.” Jack gives me a serious look, talking about Coach again. “He’s not going to fuck up his job over a one-time thing. And I don’t want to fuck up his career. It was an honest mistake.”
I make a non-committal noise. I don’t believe in mistakes. Do I believe Coach Turner didn’t know Jack was a student? Yes, that tracks, but as soon as he realized, he should have cut off all communication. Not send him hookup texts during a school weekend.
Jack drinks his coffee. He can tell I’m not convinced, but he won’t press it. He knows how I feel about this.
When we arrive, we get out and walk to the field. Kids stand around shooting the shit and a few push each other around. One kid seems to be getting the brunt of the abuse and his face gets redder even as he takes it.
I’m all for beating down someone who deserves it and not interfering if I don’t know what the beef is. But that kid is about to blow.
“Line up.” Coach Turner comes over and the boys fall into a line. He glances at Jack and then his dark eyes narrow on me.
I raise an eyebrow, daring him to say anything about me being here.
“Jack. Caden. Good to have you here.” He glances behind us as if expecting the rest of the guys to show up. Not unreasonable,except they’re probably passed out from fucking Harper all night.
He claps his hands and the boys all straighten. They respect him. That’s good. I’m not denying he’s a good coach. I just don’t want him fucking with Jack or trying to keep him on the hook.
He gives the kids the standard pre-practice talk he usually gives us.
“Around the track. Ten minutes. Get moving.” He blows his whistle. The kids grumble as they take off around the track.
Turner moves over to us. “We’ll run some drills and then do a short scrimmage. Basically, we just need to run these boys out of energy.”
Drinking the last of my coffee, I nod.
“I’m glad you decided to volunteer, Caden. I didn’t figure anyone wanted to give up their Saturday mornings.” Turner glances at Jack.
“Didn’t want Jack to have to go on his own.” I arch an eyebrow. Turner is shorter than me, but still well-built. He keeps in shape and usually runs drills with us during practice. If I didn’t know the history between him and Jack, I’d consider him a good guy worthy of my respect.
