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Julia shook his hand, but she didn’t look too happy about it. “Right. A pleasure.”
“I’m sure my boys must have told you a lot about me already. They’re both learning from the best. You should probably make a mention of that in the article.”
Her smile was polite, but in acan-you-believe-this-guysort of way. “Actually, they haven’t mentioned you at all,” she lied coolly. “They’ve been so focused on their training, you see. It must certainly make your job very easy.”
I almost laughed. Julia sounded so sweet and unassuming that the insults went right over Bob’s greasy head. It probably didn’t help that he was high off his rocks, too.
Julia laughed it off and Bob joined her, our idiot of a coach too toasted to take anything seriously.
“My boys are the best,” Bob said , smacking Red hard on the back. “They’re like sons to me. You can put that on the record, by the way.”
“I’ll be sure to add a little footnote.”
Dylan cleared his throat. “Well, now that your coach is here, I guess that means I can take off.”
To everyone except Bob, his clear disdain for the man was obvious. Dylan turned to Julia and kissed her on the cheek. It was a chaste little thing, sweet. He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “If he’s a creep to you, I’ll kick his ass.”
Julia patted his hand. “Not before I do.”
Dylan threw both Red and I a pointed look that could only mean one thing.
Watch over her.
His signal was loud and clear.
“Cash,” Bob huffed. “I thought I told you to run laps.”
“It’s raining, coach.”
“So?” Bob smirked at Julia. “Back in my day, we’d run fifty miles there and back in the middle of winter. Kids these days aren’t as tough as they used to be.”
Julia crossed her arms. “Fifty miles there and back, huh?” she said dryly. “How very impressive, but don’t you think that’s overkill?”
“It was nothing. Sometimes the only way to make a champion is to break them down and build them back up again.” Bob moved to place a hand on the small of her back. “Did the boys give you a tour? Here, let me show you the weight rack. I used to be able to deadlift two-hundred pounds without breaking a sweat.”
She didn’t have to utter a word; I could sense her irritation. Red stepped in. “I just got a text,” he said. “Julia needs to come with me.”
Bob sneered. “I didn’t hear your phone go off. Why do you have your phone on you, anyway? I always tell you boys there can’t be any distractions while you’re working out.”
I rolled my eyes. He never said anything of the sort. Half the timehewas the one distracted on his phone. Sometimes I wondered why the hell we bothered having him around in the first place.
“Let’s head out,” Red said gruffly, guiding Julia to the door.
It was for the best. I didn’t want Julia anywhere near Bob, especially in his state. It was going to be an easy enough task distracting him. I’d handle him while Red got her someplace far less unpleasant.
“I’ll see you later,” Julia said to me, brushing her hand against my forearm. “We’ll talk then?”
I nodded, a part of me eager to follow her. “Looking forward to it.”
When they were gone, Bob reached into his inner pocket for a blunt. “The hell is her problem? Snooty bitch.”
I snatched it out of his hands, just barely able to contain my anger. “Don’t call her that.You’rethe problem here.”
My coach snarled. “Excuse me?”
“You have some nerve showing up late. We needed you here. Don’t even get me started on the shit you’re smoking, either. Are you trying to get arrested?”
“It’s medicinal,” he huffed.
