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Fuck!
I wanted to shove Lindsey off me and go and explain… but I couldn’t. Not unless I wanted to start the school’s hottest rumor.
The Eagles star quarterback and Coach Ford’s daughter.
Everyone would love that.
Everyone except Coach.
I gave Lindsey my full attention and gritted my teeth. “I said get your fucking hand off me.”
She reared back, indignation burning in her eyes. “Jesus, Kaiden. What crawled up your ass and died?” Storming down the hall, Lindsey walked right past Lily and threw her a derisive look. The second she was gone, Lily seemed to fold into herself.
“Hey,” I approached her casually. “Are you—”
She shook her head, her eyes widening over my shoulder as she began to move around me. Frowning, I glanced back. I’d only wanted to make sure she was okay. But when I looked down the hall, I saw Coach Ford heading in this direction.
Now Lily’s sharp exit made sense, but it didn’t stop it from cutting deep. The rational part of me knew she was only protecting herself—and me—from her father’s wrath. But the other part of me couldn’t help but wonder if it was more than that. If maybe she was ashamed to tell her old man she’d fallen for me. The son of a drunk. A drunk who, once upon a time, had hurt his family.
“Thatcher, my office.” Coach’s voice boomed down the hall, and my spine went rigid.
Did he know?
Oh fuck, he knew.
Aaron’s dad must have told him about the other night. Or maybe Poppy or Peyton had slipped it out to him.
Either way I was about to meet my fate.
Blood roaring in my ears, I followed him down the hall and into the locker room. He didn’t stop until he was in his office.
“Let’s go. I haven’t got all day.”
I slipped inside and dropped into the chair. “What’s up?” I asked.
“How was your night?”
“My night?” I tried to play it cool, but nothing about this was cool. He was feeling me out… getting ready to end my senior season before it even got started, and all because I’d fallen for the wrong girl.
“Yeah, you know those few hours between the end of school and bedtime. You get up to anything good?” He drilled me with a stern look. One I felt all the way to my soul.
“Just hung out with the guys. Nothing exciting.”
“Nothing exciting,” he murmured, steepling his fingers. I braced myself for him to lose his shit… to tell me I had no right to go after his daughter when he’d explicitly told me to stay away from her… but it never came.
He just sat there, studying me like I was a puzzle he couldn’t quite solve.
“I’ve been thinking,” he eventually said, “and maybe I was too hard on you.”
“Coach?” My brows knitted together.
“You’re a good player, Kaiden. One of the best. And I don’t want to be the kind of guy who lets the past cloud things. You deserve a shot, and I wanted you to know I’m going to try my damn hardest to give that to you.”
“Y-you are?”
“Don’t sound so surprised, son.” He smirked. “I have to iron a few things out. But this is my team and I’ll run it accordingly.”
“I don’t know what to say.” This was the last thing I’d expected.
