“Don’t make the same throw every time,” Coach shouted. “Use your time to change it up.”
I tried to switch up to a backward pass, but when I threw the ball, it landed on the field.
My teammate, Mark Carver, immediately stopped to pick it up and tossed it to Montgomery, who everyone called Motor.
“What kind of fucking pass was that?” shouted Carver when we reached the line across the field from Coach Carr.
“He’s tripping over his dick again,” said Motor, throwing a glance back at Avery. “Can’t keep his head in it.”
“Fuck you.” I wasn’t going to take that crap. “Don’t blame your missed catches on me. I sent it right to you.”
“You’re going to fuck the season up if you don’t get her out of your head. I saw you in the parking lot with her yesterday. Planning another date?”
“So? What if I am?” Hearing them both complain had me wanting to see her even more. I wasn’t going to let anyone, especially those assholes, dictate who I saw and what I did. “That’s my business, isn’t it?”
“During the season, it’s all of our business.” Carver glared at me.
“Yeah?” I said. “So are you going to stop seeing Missy?”
“Things are going well with Missy and me. I don’t let my girlfriend get in the way of my game.”
“And things are good with Avery and me too.” At least they could be.
“For now. Until you cheat on her with one of your Omega House groupies. Everyone knows that’s the only reason you hang around there. To bum beer and steal all of the girls.”
“If they have a problem, they can tell me themselves.” No one had ever complained about me being there, and I had some really good friends who were Omegas.
Before it could get too heated, Coach Carr blew his whistle. “Okay, break up the girl talk, guys. Whatever problems you have, save it. I need you all working as a team.”
He didn’t care to find out what was going on or to take the blame for things being bad since he called me out about Avery in front of the entire team.
“We’re all good, Coach,” said Motor, who was giving me the stare-down as he walked back across the field where we started.
“Carver, next time, catch the pass,” said Coach. “Or else you can run.”
Carver walked away with a hard look on his face.
Coach glared at me. “Wipe that smug grin off your ugly mug. You should have given him a better throw.”
“You just said it was his fault.” He was always busting my ass.
“It was both of your faults. You’re a team. No one person ever gets the blame. You know that.”
“Yes, sir.” I jogged my way back over to the group and stood there, fighting the urge to look at Avery. I just wanted to see what she was doing and if she was looking at me. Before I could sneak a glance, Paul, who was a good buddy of mine on the team, glanced over and whispered. “Yeah, she’s checking you out in case you were wondering.”
I gave him a sideward look, and he shrugged.
“Not all of us think it’s fair he gets to dictate our love lives for the rest of the season,” said Paul.
Coach Carr blew his whistle again to end everyone’s idle chatter. “Now, listen up. I know you fools have run hundreds of passes like that in your games so far, but there’s still room for improvement. Let’s do it again until not a single ball is dropped. Do you think we can do that, girls?”
A collective “Yes, sir” was yelled.
“Get to it,” Coach said, blowing that fucking whistle. I wanted to punch it down his throat and make him sing like a bird.
I got in line again, this time with a different pair of partners, and things went a lot better. I didn’t drop the ball, and neither did they, but one of the other groups did. It was Motor who was overconfident, but Carver didn’t say shit to him.
“Fuckin’ pussy,” I mumbled.
“Yeah,” said Paul. “No shit. He’s gunning for your spot in case you didn’t know. I think he’s the one who said something to Coach about you and Avery.”
“Makes sense.” I spat on the field and wiped my sweat on my shirt. I used the moment to glance over at Avery, who was running passes of her own. She did it perfectly, and when she was down the line, she threw a glance over in my direction.
“One more time,” said the coach. “Other direction.” He blew the whistle and moved aside as we began, and once again, Motor dropped the ball, and he too blamed the miss on the thrower.
As Coach dealt with them, Motor’s face turned red, and when he caught me looking, I smiled.
Coach Carr wasn’t cutting him any slack, either. “Do you see what happens when you spend your time worrying about someone else’s business? You start to forget your place and your duties. Do you see what happens?”
“Yes, sir!”
“And you, Seth. This is your team. You need to encourage them better. Let’s get over here. You and Montgomery can run passes together. Work on his left lateral passes first. That’s his weak point.”
Motor didn’t look like he enjoyed hearing he had any weaknesses, and I sure didn’t like being dragged back into it with him. I was just trying to get through practice and often wondered why he’d wanted me to be the captain of the team in the first place.
All through practice, I stole glances, and when the girls let out twenty minutes before us, I didn’t think Avery would wait on me.
She hadn’t wanted to talk the night before, so I didn’t think she really wanted to give me the time of day. I shouldn’t have given her the brush off when she told me she wanted to talk. I should have listened to what she had to say. With the coach in my head, it was just hard to choose.
I didn’t want to let either of them down.
When I walked out to the Jeep, she was leaned against the bumper. Motor and Carver were standing on the other side of the lot, watching as I walked up and greeted her. “Hey,” I said. “I didn’t expect you still wanted to talk to me.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect a text last night.”
“You must have been busy.”
“I was.”
She had probably moved on to someone else and wanted to be the first to tell me. “I see. Well, it’s cool. I mean, Coach wants me to focus on the game, and I don’t have time for much else.”
“Oh, well, I was just studying for a big test, but the good news is, I think I passed it.”
I immediately took back my words. “Cool, that’s good news. I thought you like moved on or something since I didn’t handle yesterday so good.”
“No, I’m not really that sought after,” she said with a giggle.
I heard an engine roar and glanced over to see Carver speeding away with Motor beside him.
“What’s their problem?” she asked.
“Just locker-room bullshit. Don’t worry about it.” I could handle those two, but I didn’t want her to worry about me. “Do you want to go out later?”
“I can’t. I have plans with Abi.”
“Abigail, huh?” I wasn’t sure if she was really going to hang out with her friend or if maybe she had a date. “I’d like to see you. Can’t you tell her you’d rather go with me?”