Page 23 of Trust Me

“Isaiah’s looking good,” Ned points out as he watches our junior power forward skate across the ice.

I remember him from my brief interaction with their table at the gala. He was the one who was overly curious about me. I’ll keep that knowledge for another day because something tells me the kid is going to be invading the hell out of my privacy.

“He should be faster if he wants to make those goals on breakaways. I watched his tapes from last year, and he tends to struggle with that.”

“Someone did their homework, I see,” Ned says appreciatively.

When he called me with the job offer, he told me he knew I was the right one for the job for two reasons. One being that I was talented with on and off the ice knowledge. And two, there’s a mutual respect between the two of us.

In some cases, coaches can butt heads in a fight for dominance over the team, but Ned knew that wasn’t my style.

Unless it’s in the bedroom. But that’s a different story.

“How’s my daughter doing? I know you two had the same class this morning, and don’t ask how I know. Like you, I know everything.” His words intend to come off as playful, but I don’t miss the underlying threat there.

If anything were to happen between Jasmine and me, he’d somehow know.

“We sat next to each other, but we didn’t talk. She was very focused, using her color-coded system and all.”

Ned stares me down, then his hand lands on my shoulder, gripping me there. “That’s good to hear. Keep an eye on her for me from time to time, will you?”

“Sure,” is all that comes out because if he knew the view I had of her perfect ass in my kitchen this morning, his hand would be around my neck instead.

Ned skates off, giving instructions to our team. We run through drills for the next hour, and the guys are dripping in sweat. One of them even vomited in the trash can that I thankfully brought out with me.

A secretary at the facility interrupts us, letting us know that Ned is needed for a phone call. He skates off the ice, leaving me alone with the guys, who begin to chat amongst themselves for the allotted ten-minute break.

I skate by, collecting some pylons, when I hear something that stops me in my tracks.

“You guys know the coach’s daughter?” McCoy pipes up.

“Jasmine?” Isaiah chimes in. “Yeah, why?”

“She’s sexy as fuck. Have you seen the rack on her? They look like the perfect handful.”

“Dude, you’re lucky Coach isn’t here right now. He’d kick you off the team without hesitation,” Isaiah replies.

I see fucking red at the way McCoy is talking about her and it throws me off a bit because I haven’t felt this enraged since my last hockey fight.

“She’s a goody two-shoes anyways.” McCoy waves Isaiah off.

“What do you mean?” another player, Peterson, asks.

“Jasmine is known to be RLU’s good girl. She’s never been kissed, never even fucked anyone. Which is funny because she hung out with Aurora Vallacourt, and that girl was a—”

I don’t let the piece of shit finish his sentence. “McCoy, Thomas, and Peterson. I want fifty laps, now.”

“What the fuck for?” Dan McCoy questions stupidly.

I skate right into his space, my chest nearly brushing his head because of our height difference. “That’s fifty-five for you now, McCoy. Let that set a precedent. Any of you talk about Jasmine or her friend like that again, and I’ll kick you off this goddamn team. Understood?” I seethe, chest heaving up and down.

McCoy scoffs, skating over to the boards to begin his laps along with Peterson, who regrets joining the conversation. Technically, he didn’t say anything wrong, but I don’t give a fuck. I’m so pissed off about what McCoy said that I’m punishing anyone who was involved.

Isaiah skates over to me. “In my defense, I was telling him to stop talking about her. I’m just as pissed as you are.”

“I know. You’re doing them because you need endurance training. Go.”

While they skate their laps, the rest of us watch as the guys take their break. I can’t get over what he said about her. Has she really never been kissed? I was even more surprised to hear that she’s a virgin as well, but it fits the image she portrays.

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