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“Be right back,” he said before leaving the bed.

She heard the water running and waited patiently for him to clean up so she could do the same. To her surprise, Chance returned with a damp hand towel and cleaned her off.

The act was so intimate she couldn’t stop the blush that spread over her despite everything they had just done.

Tossing the towel back in the bathroom, Chance returned to her side, pulling her to him. “I know I can’t stay, but just for a little while?”

Tori nodded. Very little could make her get up at this point. She was sated, held by the man who had turned her body into jello. She couldn’t move if she wanted to right now.

At some point in the night, she woke to an empty bed, the covers tucked around her. Chance was gone like she knew he needed to be, but that didn’t stop the longing she felt to turn over into his arms again and repeat what they’d just done.

Ten

Chance loved the kids, the parents, not so much. Just last night he’d been on top of the world but now he was in front of entirely too many moms answering questions that he never saw coming.

They met at the fields to have the space for all the interested parents and Chance and a few of his teammates were here to discuss the upcoming clinic. Some parents were thrilled, others not so much.

The decision was made to not have any practices during the week next week so allow for the clinic so more kids could join and not have conflicts. Chance had thought it was a great idea. To his shock and horror, some parents were pissed about that.

“You can’t be serious that we are going to go an entire week with no practice. How are they supposed to learn anything from their last game?” One father shouted.

“This is an opportunity for the kids to improve their skills with professional players,” Chance explained.

He wanted to yell back that this was just rec league and the man needed to calm down. It’s not like there were scouts looking at these children, or it would impact their future in any way other than a missed practice or two.

“Please remember that all teams will not be practicing. It will be the exact same opportunity for everyone to learn and build skills, including teamwork,” Tori reminded the parents. “You also have the option not to participate, which is your decision. However, no team will be practicing.”

“That’s not what we paid for,” the man shouted again.

Tori took a deep breath before speaking again. “Mr. Scott, if you would like to pull Timothy from the program, we completely understand.”

Mr. Scott huffed but said nothing else.

“Thank you. I wanted to go over the different skills that we will be teaching the players.”

Chance and his teammates spent the next half hour demonstrating drills while explaining their importance. It was a pain to answer the questions, but many of them were valid.

Maddox took the microphone and helped Chance with the questions. They were unofficially doing this clinic as volunteers, but Sam had said if this went well they’d consider doing it more often as a fundraiser for parks and rec.

Right now, it was a tough sell because it was unofficial. They didn’t have the full team there, and a few touched on that.

A handful of reporters sat in the top corner of the bleachers listening to everything. His hope was that they reported this for the good they were trying to do and not the drama some of these parents were trying to make.

“Is that all they’ll be doing?” one mom asked. “It seems like a lot of time for just that.”

“This is just a brief overview. Parents are welcome to stay and watch the drills. Required to stay depending on your child’s age. Tori can answer any questions pertaining directly to what was in the sign-up form.”

“Mr. Lawrence, how do you think you’ll be able to control your temper with so many children running around?” a reporter asked.

Chance swore under his breath before lifting the mic again to answer. “I won’t defend my actions on the pitch. They were wrong, and I am taking the downtime to work on myself while also giving back to the community.” He hoped that was a good enough answer.

“So you don’t think your frustrations will play out on these fields?” she asked.

“I do not. I would also like to add I am in a therapy program to work on controlling my frustrations on the pitch. I have never and would never lash out at a child in that way.”

Tori took the microphone. “I would add that I’ve been working closely with Mr. Lawrence on this project and have seen no reason for concern. He has also worked with my own son and I trust him completely.”

Chance stood taller at her defense of him. The reporter appeared satisfied and sat down again.

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