Page 41 of Always on My Mind

“Aye, a bit like your face,” Jordan replied. “Now leave the women alone and work on your aim.”

Jamie hid her snicker behind her hand as Peter stalked off. Jordan offered a wave of apology to the women and jogged to his spot in front of his goal.

Rebecca approached as the squad stretched. She appeared alarmingly similar to when she announced they were training with the men.

“Alright, managers and staff have been called up to the owner’s office,” she said. “Something about furthering integration of the men and women’s team. So, the captains will be running this morning’s training. I want you all focused on set pieces and forward passes. Monika, can you handle that?”

Monika nodded. Jamie glanced over to where the men were gathered in front of their manager, who was likely giving them the same news. She dreaded thinking what training would be like without managerial supervision. Peter would have the comfort to continue his taunting. They would have to ignore him. Hopefully, he would get focused on himself after the rebuke from Jordan.

Her wish was not granted. With the managers gone, Peter became relentless. Every time they took a water break, or even got within earshot, he hit them with a snide comment. A sarcastic “what a shot!” when Zahra skied the ball from a set piece rebound. A pained “oohh” when Jamie crashed into Eliana trying to head the ball past her. A pitying “it was a good try” when Neriah missed a shot from around twelve yards. Finally, after Jamie went down while challenging Salma for the ball, and she had to fix her hair when she got up, he said the worst one of all.

“See, this is why women aren’t fit for football.”

Anger flared inside Jamie’s chest, and once her ponytail was secure, she rose herself up to her full height and rounded on him.

“The fuck did you say?” she demanded.

His mouth curled into a sneer. “I said women aren’t fit for football.”

“That’s it.”

Jamie charged at him, and before he could react, she slammed her palms into his chest and knocked him to the ground. He blinked up at her in shock while the others surrounded them.

“Women are fit forthat,” she spat.

Peter scrambled to his feet and loomed over her, his face within inches of hers. With a tilt of her head, she could have touched her nose to his. Instead, she glowered up at him, imagining burning a hole through his smug face with her ire.

He raised his hands to push her back, but she was faster and slapped them away to get another push in herself. He stumbled backward, but didn’t fall. He tried to move toward her again, but Jordan held him back. Monika did the same for Jamie.

“Let him go,” she said, for only Jamie could hear. “He isn’t worth it.”

“Yeah, but he won’t be able to run his mouth if I stuff his boots in it,” Jamie replied through clenched teeth.

Honestly, Jamie was proud of herself. Three months ago, a man getting her face that way would have sent her into a panic attack. Thanks to her work with Lila, she was confident enough to assert herself more.

“Just as well,” Peter said loudly. “You’d only lose again.”

Jamie whipped around and lunged at him. “Alright, you and me, O’Riley, let’s go!”

Her teammates jumped in to restrain her, while the men did the same for Peter, though he and Jamie continued to spout obscenities at each other as they struggled. Each set of teammates yelling to calm them down. Normally, Jamie was able to ignore this stuff. People were always saying women didn’t belong in the sport. But Peter got under her skin. He was one of those guys that deserved a fist in his nose to teach him some respect.

When her muscles protested another go against her teammates, Jamie settled down, her chest heaving as she caught her breath.

“Something tells me that wasn’t a friendly huddle I just saw.”

Jamie turned her head to see Tessa approaching, camera bag slung over her shoulder, and a gorgeous smile on her face. Her brown eyes danced with amusement behind her glasses. Only in Tessa’s presence did she feel the least bit embarrassed. But knowing Tessa, Jamie realized the feeling was unfounded.

“Fucking O’Riley,” Jamie said.

“Say less,” Tessa replied, rolling her eyes.

“Where’s Nelle?” Neriah asked.

“She’s ill, so it’ll just be me today,” Tessa told her. “Though perhaps I should keep the cameras off if there’s to be a brawl. Not exactly the image the club wants to portray.”

“If he says ‘losers’ one more time, I’ll give you a warning before I start swinging,” Jamie said.

Tessa blinked. “That’s what he said?”

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