Page 28 of The Thing About My Rival

Okay. Below the belt. All bets are off. Nice Hugo is over the hills and far away and probably never to be seen again. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“The drinking, the clubbing, the…” She circles a hand in the air, searching for the word. “Womanizing. If that’s not someone acting out because they can’t cope, I don’t know what is.”

“Oh, I see. It’s all about that, is it? You’re bitter because?—”

The sound of a throat being cleared comes from the doorway.

We both turn our heads to find Miller standing there, his brow furrowed with disapproval. “Sorry to interrupt your, er, meeting. But the four of us would like to see you upstairs.”

“When?” Wilcox asks through an innocent smile as she smooths down some strands of flyaway hair.

“Right now,” he says. Then spins on his heels and leaves.

“Fuck,” I say under my breath, at exactly the same time she does.

CHAPTER TEN

DREW

“Welcome,” Leo says from behind the desk. “I would say take a seat, but there isn’t room.”

This office never expected there to be four owners. There’s just one desk and two more chairs. A slouchy Prince Oliver sits in one, Chase in the other.

Miller stands beside them, leaning back against the wall, and tugs his shirt cuffs out from his expensively tailored jacket sleeves.

Unbelievable. This is un-fucking-believable. Hugo and his refusal to accept anything other than his own way of doing things has gotten us hauled into the principal’s office.

And we have four very powerful principals.

We’d walked in silence behind Miller as we got out of the elevator on the fourth floor and followed him along the hallway to the executive suite. Well, it’s executive by Boston Commoners standards. Which means a slightly bigger office, with carpet, and two windows—one lookingdirectly onto the stadium field, the other with an expansive view over the training field.

There’s also an office for Amelia right outside the door. And an exclusive restroom. When I was a kid, the plumber was here to deal with one issue or another with that every couple months.

After brief hellos and how-are-yous, Hugo and I face our bosses and stand side by side in the middle of the room. If it were possible to hear the crackles of resentment that fill the air between the two of us, the noise would be deafening.

“Thanks for coming up,guys,” the prince says. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to calling him just Oliver.

Chase crosses an ankle over a knee. “Yeah, we know you’re working hard to get ready for the game this weekend, so we appreciate your time.”

“I’ll get right to it.” Leo drums his fingers on the edge of the desk. “We’re a little concerned this arrangement might already not be working out.”

Shit. Are they going to fire one of us after all? “What do you mean?”

Hugo glares at me for a second in disbelief that I might interrupt Leo. Where the hell did he get manners from all of a sudden?

“We’ve heard you haven’t been getting along.” Leo taps a pen on the back of his hand. “That there’ve been some disagreements. In front of the players. And that’s not good.”

“Well, this is an unusual arrangement.” Hugo gestures to me like the unusual arrangement is me.

If this man throws me under the bus, that’s another thing to add to the list of things I’ll never forgive him for.

“I wouldn’t call themdisagreements,” I say, jumping into try to salvage this because if they’re going to pick just one of us to keep, they’re bound to choose Hugo—the actual soccer player, the famous guy, the glamour appointment. “We have different training philosophies, sure. But that’s one of the benefits of having two coaches, right? You get two brains instead of one.”

“True enough.” Miller folds his arms and crosses his ankles.

The other three nod.

“She’s right,” Hugo says.

---