Page 35 of Going Deep

He glanced over at Coach, realizing he still hadn’t moved to open his door. Hadn’t even rolled down the window, leaving Coach to shout through the glass.

Finally, he stepped out, shielding his eyes from the last of the sun’s rays. “Just got some stuff on my mind. Nothing worth wasting breath on.” Yet another lie. It was worth spending hours on, days, if it meant he’d get another chance not to be such a colossal dick. “Put me to work,” he added. “Anything you need, I’ll do it.”

“Good, because I have a big task for you tonight.” Coach headed up toward the wide front porch instead of circling around back to where the barns and outhouses were.

He walked slower than he once had, but he’d picked up some of his previous speed the past few months. Having everyone back from the championship team to help out around the ranch had hopefully eased some of the strain he and his only daughter, Lorelie, had felt after his unexpected heart attack back in the spring. Some of their old teammates had never left town, like Joel and Carter and Rafe, Charlene’s older brother. Colt had been around since his NFL days too. But Wade and Tucker and Jackson had all come back to set down roots.

“Sit,” Coach said, lowering himself to the top step and patting the spot beside him.

Colt smothered a groan. Uh-oh. Here it came. Coach had that sharpness to his gaze that meant he’d decided one of his “boys” needed a good talking to. Fourteen or forty, he treated anyone who had been on one of his football teams the same way. His door was always open. And if someone needed a shove through it, well, he’d provide that too.

Colt sat, because there really wasn’t anything else to do. He could try to divert Coach, could even flat-out say he didn’t want to talk about it, but Coach was as stubborn as a horse who wouldn’t heel. Cajoling of any sort rarely worked.

“Nice night, isn’t it?” Slowly, Coach leaned back, placing his hands on the porch floor behind him. “Been a warm September.”

“Aren’t they all?” Colt asked drily, staring out at the bleeding golds and pinks filtering across the sky. Sunset wasn’t far off.

He’d meant to get there sooner, since most of the work for the day would be long done by now. But he’d figured there had to be something he could help with. Something that would keep him from thinking of Drake and Paige together, swimming in the Gulch. Probably naked. Probably unable to keep their hands off each other. Paige’s breasts wet and glistening in the moonlight, her pale skin gleaming.

“October’s a day away.”

“Mmm-hmm.” He was still mentally trying to scrub the picture of his two friends out of his head. Problem was, his cock liked it a little too much and wasn’t in any hurry to change the channel. But he’d b

e damned if he sported a semi while talking to Coach.

“So, any truth to the scuttlebutt that you and Paige and Drake are an item?”

It took Colt a moment to drag himself out of his swimming hole reveries long enough to actually hear what Coach had said. Then he gaped.

“Come on now. You think I never get off this ranch long enough to hear what goes on in this town?” Coach shook his head. “You young people think you invented sex. Why, back in my day, we used to—”

Colt groaned. “Please don’t give me a lecture on the birds and bees. I already know where babies come from.”

“Yes, and you did right by Charlene and married her. And you’ve been down on yourself ever since.”

He didn’t respond. What could he say? Marrying Char had been a good thing. It just hadn’t worked out.

Lots of things didn’t work out. So maybe it was stupid to build up hope, when in all likelihood the pot of gold wasn’t going to come to fruition anyway.

“Paige isn’t Charlene. She isn’t in love with someone else. She’s free and clear. Just like you are, you know,” Coach reminded him. It had been a while since he’d had a heart-to-heart with Coach, but he obviously remembered the ones they’d had in the past. “You aren’t wearing a gold band anymore.”

“I know. But maybe I’m trying to be the good, honorable guy for once. All those years, Coach. All those years, Char and Wade loved each other and I never saw it. Never saw a damn thing.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Guess maybe I wanted to stay blind, because if I saw it, then I’d have to do something about it. I’d have to make a move.”

“Is there something you’re wanting to stay blind to now?”

The question knocked him off-guard, even more than the first one Coach had posed about him and Paige and Drake being involved. “Like what?”

“You tell me.”

“I have my eyes open,” he muttered. Even as he said it, he remembered that night with Drake and Beth. More than his best friend touching him, he’d looked at him in an intense way he’d never been able to forget. He’d been asking something that night, a question he hadn’t been ready to hear. Not then, and maybe not now.

At that point, he’d gone blind and deaf.

“You sure about that?”

Colt propped his elbows on his knees and raked his hands through his hair. “You know something I don’t, Coach?” Something I’m afraid to know, because then I’ll have to respond?

“No. Other than you’re awfully hard on yourself, and I think you’ve missed out on some damn good opportunities because of it.”

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