Page 27 of False Start

She had five pounds of shrimp fresh off the boats, her usual contribution to girls’ night. Not that we minded. The tasty little fuckers were gone inside of an hour every single time.

“The paperwork is sent so I hope it’s not something that would have given us a leg up for the actual application.”

Marty flipped her thick dark hair up in a knot at the back of her neck and pushed up the sleeves of her sweater before turning the water off and settling the pot over the gas burner. With a series of rapid clicks and a whoosh, the burner flared to life. “Honestly, it’s probably just talk. Kelsie’s grandma is back at the salon and gossiping up a storm. I swear she’s trying to make up for the six months out with that broken hip, all in one week.”

The mutterings around town had been light since Martha had been sidelined. A damn blessing. The silence. Not the hip. That would make me an asshole.

Especially when I was sporting a hell of a bruise on mine that still needed to be iced three times a day.

At least my pinched—ugh, my rib didn’t hurt anymore.

Flaming asshole.

And he was right…not that he needed to know. The last thing I needed was him in my space gloating.

“She had a few things to say about you,” Sean said, grabbing a brick of cheddar cheese, knife, and cutting board before settling in at the drop leaf two-seater table also looking out over Main Street.

“What the hell did I do?”

Rory cocked a hip against the doorframe into the tiny kitchen and crossed her arms. “Word around town is you’ve been fraternizing with the coach.”

“If fraternizing is serving him his breakfast, I guess I’m guilty.” But it was more than breakfast. It just wasn’t what they were implying with their shrewd glances. It was more the haunting look in his eyes from the other morning that was never far away and made me wonder if I hurt him. Or embarrassed him. I still didn’t know and I hated that three days later, I still cared.

Could a guy like him even be embarrassed? Or hurt? Probably not. He was so damn sure he was right, that kind of confidence probably came from one hell of a track record being just that.

Right.

Flaming asshole.

Okay, that might be my jealousy talking. I wish I ran around with that kind of certainty.

Zara passed a six-pack over Rory’s shoulder. I snagged one as I passed it on to Marty.

“I heard he had you in one hell of a lip-lock on The Shipwreck’s smoking deck,” Zara said with a wink as she popped open a bag of Doritos.

“Hey! There was no locking of lips.” Okay, I didn’t need this shit swirling around town. Not with a coach who may or may not have cheated by letting an underage girl play on his team.

I was still on the fence with that part of his story. I had a hard time believing a cop would knowingly allow an underage player on his team, no matter how good she was. It just didn’t jibe with the aloof guy who lounged in the front row at our bout.

I would expect someone who wants to win at any cost to be snarlier than that. Mean maybe, borderline cruel in his pursuit of a win.

Mean and cruel were not words that fit with a guy who noticed a rib out of place on a stranger and fixed it.

“But you were on the deck with him,” Rory said as she peeked into the pot of water on the stove that had just started to steam.

“For a few minutes,” I said, glad I was getting this discussion out of the way before Eve got here. We hadn’t been a thing in almost a year, but things were more over for me than they were for her. I didn’t want to hurt her anymore. I did everything I could to keep it from spilling over onto the team. Dating hadn’t been my brightest idea, but the attraction was there so I ran with it without really considering what would happen if it didn’t work out.

Or if one of us got in too deep instead of keeping it light and fun. “It wasn’t a big deal. I thought I had a pinched nerve. Turns out I had a rib out of place, and he fixed it.”

“He’s your doctor now?” Eve said, pushing her way into the kitchen.

Shit.

“He’s someone who knew what he was talking about and I’m someone with shitty health insurance. Seemed like a no-brainer if I wanted to stay upright.”

“He couldn’t be here at a worse time. We’re going to be under a microscope applying for the WRDF. If they catch wind he’s not only here, but sniffing around one of our players, everything we’ve worked for will be for nothing,” Rory said with a wary glance between Eve and me.

I slapped a smile on my face to reassure her, but she only narrowed her eyes and studied me harder.

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