Page 112 of Leave Me Broken

We reach the pool doors and already can hear the girlish screams and the music. I can’t believe a ritzy ditzy hotel like this would allow this. It’s very obvious it’s being ignored. When we passed the front desk, the guy just smiled at us and you could hear the noise from there.

Eases the bit of anxiety I had about coming. I don’t want to get in trouble. Legal trouble, I’ll get in team trouble all day long because he’s in trouble too. I thought we were past the secrets. Apparently not. I’m not sure what kind of excuse he will have this time but I’m tired of hearing them. I know that much.

“Hey”—Janelle grips my hand in hers—“you okay? We can totally just go watch a movie in bed and curse out the main love interest.”

I smile and grab her hand back. “No, I’m fine. Is that what you want to do?”

We exchange looks and I know that’s exactly what she wants to do and it’s what I want too but, for whatever reason, we throw open the door and step in. The pool room is the biggest I’ve ever seen but having all five teams, plus more I don’t recognize, in here, makes it feel small. The pool is also the biggest I’ve seen. Like Olympic size, if I had to guess.

“Holy cannoli.”

“Yeah . . .” I sigh.

We stand awkwardly, holding hands for what feels like a long time before someone walks up to us. Unfortunately it’s not who either of us wanted.

“Hey, guys.” Alyssa’s voice is sickly sweet and her smile is even worse.

Janelle ignores her and after following her line of sight, I see why, Parker sits against the wall across the room holding a bottle, again, staring at her.

She turns her head and we both sigh because there goes our drama-free night.

37

Ash

“Pose for a photo. We need some for the newsletter.” Some guy instructs; I want to deny him because I can feel Payson’s eyes on me, but it’s snapped before I can even get the words out.

I’m about to turn when Coach Fulton barks out for me to sit down and catch up. I reluctantly agree since I sat at the table with my team earlier and not them. I know a few of them, but to my dismay there’s not a seat open anywhere else besides next to Valerie.

Payson will lose her fucking mind over this and there’s nothing I can do about it because if I chase after the player I sat with all night, someone will be suspicious. Monica was right, we need to be more careful, at least while we are here. A lot of important people in the volleyball world are here, and keeping Payson’s image spotless is my main focus. I can use this time to promote my girl. Not that she needs it, I know she will prove herself over the next four days but a little inside help might be nice too. Unfortunately, after some chatting, it seems everything is going through Valerie.

“Yeah, my dad retired and basically left everything to me,” Valerie tells me with a big smile.

I try to offer one back to be nice, but I don’t think it works because she loses hers pretty quickly.

“You okay? You’ve been pretty distracted the entire time we’ve been chatting.”

Most of the table has cleared out. Even my best fucking friend left after I saw one of the other coaches making fuck-me eyes at him. He better have gone to her room because as soon as I’m done here, I will have my tongue so deep in Payson’s pussy she won’t remember anything from tonight. I’ll tell her who Valerie is as soon as she asks, but I know shes not going to be happy. We’ve been so good lately; I don’t want the set back.

There is only three of us left, and I haven’t been able to get in a single fucking word between these two. It’s obvious there is something going on between Coach Fulton and Valerie but it’s not obvious enough to make it seem like they are together. Since it cleared out, I move to the opposite side to put some space between Valerie and me. Fulton seemed to relax after that. If only he knew I had my mind on another pussy, maybe he wouldn’t be so uptight.

“Sorry. Yes, I need to speak with one of my players. She has a hurt knee and I want to be sure she is icing it before tomorrow.” Easy enough lie and not completely wrong.

“Ah, yes. Payson Murphy. Your Libero,” Coach Fulton says. I smile, happy he already knows who I’m talking about. That means he must have gotten my tapes. Coach Fulton is the Colorado State coach for the men’s team, he’s not here with his team but he’s here as a scout. We go way back since he’s been in the industry for years. He was the one who bitched at me about throwing my jersey away at the game Payson was at. Said I needed to stop wasting my team’s money. He was more upset than my coach. I think I could easily get Payson an in because over the years, we grew friendly, but I know she doesn’t need me. I want her skill to get her there because I know it can. She played so well the other night, even with her knee.

“Yes. We had an accident with another player. But she’s fine. No tears, just strained and will be fine as long as she ices.”

Coach Fulton belly laughs. “Taking after her coach, hey? You all healed up from the last one?”

“Getting there. My body doesn’t bounce back as easily as it once did,” I joke.

He laughs again.

“Sucks getting old, doesn’t it?” Valerie adds.

I spend the next twenty minutes chatting about Payson in the most casual way I can. I mention Janelle and Monica as well. I know Monica plans on going to college for basketball like her parents, but I really think she could have a future in volleyball. She’s a fantastic Middle. Probably even better than Valerie. And Janelle has exceeded any expectations I had for her being an All-Around. By the end, I’m giving Fulton the rest of our schedule. I nearly jump to my feet after that because it’s been hours, and I need to find Payson. Now. I can only imagine what she’s got herself into.

I hit the main lobby, heading for the stairs because it’ll be faster than the elevator, but someone shouts my name. I want to ignore her because I can only imagine what she wants now.

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