Page 145 of Leave Me Broken

“Yes.”

He rambles something to the guy next to him, and he snaps his fingers like whatever they talked about connected the dots. The guy who didn’t ask rushes forward and grabs my hand, shaking it.

I narrow my eyes to him, then look back to his friends. “We are all huge fans, but he is our Setter. Big, big fan.”

“Big, big fan,” the guy still shaking my hand repeats in broken English.

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

After a short but nice conversation, most of the guys disperse and I move my hand to Payson’s shoulder without their cover from the audience. A few guys hang back, the ones who don’t seem as excited to see me.

“May I speak with you, Payson?” the blond guy in front asks, pinning me with a hard stare.

Payson squeaks under the pressure of my hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t think that is necessary,” I answer for her and that seems to piss him off even more, so he squares his shoulders and crosses his arms over his narrow chest. There was a time I looked like him, body type, I mean. Now I’m at least twice as wide and could crush him like a bug. He keeps trying to get my girl away from me and I just might put that theory to the test.

He spits something in Russian at me, then says, “I think it is since you have your hand pressing into her shoulder so hard she is wincing.”

I drop my eyes to Payson and lessen my grip. I hadn’t realized.

“Igor,” Payson mutters softly. “I’m fine.”

How many times must I hear her say those words? I’m fine. According to who, because apparently not according to her best friend and now this guy. She’s not fine to me either, but they’re acting as if I am the one making her not okay.

He stares hard at her for quite a few seconds, then a defeated sigh leaves his lips. “If you need to talk, find me on Instagram. It’s just my name.”

Payson’s eyes widen. “Oh, uh, yeah, okay.”

He walks away but not before shooting me another glare. I’m too busy trying not to throttle him to care about a stupid look. “If you—”

“I’m not going to. Come on.” She hurries from my grip but stops when she’s a few feet away and nods to me to follow.

Several coaches stop Payson on our way to wherever she is heading, the last ones being Coach Fulton and Valerie.

“I am quite impressed with your performance this week, Payson.”

Payson grins. “Thank you so much, Coach Fulton. I love this sport.”

“That’s very obvious in how you play. Even with a bum knee, you were the best Libero I saw here.”

Payson lets out a silent gasp. My eyebrows inch up my forehead because that’s a huge compliment. He’s right, but sometimes I wonder if I’m bias. Glad to know I’m not. “Wow, I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Say you’ll come see my school.” He thrusts a hand forward, holding numerous pamphlets with the school’s mascot on the top.

Payson is too distracted looking at the papers in her hands to say anything back. I know how she must feel knowing her dream school is interested. I am surprised to hear how much emotion is in her voice when she finally replies.

“I’m speechless. I’d love to.”

“I’m not the women’s team coach but I am in close contact with that coach. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it, but I’ve sent him videos. He’s definitely interested.”

He. If she goes to Colorado, she will have another male coach. I can’t keep her from that dream, but I can’t sit back and watch her be coached by a man that isn’t me. At this point, I’m not sure I would want anyone but me to be her coach. Male or female. It’s not like I don’t have the experience. We haven’t talked about what happens when she goes to college. I can’t just get hired anywhere. I’m sure after state I will have more opportunities, but what if none are where she wants to go? And what about Parker? I can’t tote him around the country when he is just getting settled here. I know he wants to go to school for football, American Soccer, and he will need to be settled in a school for that opportunity. Payson going away to college hasn’t been something I’ve thought about, but it should be. I can’t let her go.

“Coach?”

Her sweet voice pulls me back to the present. Fulton and Valerie are nowhere in sight, in fact, the gym is slowly emptying. There is a huge party in the banquet room from the first night where everyone is invited but that’s not for another hour.

I know what I want to spend that hour doing.

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