Page 13 of Reckless Goals

See? What an idiot.

What do you want?

He shouldn’t have been texting me. The coaches had our numbers but social calls were not usually part of the agreement. We saw them enough, anything they needed to tell us could wait until we were on their time, or was sent through our team message boards.

Ouch. Are we not friends anymore?

We were never friends. You’re my coach. My assistant coach. If you need me, use the team message boards, Hunter.

I tossed my phone away from me and stood, agitated and antsy. What the hell had gotten into him? He was taking his mood swings too far.

I was two steps away from my phone and it lit up with an incoming Facetime call.

Unknown.

Decline.

Answer the phone Ash. It's Rhys!

I grabbed the phone and sat on my bed, straightening my shoulders and readying myself to send him a rant about how inappropriate it was to act like Rhys.

Answer the phone so you can see it's me!

The incoming call started again and I stared harder at the number on the phone. Like a light bulb turning on, I remembered that Coach asked me if he could give Rhys my number. There was a chance it could very well be Rhys.

Oh no.

Swiping, I answered the call and covered my face, letting the video start while peeking through my fingers. It was like watching a scary movie, and I could barely bring myself to look.

ChapterSeven

Rhys

Iwas lying in bed when Colin sent Ash’s number to me. I didn’t need to actually text her, but my fingers just did it anyway. Teasing her about being her coach sounded fun, and I figured I would tell her good game. I even thought about seeing if she wanted to meet earlier than we normally did since she didn’t have practice the next day.

No part of me thought she would think it was Hunter, and when I realized how upset she was, I panicked.

The Facetime call was instinct. It was the only way I knew to prove to her it wasn’t Hunter and I hoped it calmed her down. The second time I tried calling, she answered, and I sat up as the video connected.

“Hey,” I breathed a sigh of relief.

She had one hand holding her phone and the other covering her face. Her fingers were spread open and one eye was peeking through. “Hey.”

“Not Hunter, just Rhys.” I tried assuring her.

“Yeah, I see that. My bad.” She dropped her hand from her face and I could see a faint pink in her cheeks. The lighting was dim but the angle of whatever light she had was reflecting perfectly in her eyes.

“Did something happen?”

“No. But with Coach leaving, I figured Hunter was overstepping.”

My jaw ticked, wondering if Hunter was going to take advantage of the girls being at his mercy. When Colin called to tell me he was leaving, he asked me to keep practicing with Ash and keep an eye on her. I hope that meant I was given a green light to kick Hunter’s ass if I deemed it necessary. Not that I ever needed permission to use my fists.

I started flexing my free hand that still ached from the last punches I threw. I wanted to promise her Hunter wouldn’t be a problem, but then maybe I would be the one overstepping. I wasn’t anything to her, much less her hero. She didn’t seem like the kind of girl that needed a hero, anyways.

“Good game today.” The pink that had started fading from her cheeks came back and a sweet smile crested her lips.

“Thanks, Rhys. Felt good to be focused. Playing with you the last couple of nights reminded me how much I love the game.”

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