Page 7 of De Vil

“Well, I’m busy.” Tia sasses me.

I smile at her and walk around until I’m blocking the other players from seeing what is about to happen. Moving closer to her, I make sure she can hear me.

“Princess, if you want to be a part of this team, you better get one thing straight. When I tell you to do something, you will do it without question.”

Tia is breathing hard, and she looks conflicted. I see the passion and anger waging war within her.

“Fine.” She grits her teeth. “Are we done here?”

“For now. Bring your A game, Falcon. These girls are out for freshman blood.”

I blow the whistle, and the girls fall in line, waiting to see what my plan is for today.

“We are going to do scrimmages.” I look at my clipboard and nod to myself. “Setters will be Toley and Gente.”

The two girls run to get into their position. “Our opposite hitters are Moodie and Jones.” I don’t wait for them to get into position to continue. “Middle blockers, Constantine and Adams. Liberos will be Braxton and Wixton.”

Smiling, I look at the remaining girls and see Tia getting pissed. She’s an excellent outside hitter, but I want her to earn her spot.

“Our defensive specialists will be Eckers and Yancy. The rest of you, go to the weight room. You’ll do a full body workout, and we will meet back up in thirty minutes. Then you will scrimmage and run while these girls workout.”

All the girls leave, but Tia takes a little longer. “Unreal,” she murmurs as she passes me. I know she expected me to put her in during the first round. However, I want to see her be a team player. Right now, she’s a bit too cocky for her own good.

Angry fumes flow off me as I make my way to the workout room. The audacity of my coach is ridiculous. I look around the room, and the other girls are already picking out machines.

“You want to be spot buddies?” an older girl asks me, and I shrug.

“Yeah.”

“Cool. I’m Libby.”

Her tank top is bright pink and says her name. I almost make a joke, but I think better of it.

“Tia.”

“I know. You’re all anyone can talk about.” She smiles at me and sits down on the bench. “The college was ecstatic to recruit you. Well, at least the athletic department, anyway.”

Being human isn’t in my nature, but I can fake it. “Oh wow. That’s an honor to hear.” The words are like acid as they leave my lips.

“I’m surprised Coach didn’t put you in.”

As I move to the front of the bench that Libby picks out, I grip the bar handle hard. My anger is trying to get the better of me, but I’m trying my best to keep it in check.

“Yeah, I’m sure she has a plan.” Libby lies down and readies herself. As she lifts, I realize she's kind of weak. The bar itself is forty-five pounds, and she only added twenty more pounds.

“How many reps are you going to do?”

Libby huffs to get the bar up. “Two sets of ten reps. It’s my max.”

I say nothing, but I’m sure she’s faking. There is no way this is her max. All the other girls are doing a hundred or more in weight with at least four sets of ten to fifteen reps.

“Good. Keep going, Libby,” I encourage her as she completes the last rep of the last set.

“Thanks, Tia!” She grins at me, and I grin back because she may be the only ally I have. “Your turn,” she chirps at me.

I take the ten-pound plates off and add the forty-five plates on. Libby looks at me in shock.

“You can press 135 pounds?” Libby looks at me with uncertainty.

---