“Look at her trying to lift that box of supplies. Seriously. How hard is it to lift forty pounds? I had to sign a sheet saying that I could lift up to sixty pounds to even get signed on,” another trainer I didn’t know very well said.
“She’s a fat ass,” I heard Sinclair snap. “Sway can’t even do the most basic tasks. How is she still allowed to work here?”
“Excuse me? She’s my fat ass,” I heard myself saying. “Now get the fuck out. You won’t be working here in an hour. You might want to go ahead and pack your stuff.”
Sway turned the moment she heard my voice, and then her eyes narrowed at what had come out of my mouth.
But I had no time to soothe the hurt I saw on her face.
Not when I was this fucking mad.
“You have no authority to get me fired,” Sinclair snapped. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”
“Siggy!” I bellowed.
Siggy, who I’d seen in his office on my way to the training room, came barreling out of his office like he’d been shot from a cannon.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, jogging over toward me.
“Your assistant trainer just called my woman a fat ass.”
Sway gasped, as did everyone else in the room.
I hadn’t actually claimed her publicly before, and that showed on her face, making me realize what an incredible shithead I’d been for not doing it before now.
“Since when is she your woman?” Gentry teased from behind me.
“Since a couple of weeks ago,” I answered quickly. “Now shut up, and go get your hand looked at.”
“I’ll do it,” Sway volunteered, her eyes going wildly around the room.
I nodded. “Thank you, baby.”
Everyone stayed quiet until Gentry and Sway had left the training room.
“Sinclair,” Siggy started. “I suggest you pack your office up now. You won’t be working here by tomorrow afternoon.”
“You can’t fire me,” Sinclair snapped.
“I can’t, no.” Siggy agreed. “But I can suggest it to the people who can, and trust me, I will be doing that. If I can’t trust you to treat Sway correctly, how can I trust you to treat my players?” Siggy paused. “And honestly, Sway could fire you right now, seeing as she’s your superior. The question is, why hasn’t she?”
Sinclair’s eyes narrowed.
“I’ve worked here for four years now. They’re not going to fire me because of one insignificant comment,” Sinclair snapped, looking wildly around the room now for support.
“An insignificant comment that you made about the coach’s niece and the girlfriend of Hancock Peters,” someone muttered.
Sinclair’s mouth twisted in fury at hearing that comment.
“We’re not allowed to fraternize with the players. This…” he gestured to me and where Sway had disappeared into her office. “This isn’t even allowed. How, and why, she should get special treatment doesn’t even compute in my brain.”
“Maybe it’s because your brain is malfunctioning,” I murmured, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. “Never once, in my years of life, have I seen someone act so uncaring to another human being. You need to rethink your choices and start acting like a decent human being to people who don’t fit into your nice, perfect little box.”
“She disgusts me,” Sinclair sneered.
“That woman is the most beautiful person in this whole entire world. She makes my heart skip beats when I look at her across my pillow in the morning.” I cleared my throat. “I’m lucky to have her as my girlfriend. I’m lucky to have her as my friend…and you would have been her friend as well had you treated her with the respect she deserves. Now you’ll never know and not because she wouldn’t forgive you if you worked for that forgiveness, but because I won’t let you near her again. You’ll never get the chance to apologize, and I can’t find it in me to care.”
His eyes settled on Croft, who was busy looking between me, Siggy and Sinclair before starting the cycle completely over again.
“Say something,” Sinclair demanded of Croft.
Croft’s mouth opened and then closed.
When nothing came forth, Sinclair’s eyes narrowed.
“You’ll regret this,” Sinclair promised. “You should be careful who you share your discrepancies with.”
With that, Sinclair left, not bothering to clean his office out.
It was obvious that he thought he’d be back.
If I had my way, though, he wouldn’t. Not now, and not ever.
Siggy and I watched him go, as did about five other players, including Rhys.
“Thank you,” I said to the man who’d told me about the situation in the first place. “I appreciate it.”
Rhys shrugged. “You’d have done the same had the situation been reversed.”
“Now I have to go apologize for calling my woman names when I really didn’t mean what came out.”
“I hope you meant some of them,” Sway replied from behind me.
I turned.
And then the words started to fall out of my mouth without me being able to control them.