“I can handle it,” I say.
“I hope so. And if you can’t, you come to me. Seriously, Chloe, if he does anything, says anything to you, come to me right away.”
“I will.”
“Good.” He hesitates, watching me carefully. I look back up at him again and bite my lip, unable to help myself. He smiles a little and lets out a breath. “I wish I’d met you under better circumstances.”
“Yeah?” I ask.
He nods and stands up. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah. See you around.”
He hesitates again and I think he wants to say something else, but he turns and leaves without another word. I watch him go, feeling a strange tingle on my lips. There’s some stupid part of me that wants to follow him, touch his hand, ask him what he wanted to say, why he was flirting with me, just to get him to talk to me more.
But I know it’s absurd. He’s at least ten years older than me. He’s an assistant coach at my college. We could never have something, even if we both wanted it.
I pick up my book and flip it open, but I can’t seem to concentrate. Every time I try to read a word, they seem to slip away, and when the two hours finally pass, I pack up my stuff and stand.
Still no Molly. I wonder if I’ll ever meet her.
I head to the door and leave, hurrying back to my apartment, David still on my mind.3DavidAfter practice, the guys head to the locker room. Head Coach Nathan Hardy likes to retire to his office and watch old game clips while the crew finishes up with the guys. Normally, I’d head into the locker room and talk to the players, make sure they’re feeling okay, offer pointers, just talk bullshit with them, but today I follow Nathan back to his office. He nods at me as we both step inside and he shuts the door.
“What’s on your mind, David?” he asks, getting behind his big wooden desk. Old trophies line the shelves behind him from back when California University was a real contender. But they’re all from the fifties and sixties, and they haven’t meant a thing in a very long time.
“I’ve got something unfortunate to talk about.”
Nathan leans back in his big, overstuffed black chair and lets out a grunt. He’s a heavyset man, balding in the front, and always wears an old baseball cap to cover it over. He takes the cap off, runs his fingers through what’s left of his brown hair, and shoves it back down. He takes his glasses off and sighs. We’re both wearing our usual coaching outfit of polo and slacks, but his is stained with sweat from running on the field with the guys. He likes to take an active hand in practice, and it’s a wonder he’s not thinner. Sometimes I’m curious about his diet.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s about Erik.”
Nathan snorts. “What’d he do?”
“It’s not good.” I hesitate. “It’s really not good.”
“Spit it out,” he says. “That boy’s been treated with kid gloves since he got here. It was a matter of time before he fucked up. What’d he do, steal some shit, get in a fight? Caught with drugs?”
“Last night, I was walking over to the athletics building when I caught him in an altercation with a fellow classmate. With a girl.”
He frowns at that. “An altercation?”
“Yeah, that’s right. They were having an argument, a loud one. He got in her face, shoved her, nearly knocked her over. I think he would’ve done worse if I hadn’t stepped in and stopped it.”
Coach stares at me for a long moment and sighs. “Is that where he got the shiner?”
“Yes, sir,” I say.
He laughs. “Goddamn, David. You punched our star player in the fucking face, didn’t you?”
“He shoved the girl hard, and I think he would’ve done worse,” I say.
“But he didn’t,” Nathan says slowly.
I feel like ice water runs through my veins. I clear my throat and shift in my seat before meeting his gaze. “He would’ve,” I say firmly. “You weren’t there.”
Nathan rubs the bridge of his nose. “Here’s the problem with what you’re saying. You think that boy assaulted a girl, and would’ve done worse. Well, what’s that mean, exactly? He would’ve beaten her up? Went even further and sexually assaulted her? I don’t know what you’re accusing him of, because he didn’t do it.”
“I stepped in before he had a chance to go there.”
“True. And it’s a good thing you did. I bet you scared him straight with that right hook.” Nathan grins at me but I don’t share his mirth. His smile disappears and he sighs. “Look, who is this girl? You bring her to me and we’ll sort it out.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “She doesn’t want to be involved in this.”