“Bye, ladies,” he said, and with that, Leena closed the door behind him.
Chapter Sixteen
Wade
I left Eryn's place the night before feeling weird. For more reasons than one.
On the one hand, of course, I'd been happy about the fact that my plan had worked and I'd managed to find out that Tammy and Kelly were behind her injury. I was still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that Tammy had deliberately tripped Eryn. It was just petty and childish. But, justice would be served. I had every intention of making sure that nothing like that ever happened again on my team.
On the other hand, it had been a little strange to be in Eryn's apartment like that: her home, her personal space, the place where she slept, ate, and went about her life.
I'd felt that familiar tension simmering between us the moment I walked in — that raw, burning desire that we were both trying so hard to suppress. It hadn't gone away on my end, and I felt like it hadn't gone away on hers, either.
There was nothing we could do about it, though. It was frustrating, exceedingly so. I couldn't help wondering if, and hoping, the feelings would resolve themselves over time, wondering if they'd go away. At the moment, it seemed as if they weren’t going anywhere.
All I could do was try not to think about it. I had needed a distraction. When I got home, I’d called the university’s athletic director and discussed the situation with him to make sure I was going about removing Tammy and Kelly from the team in a way that was in line with the school’s protocol.
Once we finished our discussion, I put on a movie and kicked back on my sofa, trying to keep myself distracted. But my mind didn’t stay on the movie. It was on Eryn and the interesting day I knew I had to look forward to. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep.
The first thing I did when I woke up was send Tammy and Kelly a message letting them know I needed to speak with them in my office that morning and coordinated a time they could both meet there. We were scheduled for ten o’clock.
They showed up a few minutes after ten and by the time they did, I had stewed over the situation all morning. I was already teetering on the edge of losing it when I saw them, especially Tammy, who showed up with a flirty, smug grin on her face.
All I could think about was that I was about to wipe that grin right off her overpainted lips. Just the thought of what she had done to Eryn had my blood boiling.
“Sit down,” I said, my eyes cold and my lips tight.
They each took a seat across from me. Dan, one of my assistant coaches, slipped into the back of my office, just as I had asked him to earlier that morning. I needed a witness to the meeting as suggested by the school’s athletic director. Dan stood quietly in the back.
“So, what's going on, Wade?” Tammy asked, glancing over her shoulder at Dan with a confused look on her face. “I hope you’ve called us in here to tell us you're going to be putting us back on the starting lineup.”
I chuckled, truly amused she would even think that was a possibility. “Um, no. That's not what this meeting is about, not at all. In fact, I'm gonna let you two do the talking,” I informed them.
“What?” Tammy asked.
“I don’t understand,” Kelly added. “What do you want us to talk about?”
I put my phone on the desk and played the audio recording for them. I watched coldly as their smug expressions quickly turned to expressions of horror, shock, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d have said even a little guilt.
“Do you two have anything to say for yourselves?” I asked.
Silence.
I continued. “Tammy, you deliberately tripped Eryn, which caused her to get injured. Kelly, you knew about it, encouraged it, and laughed about it. So, I’ll ask again: do you two have anything to say?”
They both sat silent for a moment; neither dared to make eye contact with me. Suddenly, though, Tammy looked up at me with defiant anger in her gaze.
“All right, Wade, so you think you caught us. Well, why don't you tell me, what are you gonna do about this?”
“You’re both being expelled from the team. That’s what I’m doing. Don't bother coming to practice this afternoon. You're out. Pick a new sport, or pick a new university.”
Kelly immediately started crying, but I had no sympathy for her. Tammy, however, remained resilient and defiant. “Ya know, I thought you were cool, Wade. I really did. But now I realize that you're nothing. You're just a washed-up has-been who's old and lame and long past his prime.”
I chuckled dryly. “I feel terribly hurt by your words, Tammy,” I retorted, my tone dripping with sarcasm. “Now leave. And don't come back.”
“I sure hope you’ve saved up plenty of money from your pro career, Wade, because you're going to need it,” Tammy threatened.
“Oh really? And why is that?” I asked, glancing back at Dan who was shaking his head at her behavior.