Possessive Coach

David grins at me and joins in. Sara starts laughing too, and the three of us lose it there in the truck.

Finally, David turns onto the road and heads back in the other direction, back toward town. “I saw a good place back there,” he says. “Dinner on me?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sara says. “I think I’m down with that.”

I grin and put my hand on his knee. He smiles at me, takes my hand in his, and we drive into the night.21DavidI keep waiting for the axe to drop.

But nothing happens. I drop the girls off at their apartment and head back home. I get upstairs, have a couple drinks, try to play video games to get my mind off shit, but I can’t help worry.

Leaving Erik out there felt good at the time. I mean, he deserved it, no doubt in my mind. But it was irresponsible and stupid. I’m supposed to be the kid’s coach, and yet I just drugged him and left him for dead.

No, no, I can’t think like that. He’s not left for dead, just for a very bad time. He’ll struggle and suffer but he’ll survive, and maybe he’ll come out the other side a little bit better.

Or he’ll come out the other side raging mad. Or dead.

Fuck.

I force myself to go to bed after another drink. I toss and turn all night, but I manage to get a few hours of sleep. When I wake up right at sunrise, I text Chloe, not able to help myself.Me: Did you hear from him yet?I get up, shower off, and there’s a message waiting for me when I come back out.Chloe: Not yet. I thought he’d call you first. Or text you. Oh, god, did we fuck up?

Me: No, it’s fine. I’ll see him at practice. He’s probably just figuring out what to do. It’s going to be okay.

Chloe: Should I text him? I have his number.

Me: No. Don’t. Let’s wait it out. Trust me, okay?

Chloe: I trust you.

Me: Did you sleep at all?

Chloe: Maybe a few hours.

Me: I should’ve had you stay over, I just thought it would be better if we didn’t.

Me: I didn’t sleep either.

Chloe: I wish you were here.

Me: I’ll come see you after practice, okay?

Chloe: Good. I want to sleep in your bed tonight. Is that bad?

Me: Not at all.I smile and grab breakfast, but I keep one eye on my phone. I expect a message from Erik all morning, but nothing comes.

Eventually, I force myself to go to campus. I head into the locker room and go right to my office. It’s empty, the whole locker room is empty, and there’s no sign of Erik or of anyone else. As far as I can tell, it’s a totally normal day, and nothing out of the ordinary happened the night before.

I sit in my little office closet and I wait. A couple hours before practice, I get a text. I grab my phone and stare, but it’s just Frank.Frank: Trip soon?

Me: Definitely.

Frank: After the drug test though lol!I shake my head and toss my phone onto my desk. I don’t know how I’ll get out of that one, but I’ll think of something. I like Frank, I just don’t really want to do acid. I lied about the coke and the mushrooms, although I did smoke a little weed in high school.

Soon though, the locker room starts to fill up. Guys come in, the other coaches show up, and I’m practically shaking with anticipation. I keep waiting for Hardy to call me into his office to fire me and press charges for endangering the life of a fucking kid. Or maybe I’ll just get arrested on the spot for Erik’s murder.

Finally, I can’t take it anymore. I get up and storm into the locker room. I look around at the guys and move through the lockers until I come to the back row.

Sitting on the bench alone is Erik.

I stand there and stare at him. He doesn’t see me right away. He looks tired and disheveled. He’s pulling on his uniform slowly and stops once to stare at his hands. He blinks his eyes, shakes his head, and finishes getting dressed. He turns and sees me, and nearly jumps out of his shoes.

“Fuck,” he says.

“Erik.”

He frowns at me and squints. “Coach.”

“Come with me.”

He hesitates. “Do I, uh, have to?”

I narrow my eyes. “Get up and come to my office.”

Erik slowly stands and keeps his head down. He won’t meet my eyes. I walk back to my office and he follows at a distance. People are staring at us, but I don’t care about that. I’m too curious and angry to stop them from watching.

I sit behind my desk. “Close the door.” Erik shuts it and shuffles over to the chair. He sinks down into it and shuts his eyes for a second before opening them again. He looks away and stares down at his shoes.