Her career is just as important as mine.I live game to game, and she lives book to book.We are only as good as our next play.The last thing I want is for her to get distracted from finishing her book and missing her deadline.That would kill any future chance of making her my girl faster than treating her like a quick lay.
I’m not even paying attention to where I’m walking as I make my way down the hallway to the locker room.
“Hey, handsome.”The voice crawls over my skin, making me suddenly feel ill.“I’ve been waiting for you.”
I sidestep Tracie as she tries to touch me.“You’re not allowed to be here.”
She pouts, but it has zero effect on me.“Don’t be that way.You know we’re meant to be together.”
“I have a girlfriend,” I tell her, tucking my hands into my pockets as I put more space between us.
“We all slum it sometimes,” she says with a shrug.
Her words slam into me, and I see red.I stalk toward her, getting in her face, but I am careful not to touch her.“Let’s get something straight…again.I am not yours.You’re not mine.We’re not a couple.Bianca’s my girl, you crazy bitch.”
The insane part of her takes over, and she laughs right in my face.“You’re precious with how much you defend your little toy.Have your fun now, Vinnie.Sow your oats.It doesn’t matter to me.I know who you’re going to be with in the end.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to calm down because my body’s vibrating with anger.“We are nothing.”
“Gallo,” Coach calls from the door of his office down the hallway, probably saving me from doing or saying something I’ll regret.
“This is the last time I’m going to tell you to leave me alone.”I don’t give her another chance to say something back before I jog toward the coach’s office, trying to shake off the tightness in my body from Tracie’s bullshit.
“What’s up, Coach?”I say when I am face-to-face with him.
He’s standing in the doorway, arms crossed, his eyes going between Tracie and me.“Step inside,” he tells me.“We need to talk.”
I pace the small empty patch of linoleum in front of his desk, waiting for him to speak.He walks through his office slowly before collapsing into his chair.“Stop moving.You’re making me nervous, for shit’s sake.”
I stop quickly and turn to face him.“What’s being done about her?”
He lets out a heavy sigh before shuffling papers around his extremely messy desk.“She’s seeing her psychiatrist again and back on the meds, but her grandfather can’t bar her from the facility, though she’s no longer allowed in the locker room.”
“That’s it?”I glance up toward the ceiling and curse under my breath.
“If she becomes more aggressive, her parents are willing to get her treatment in a facility, but right now, this is the best we can do.”
“So, all that shit about me being the future of the team?”I ball my hands into tight fists at my sides and bite down my anger.The last thing I want is to give anyone a reason to cut me from the team before the season even starts.
“It’s still true.Listen, you have a few options.”
I cross my arms over my chest and lift my chin.I’m pretty sure they’re all going to suck, but I don’t tell Coach that.
“One, you just hang tight and wait for her to find a new infatuation.”
“Victim,” I mumble because infatuations can be something great, but not when Tracie’s involved.“Coach, she’s been after me for almost a year.I don’t see her moving on any time soon.”
“Two,” he says, skipping right over what I just said.“You can file a TRO against her, but the likelihood it’ll be put in place and followed is highly doubtful.Plus, it’ll end up in the hands of the press.No longer will the story be about the superstar kid who’s going to take his hometown team to the play-offs.It’ll be about your relationship with the owner’s granddaughter.”
“There’s no relationship,” I correct him.
“Or we sit back and wait for her to really fuck up.”
“That’s all you have?”I shake my head slowly and groan.
“That’s it, kid.”
I don’t say another word before I storm out of his office, finding the hallway empty, and head toward the locker room.In a few short months, my life has gone from uncomplicated to crazy-as-fuck without any middle ground.
