“Nurse Sutton.”
“Nurse Sut—” I darted my gaze around, looking for whoever the fuck this person was and cranking myself up to give them a piece of my mind. You didn’t juststealfootball players inthe middle of practice. There were protocols to follow. Proper channels, clear communication… Some basic fucking courtesies. And thisnursethought she could just?—
All the air was sucked out of the room, my internal tirade coming to a screeching halt when my eyes landed on trouble. My Trouble.
No, notmyanything.
Someone was playing a cosmic fucking joke on me. They had to be. Because Trouble—Sutton, apparently—stood with a clipboard in hand, one brow raised in my direction. Her lips were pursed as she regarded me, eyes challenging, before dismissing me just as quickly.
But I remembered when those same eyes had been blissed out after her sixth orgasm. Remembered her throaty little moans falling from those plush lips every time I sank deep. Recalled exactly how she?—
“Coach Steele,” she said, and I ignored the way my muscles tensed at hearing my name from her lips. “I see you’re an equal opportunity asshole.”
“You—” I glowered at her, trying to get a read on just what the fuck was happening here. But I had no idea because she’d thrown me off my game. I wasneveroff my game. “You can’t say ‘asshole’ in front of the kids.”
The kid standing closest to me snorted—no doubt because I’d just stormed in here, throwing around far more colorful language—and I shot him a glare that shut him up real quick.
Not her, though.
This infuriating woman just shrugged. “I call ’em like I see ’em. If you don’t want me to call you an asshole in front of the kids, stop acting like an asshole.”
I crossed my arms and clenched my jaw, refusing to allow her to get under my skin. Well…any more than she already was. But that ended right here, right now. I didn’t care if she was mytenant, and I didn’t care if we had to, apparently, work together. I had no room in my life for anything else. Certainly not a mess like this.
“We’re in the middle of practice,” I snapped. “This game against Central isn’t going to win itself. Whatever you need can wait.”
Instead of rising to my bait, she just gave me her back as she focused on some paperwork in front of her. “If you want these guys on the field this weekend, they’re going to stay here until I’m done with them. These incomplete physical forms say they can’t doanythinguntil I sign off, let alone participate in an away game. So, do you want them to play or not, Coach?”
“Yeah, Coach, you want us to play or not?” Jackson echoed.
“Was anyone talking to you? Drop and give me thirty.”
He grinned, shooting a glance at his buddies. “You’re joking, right?”
I pinned him with a glare. “Does it look like I’m joking?”
“Damn, Coach,” he muttered, but he dropped as instructed and began his push-ups. “Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?”
I flicked a brief glance at Sutton before turning my glower back on him. “Make it fifty.”
Later that night,I wasn’t in any better of a mood by the time I left the school and stalked to my car in the pouring rain. This day had gone from shitty to shittier, and I wanted a hard reset on the entire fucking thing.
I turned onto my driveway, my headlights bouncing over the terrain, the shapes distorted thanks to the rain. But not distorted enough that I didn’t see a pile of something in the middle of thepath. I slowed to get a better look and stopped entirely when it moved.
“What the hell?” Throwing my SUV into park, I opened the door and got out, the rain dousing me in seconds. I stalked over to investigate, squatted down, and found a pile of…kitten?
It gave a pitiful mewl, the tiny thing shivering and soaked to the bone. A gust of wind kicked up, nearly toppling it over.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
How the hell did this get all the way out here? I lived too far off the beaten path for it to be someone’s pet, besides the fact that it didn’t have a collar.
I scooped up the pile of pitifulness and held it out in front of me. The entire drenched ball of fur fit in the palm of my hand. I might be an asshole, but I wasn’t so much of an asshole that I’d leave this thing out here to figure shit out on its own.
With another muttered curse, I unzipped my jacket, tucked the kitten inside, and headed back toward my SUV. Certain I’d pissed off karma at some point, based on my week so far.
Ihatedcats. What, with all the ways they were constantly plotting your murder and all. Worse, I had no fucking idea what to do with one.
As usual, I’d stayed late at the school, which meant the vet clinic was closed for the evening. My brothers would only make matters worse if I asked for help. And my mom was at her weekly book club and wouldn’t be home for a couple hours. Which meant I was up shit creek without a paddle.
