“I brought the team cupcakes. What is the damn problem?” I got into my battle stance—hands on my hips, sneer on my face and boobs puffed out. Gideon’s frown deepened into a scowl and the urge to kick him in the shins crossed my mind. “They are kids, Gideon. Children. Youths. Teenagers. Sugar is their bread and butter.”
His jaw tightened and he took two large steps toward me. Without a word, he tossed the entire tray into the trash. He met my eyes. “Sugar is unhealthy.”
My eyes stung. I’d spent a lot of money on those, and I budgeted precisely each month. And he’d just tossed them without asking.Asshole.Fucking asshole. I hate him.
I rubbed my temples—it was the first practice and I was already plotting ways to murder the guy. Michelle had said she knew a guy and I wasn’t beyond hitting him up. Gideon sucked that much. The bastard in question stared at me with a comment ready to fire at me, but I held up my hand. “No. Just…no.”
“What’s the big fucking deal? Coaches shouldn’t promote sugar.” He scoffed and waved to the parents dropping off the first player. “It’s not too late to run. Scoot along now, Barbie.”
No. I will not run. I will not let this chauvinistic guy win.My dad ran, Justin died… I will not run from my problems.I was a badass. I could do it. “Fuck yourself. Then, do it again.”
I plastered on a huge smile and shouldered his side when I walked out onto the field. Big Al was the first to arrive. I wasn’t surprised at all. “Hey, Big Al!”
“Coach Fiona!” He held up a small hand for a high-five and I wanted to squeeze the punk. He was that cute—his small frame had me thinking of him as ten, not fifteen. “I’m early. Mom says the early bird gets the worms.”
“Your mom is a smart lady. Early is good.” It was all I could do to not give him a noogie. He was so stinkin’ adorable.
“Is anyone else here?”
“No, sir. Just you.” I smiled at him and heard shuffled steps behind me.Fucking Gideon.“And Coach Titan.”
“They can call me GT.”
“Like your car?” I snapped back, but said it with a smile. Big Al didn’t sense the tension.
“Yeah. Just like my car. Hey. Garth is here now. He goes by GT, too. Kid has great taste.”
Gideon waved at the kid, but I think we all knew it was Garth’s mom. The woman had been a little too nice to me at the meeting. She had gone on and on about the Texting PSAs I had done and how awesome it had been for her kid’s school. I felt mollified, but it was a little overkill wearing a tight dress to a baseball practice in sixty degrees. Anything below eighty was cold in good ole Arizona, but hey, I wasn’t one to judge. Whatever tooted her horn.
“I wouldn’t mind showing her how to hit a homerun. You get what I mean?” Gideon had the gall to say to me as he nudged my shoulder. I recoiled at the contact. His hand probably had an STD.
“I think everyone in the county knows what you mean. I hope you wear batting gloves, if you know what I mean,” I fired back.Boom.
“Don’t be jealous, Barbie. It doesn’t look good on you.” He ran his tongue over his bottom lip and I wanted to rip it off. He was infuriating.
“Trust me. Jealousy is nowhere near what I’m feeling. Murderous, aggressive, physical are more like it.”
“I bet you’re aggressive.” He lowered his voice and I swore the asshole enjoyed being a dick to me. He got off on it. And I made the decision not to react. He had to have a real shit life for him to be this miserable.
“I’d love to see your claws come out, especially in the bedroom.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me in all his cocky, obnoxious glory.
Don’t react.Deep breath.Jail colors won’t suit me.
I released a long breath and decided to join the kids. They were the whole point. Almost all of them had arrived in that short timeframe—Gideon’s speech about being early had worked. Soon after, the first practice had begun and my heart swelled with pride.
Justin would be proud.The thought had me stumbling It came from nowhere and I wasn’t prepared. My breath hitched, my palms sweating. “I need a drink. I’ll, uh, be right back.”
“Doesn’t matter to me. Come back, don’t. Life goes on.”
The unfriendly, unhappy man helped with the distraction, but thinking of Justin hurt. These kids, they were fourteen and fifteen. They all had their phones and weren’t old enough to drive yet. There was still time to teach them the dangers. That way, they didn’t have to leave the earth at eighteen, with one last message sent before crashing into the median. My eyes stung—fuck. Fuck! Not today.
I didn’t want to show emotion, let alone to Gideon Titan. I found my water and chugged about half of it.Calm down. Suck it up. Move on.
Yeah—I had some major issues withfeelings. As in, I had about two and all the others I shut down. I preferred being happy or not happy. There was no in between and yet, little bits of emotions snuck through and when they did, they hit me hard. Thinking of that final text was enough to send me into a spiral. “Coach Fiona? Are you okay?”
Al stopped at the edge of the dugout with a concerned look on his face. “You look like you just seen a ghost.”
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks for asking. How’s practice going so far?”
