The door to the locker room opens, and the other ladies look expectantly over to see who it is. When Tony walks through the door, I try to make myself invisible against the wall.
“Ladies.” He gives the group a nod, then stops, his gaze zeroing in on me. One eyebrow raises, and then the smallest of smiles graces his face. “Hey Isabelle. Hope you had a good time.”
“She did,” Evie pipes up, then slams her mouth shut. Oh my God, could she be anymore obvious?
“Thanks, Tony, it was great.” I force a smile.
He nods. “Goodnight everyone.”
He walks away, and I swear, we breathe a collective sigh of relief.
“Evie girl, we have got to work on your poker face,” Lark mutters under her breath and we all burst out in giggles.
Crisis averted. But then the door opens again, and this time, it’s the players. And when Kai walks out and sees me with the others, his face softens for just a second before his cocky smirk is back in place.
In that second, I see an alternate reality, where there isn’t someone else taking my seat to watch the game. I’m there, wearing a jersey with Kai’s name on the back. And he’s coming up to me during warm-up, blowing kisses and flashing that smile that’s just for me.
I shake my head to clear the fantasy.
Because that’s all it will ever be.
Chapter twenty-one
Kai
“Yami, find me in my office when you’re done!” Coach barks at me, making my head jolt up from under the steaming hot shower.
“Yes, Coach,” I reply automatically, my hands lifting to scrub across my face. What the fuck?
“What did you do, bro?” One of the rookies stares at me from over the partition between the showers.
“Nothing,” I fire back as I quickly rush through the rest of my shower. We didn’t have a game today, just practice. And I can’t think of anything performance-wise he’d need to talk to me about. Shit. I don’t like this.
I turn off the water, dry off as fast as I can, then wrap the towel around my waist. Ignoring everyone, I stride over to my cubby and start yanking on my clothes.
“Where’s the fire, Yami?” Sin calls out, but I don’t answer.
“Coach just called him into his office,” the rookie not-so-helpfully says on my behalf. I shoot him a glare that has him quickly turning his back on me.
“Everything okay?” Sin says, in a quieter voice. After I pull my shirt over my head, I realize he’s standing next to me now, a concerned expression on his face.
I slump down on the bench and stare up at the ceiling, my mind racing in circles, trying to avoid the obvious reason Coach would want to talk to me.
“I don’t know.”
He sits down beside me. “You did good out there today, Yami. There’s no question. Coach wanting to talk to you isn’t always a bad thing, but I get the feeling you’re worried about it.”
I swallow, then force my usual smirk in place. “It’s all good, Sin. No one likes being called to the principal’s office, y’know? But I’m not worried.” I stand up and snatch my ball cap, slamming it over my wet hair. “See you tomorrow.”
Without looking at anyone else, I walk swiftly out of the locker room and down the short hall to the coaching staff’s offices.
I knock on the door and wait for his gruff answer.
“Come in.”
Pushing it open, I step into Coach Stirling’s office. I’ve been in here plenty of times, but this feels different. I’ve never been nervous to talk to one of my coaches before. Then again, I’ve never been involved with a coach’s family member before.
“Take a seat, Yami.”
