“You let him. And you can tell him I’ll be kicking his ass too.”
He put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it as a wry smile formed while he glanced down at my crutch. “Clevs you really shouldn’t be kicking anyone’s ass with your knee.”
My eyebrows raised slowly. “You better believe I’ll use my other leg, smartass.”
“Yeah? I’ll take my chances.” He moved across the locker room.
Drew slapped me on the back. “Think you’ve lost your touch, buddy.”
I rolled my eyes, heading toward the door Brogan was holding open for us, the three of us exiting into the hallway together, and spied Huck leaning against the wall at the end.
“You didn’t get far.”
He looked up at us just as the set of doors opened at the far end, the ones which led to the executive suites, and out walked Coach, followed by Nora.
“Who’s that with Coach?” Drew muttered.
“That, is Nora.”
“Your acupuncture therapy lady?”
I gave a single nod. “Yeah, I had a session with her this morning, but didn’t realize she’d stuck around. Maybe Coach finally convinced her to stay on.”
We didn’t move as they headed toward us.
“What are you all doing standing around here like a bunch of jocks? Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
Brogan hitched his bag up. “Yes, sir. We were just leaving.”
“Good.”
We started to move off when Nora put her arms around Coach, kissing him on the cheek. “Okay, I need to head off. Bye, Dad, see you later.”
“Bye, baby.”
Dad? Baby? Well this was an unexpected turn of events.
She smiled at me as she walked off. “See you in the morning, Felix.”
My brows stayed right up in my hairline as she passed me. “Yeah, see you.”
No one said anything and Coach didn’t stick around to offer an explanation, turning on his heel as soon as she was out of sight.
“Huh, I thought Coach’s kids were still in college.” Drew adjusted his cap. “Okay then, anyone want to go for burgers?”
“Dad? Did she say dad?”
We all turned in unison to see Huck, his face frozen in something resembling shock. Or maybe horror. Even a little fear. Either way, he looked like he was about to puke.
“What did you do?”
He stared at us all, unblinking.
“How did you not know she was Coach’s daughter?” He hissed at me.
“She doesn’t talk much, and even then it’s only about alternative medicine or what she learned in India. I tune a lot out.” My head fell back, unable to control my laughing. “Jesus. You are dead. I fucking told you to leave her alone.”
“Least now you don’t need to worry about fucking up your knee by kicking his ass.” Drew grinned at me as he slapped Huck’s face. “Because Coach is going to do it for you.”
