Page 4 of Bliss

“Hey.” I stopped and held out my hand to my brother. When he just looked at me like he had no clue what I wanted, I shoved his shoulder and then reached into his back pocket for his wallet. “Your brother is at…” I blanked on the address and turned to the valet. “Tell her where this place is.”

While he did as instructed, I extracted all the cash from Damien’s wallet. Six hundred and twenty-three dollars. Taking the phone back, I handed over the money to the valet. “Thanks for all your help.”

“Bliss? Bliss!” Hayat shouted.

“Stop yelling. I’m right here. Did you get the address?” I opened the passenger door and pointed. Shoulders hunched, Damien got in.

“Barely. Ky heard it, though. Why do I need to know some random place in the Hills?”

“Because that is where your brother is. With Caprice.” I glanced back to see why he hadn’t followed me, only to find him holding Caprice’s hair while she puked on the lawn. “Do with that what you will. I’m taking my brother home and will deal with him accordingly. Love you. Bye.”

Disconnecting, I slid into the driver’s seat.

“What was up with you and Coach Kavanaugh?”

Damn it.

Noah

Seeing Bliss at the party the Titans’ owner threw to welcome me to the team completely caught me off guard. It wasn’t how I’d planned our first meeting in seven years. I’d had an entire strategy, and of all the people to cause a foul, it was her own family.

I knew Evan Cutter was her cousin. When I’d gotten the offer from the Titans after they’d fired their last head coach following the douchebag’s recent scandal, Evan was one of the top reasons I’d accepted the position.

He was the youngest player on the team, but he was also one of the most talented. I’d been following his career since he was in high school, then his single year of college ball. Evan went quickly in the draft, and I’d studied enough of his game film to know he was an asset to the team.

What he didn’t know was that he was going to be one of my ins to win his cousin back.

Everyone on the team had shown up for the party, bringing dates and friends to meet me. That Evan brought a date wasn’t all that surprising. He was in enough tabloids with Caprice Knight for it not to be a secret they were friends. It was rumored they were more, but with how she’d acted all night, I had serious doubts. Mostly, Evan had babysat her all evening, trying to keep her out of trouble when she flirted with other players. Sometimes right in front of those players’ significant others.

I was genuinely surprised she didn’t end up knocked out by more than one pissed-off wife. After observing for a while, though, I realized that the team mostly considered her like one would an annoying fly buzzing around. For the most part, everyone tried to ignore her.

It was Evan’s second guest who truly threw me. He’d invited his cousin Damien, Bliss’s brother. I’d never met the guy before, just as I’d never gotten the chance to meet anyone in her family while we were together. That was on me. I’d been so insistent on keeping our relationship a secret, I’d threatened to end things if she told anyone about us, including her family.

I couldn’t deny that I’d been an asshole back then, but I’d been working on myself since losing her.

Once I’d made the rounds with the team’s owner and the GM, I socialized with the players for a little while, letting them introduce me to their own guests. Rapport was good for building communication skills with my team. I wanted them to think of me as a family member, one they actually liked, but also respected. Being a tyrant only got a coach so far. It took more than fear to win championships. My methods had worked well enough that I had five college championships. But college players were different from the boys in the pros. Egos got in the way. I knew of more than one player I’d have to teach about the real teamwork it took to get those rings they craved.

While I spent time getting to know some of the other players, I’d kept Damien Stevenson in my periphery, working my way toward him so it wouldn’t look suspicious when I did speak to him.

By then, Damien looked stressed, glancing at his phone every thirty seconds while keeping up a cordial conversation with me. At first, I’d wondered if he knew who I was—the man who’d broken his sister’s heart—but then he’d complained about Caprice, and I realized he was watching his phone to see when his ride arrived so he could leave.

“Caprice doesn’t understand the meaning of personal boundaries. If I’d known she was going to be here tonight, I wouldn’t have come,” Damien confided with a grimace. “Just between us, Coach, if she ever gets you alone in a room, get the fuck out of there.”

“Why does Cutter put up with her?” I asked, curious as I watched Evan follow the blonde through the crowd, tugging her back whenever she got too close to one of the players whose wife was giving her the stink eye.

“Blind loyalty?” It came out as a question more than a statement. “Sheer stupidity? I’ve been asking myself the same thing for years, man, and I still don’t know what the answer is. Mostly, though, it’s her taking advantage of his hero complex. She’s not even a tenth as fragile as she tries to make him believe she is. I don’t think he’s in love with her or anything, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up married to her one day for no other reason than he can’t tell her no.”

I could see both concern and disgust on Damien’s face. He obviously didn’t want his cousin to end up in any kind of relationship with the young blond woman. I made a mental note to attempt to steer my star player away from his potential downfall.

That was the thought that was still playing in my head when I spotted her. Bliss didn’t simply walk with purpose toward her brother. She rolled in like a storm—fast, furious, potentially deadly. And I couldn’t fucking breathe, let alone think clearly.

She was dressed in only a pair of small sleep shorts and an old hoodie from college that was the tiniest bit snug over her ample chest, showcasing she wasn’t wearing a bra. My tongue got tangled in my mouth trying to contain the flood of saliva at the delectable sight of this beautiful creature standing close enough to touch for the first time in years.

God damn it, years. I was a fucking idiot for wasting so much valuable time with her.

Seeing the fire in her blue-gray eyes aimed at her brother, I was transported back to the night I’d ended our relationship and the vile things I’d said to her. The hurt that had crossed her lovely face, those shimmering tears as she’d stood in her living room looking up at me like I was a stranger, followed by the spark of rage that had ignited deep in her eyes, would haunt me forever.

I’d known I was making a mistake even as the words spilled out of me. I had no excuse for how I’d behaved that night, other than I’d been scared for possibly the first time in my adult life. I’d loved Bliss so damn much, but she was a student and I was technically still a staff member. My boss had almost found out about us, and he was sniffing around. If he’d discovered our relationship, I would have lost my job, along with my entire career. Fraternizing with a student was something that would have followed me everywhere, and I’d just gotten an offer too good to be true.