Page 75 of Her Coach

We had to kick off the season right.

I clapped my hands as I followed up the boys into the locker room. “All right, everyone! Out of those skates, off with those jerseys and practice pads, and I want your feet shoulder-width apart.”

Jett grinned. “Think we don’t know how to stretch, Coach?”

I quipped back as I looked down at my clipboard. “If your lack of hamstring flexibility is any indication, yes.”

Jett barked with laughter as the locker room fell apart in a cacophony of sounds that forced my whistle back into my mouth. I pulsed it three times, allowing the ear-screeching sound to bounce off the very acoustic walls of the locker room.

“Feet! Shoulder-width apart!” I barked.

All of them moved in tandem, fixing their feet with their hands clasped behind their back in a formal team stance I’d drilled into them this week. Just because we were fighting for respect in this league didn’t mean we held ourselves to anything less than a championship standard.

I drew in a deep breath as I stood in the middle of the ring they’d made around me. “Hands! Toes! Now!”

I walked them through fifteen minutes of cool-down stretching. The last thing we needed was one of these fuckers pulling something at the last minute. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew that some would stick around for the weight room. Others would probably get back out on the ice. So, instead of trying to dampen their hardworking spirits, I simply made sure they’d be safe.

Well, as safe as I could keep them.

“Hands! Air! Now!

“Knees! Out! Bend over!

“Lean forward! Don’t lock those knees! I know you can stretch further than that, Jett! Let’s stop disappointing those girls!”

The locker room fell apart in laughter, and I couldn’t help the grin that tugged its way across my face. Jett’s laughter bellowed over everyone’s heads, and I pulsed my whistle three times as they all covered their ears.

“All right,” I said as I leveled out my voice.

The boys slowly slipped their hands down off their ears before they gathered themselves back onto their feet.

I drew in a deep breath. “Tomorrow’s the big day. The day where everyone expects us to take the ice and lose with grace so that the The Hideout can run drink specials everyone can drown themselves in.” I stared into each and every one of the pairs of eyes staring back at me. And that’s when my voice mounted as I clapped my hand against my clipboard. “So, get some rest for tomorrow before we show them why they’re running full prices on those fucking drinks tomorrow!”

“Yeeeeeeeeah!” the team cheered.

Lockers slammed and helmets crashed against the benches as the guys whooped and hollered and cheered. I tucked my clipboard beneath my arm as I watched the team cheer their way out of the locker room. Jett pointed at me before he left, and I just shook my head as he disappeared after tossing me one of the many cheeky winks he seemed to give everyone around him.

I’d have to keep my eye on that boy.

“I’m serious!” I barked at them as they all funneled out of the locker room. “If any of you are at a bar, or restaurant, or fucking around when you should be resting for this game tomorrow? You’ll be benched. So go home and rest up!”

“Yes, Coach!” they all bellowed down the hallway in unison.

And just as Rhett trickled out of the locker room, always the last to leave, his words caused me to whip around.

“Heeeeey, Bry,” Rhett said in that lilt of his.

“Lookin’ good, Em!” Jett chirped from somewhere down the hallway. “You should wear that dress more often!”

“Thanks, Jett!”

I ground my teeth together. “Home! Showered! Now!”

“Yes, Coach!” the team responded as they continued scattering down the hallway.

But when Brynn rounded the corner to come into the locker room, I realized Jett was right. Fucking hell, the sundress she had on clung to every single part of her that I had memorized the other night.

I licked my lips as she approached me with that earth-shattering smile on her face. “Sounds like practice went well.”