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“I’m counting on it,” I say.

She walks away, joining the Gators. My old teammates aren’t ignoring me anymore. They’re not shooting daggers at me, either. They’re acknowledging me, but from a distance. It’s the best I could hope for and I won’t push them for more. Not until they’re ready.

By the tunnel, Miguel is stacking water bottles into a crate. He doesn’t look up, but he lifts one hand off the crate as I go past, and puts it back.

I join my team to celebrate. We’ve beaten the Gators. We’re on a roll.

Lexa leans over to whisper in my ear. “How about that orgasm you promised me?”

I grin. “We have the hotel room for a couple more hours. If we slip away now, I can give you more than one.”

She bites her lip, and I know she’s in.

CHAPTER 16 – Isabella

Thursday, October 9

Last season, I dreaded my Thursday meetings with Carmen, but now that the club is growing and we actually have a few more people on board, I’m looking forward to it.

So far, there are only four of us—Carmen, Patricia, Alycia, and I. We start with the financial reports, which are improving but still not ideal. Alycia has been doing a great job with the marketing and sponsorship, but she needs more resources, more staff.

“We need to hire more people, especially in the digital and social media department,” she says, showing us some graphs and charts on the projector. “Our online presence is not strong enough, and we’re losing potential fans and customers to other teams.”

“We can’t afford more full-time staff,” Patricia tells her.

“What are our alternatives?” I ask Alycia.

“Freelancers?” she offers. “Interns? Volunteers?”

Carmen shakes her head. “We need quality, not quantity. We can’t rely on amateurs or cheap labor. We need professionals who know what they’re doing.”

“I agree,” Patricia says. “But we need to know our limits. Tell you what.” She looks at Alycia. “Find someone who recently graduated. They need to be young enough to accept the salary we can offer, but they also need to be willing to learn and grow. You need to get someone who’ll be willing to do some research and pick up new skills.”

Alycia nods. “It’s not ideal, but I’ll look into it.”

“Great,” Patricia says. “Now, what’s next?”

“Apex lawyers are still snarling over Mia Hartley,” Carmen says.

“They have no case,” I tell her. “Mia was a free agent. They’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“It’s not just about Mia,” Carmen says. “They’re trying to intimidate us into backing off. They don’t like that we’re getting stronger, that we’re a threat to them. They want to keep us down.”

I sigh. “Figures.”

“Of course they do,” Alycia says. “They’ve already got everything else that was ours. Now they want to make sure we stay small.”

“Apex, the Tide, the Predators, whatever they’re calling themselves this month, they’re not our concern,” I say and open the folder in front of me. I’ve worked hard to prepare this proposal. “I want to talk about our next investment. I think it’s the best logical step for our future.”

Everyone looks at me, waiting for me to elaborate. I hand out the brochures I prepared.

“We can’t rely on our players if they’re injured,” I say. “If they can’t play, we’re basically throwing our money out the window.”

“What do you suggest?” Carmen asks.

“Raul is doing what he can, covering more than just coaching, and he’s doing a great job,” I tell them. “But I think it’s time we get ourselves a real physio for the girls. We should get a surgeon on retainer to have access to the best medical care if something happens.”

I don’t mention the injury list Raul wrote out at a dinner table in March, or which name on it has a knee next to it. I don’t need to. I’ve read it more times than I’ve read the budget.