Page 12 of Not On Your Life

Prepared? She’s the one who threw up on me and made our session start late.

I bite back the retort. This feud with her is childish.

“Will do, master.” And I have not matured.

She scowls before retreating into the employee locker room.

I scratch my head, grimacing when all the muscles in my arms strain with the simple movement. This was a stupid plan.

Chapter 5

Maddie

I push out of the gym and stride through the parking lot, shoulders tense, head on a swivel to ensure Connor is long gone. That’s the problem with the devil. I think I’ve cast him out, but he butts right back into my life when I’m least expecting it. Darn demon.

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out to see my dad’s face pop up on my phone screen.

The tension in my body dissipates. “Hey, Dad.”

“Hey Mads, How are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

“I could be better. Your mom’s making me go to Bingo tonight instead of letting me stay home and watch the game.”

I chuckle at his displeasure. “You know you can record the game. I’ve shown you how to do it.”A hundred times.

“But it’s not the same.” He huffs, “You know I have to be in my chair or they’ll lose. And after Sunday’s game, they need all the help they can get. Did you see it? I don’t know what that coach is doing running a defense like that.”

There’s a flier trapped under my windshield wiper, and I yank it out while my dad launches into his usual spiel. I scan the paper,Temporary Volleyball Coach wanted at East Heights High School.

Weird. Why would a school advertise a coaching position with flyers on cars? That’s incredibly unsafe.

Visions of easier times flit through my head—playing volleyball through high school and receiving a scholarship to play collegiate. That was one of the happiest days of my life. My mom was less than thrilled, and I was lucky I even got to play with how against the sport she was. But at the end of the day, the scholarship was what sold her. She wanted me to be more successful than she was and made me promise to achieve greatness.

My gaze catches on the mediocre gym I just left. I achieved it all right.

I want to laugh at how badly I’ve screwed everything up. But then I’d probably end up crying, and I made myself stop doing that two months ago.

I fold the paper and stuff it in the side of my duffel before hopping in the car. I miss playing. I could join a league. But those people are always too friendly and will want to know what I do, and then I’ll remember how far I’ve fallen and…I’m not ready for that yet. I put the car in drive and pull out of the lot.

“Is that Maddie?” My mother’s heavily accented voice enters the conversation I forgot I was part of. “I need to talk to her.”

I exhale, bracing myself for the inevitable. I don’t know who was more upset when I lost my job as a lawyer: me or my mom. And for the last four months, she has been trying to “help“ me get back into the profession. But being from Brazil, English is her third language, right behind Portuguese and telling me what to do with my life.

“Filha, I found you a job.” She dives right in. “It’s in Vegas!”

I grimace. What kind of job did she find me? “Mom, I don’t think—”

“You’ll be the strip!”

“Mom!” I jerk the steering wheel and nearly cut someone off. This woman is going to kill me.

“I meanonthe strip. In those big buildings. Or the other side, I don’t remember. But you be in law again!”

I can see it now. My face on a billboard with the tagline: “Ruined your life in one night? Let me help.” My mom would even pay for it.

I rub my forehead and the headache blossoming there then take a long gulp of my water before responding. “I don’t want to work in Vegas.”