Page 6 of Anything Goes

“I’ll call your father when I get ready,” she said. “And I don’t appreciate you avoiding the question. If you’re that determined to keep the truth from me, then I already know who it is.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

I closed the door behind me and hurried to my car.

If I told my mother who was calling, our conversation would have taken a drastic turn. I was having a good day, and I didn’t want that to be ruined.

3

Alauni

He had one job…be on time.

Tapping my feet against the grass as I stood in the middle of the football field, I watched as Law made his way down the bleachers. His eyes peeked over at me and darted back towards the team as they finished up what was left of their two-lap warm up around the track.

From his uncomfortable expression, it was obvious that he knew that I was pissed. If there was one thing I didn’t tolerate, it was tardiness.

“Sorry, I’m late. I—”

“Save it,” I said, rolling my eyes. I blew my whistle and motioned for the team to meet me in the field. “Hustle up!” They hurried over, a few of them taking time to carry on side conversations that quickly stopped once I reprimanded them with a lifted brow. “Everyone, I would like for you to meet our new assistant coach, Law Montgomery. For the most part, I’m sure many of you already know him from around the city and the school.”

“What's up, Officer Montgomery?” Broderick said, greeting him with a fist bump. “I thought you moved away or something. I haven't seen you in a while.”

“Nah, I just had to take a little break.”

“Oh okay. Well, it’s good to see you.”

“Thanks, man. It’s good to see you too,” he smiled, pulling out his shades and sliding them onto his face.

Damn, I love him, I thought, staring way longer than I should have.

The fact that I had no problem admitting that to myself was always a problem. I didn’t want to love him. I didn’t want to fight with my thoughts every hour of every day.

Now, I wasn’t going to have much of a choice.

Trying not to expose just how tense I really was, I cleared my throat and gave my attention back to the team. “Okay, so just to make a few basic introductions. Obviously, you know Broderick. He's the co-captain of the boys team. Ashlynn,” I said, pointing to the young girl in the back of the crowd. “She's the captain of the girls team.”

Smiling, she stepped forward and gave him a quick wave before pulling her best friend to the front. “And this is Meesha. She’s the co-captain.”

“Nice to meet you all,” he replied.

“Alright, you guys go ahead and stretch, so you can break off into your groups,” I instructed. “We have a meet coming up and I want everyone to be ready.”

Nodding, they all jogged away, and Law moved in closer to me. “Looks like you have a strong team on your hands.”

“Indeed,” I replied, keeping my eyes straight ahead. “I’ve groomed them to be nothing less than amazing. I expect you to do the same.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Great, I'm glad we have an understanding.” I took a step forward but was stopped by his hand touching my arm.

“I don’t want things to be weird between us, Alauni. Yeah, I have feelings for you. Yeah, I feel some kind of way that you won’t allow yourself to be with me, but we still have a job to do. We can’t focus on having a successful team if you’re walking around with so much hostility towards me.”

Taking a deep breath, I turned to face him.

As much as I hated to admit it, he was exactly right. There was no way that we could do something great if I was walking around with a damn chip on my shoulder. Honestly, I had no intention of being that way today. But in an attempt to push back everything that I was feeling, it was the only way I could seem to react.

“I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. First of all, you don’t deserve it. Second, we have a job to do. I don’t want my bad vibes rubbing off on the team.”