Page 116 of Racing Heat

The time I’ve been spending with Cassie has been great. We stay at her apartment or my house. She’s not big on going out much right now. I think she’s worried that someone from the team will see us and that she’ll have to explain that I’m the reason she was fired. Every time I say it like that, she corrects me.I’mnot the reason she was fired, according to her. It was what we did that caused her to get fired. I still like it better when we blame me, though.

“Coach,” Mac says behind me, and I turn around. “Can you please come over here to the table? We’d like to have a word with you.”

I look around the bar. It’s moderately crowded tonight, which means I don’t have a good view of all the tables. “Who iswe?”

“Danny, Hendrix, and me.”

“Ah, okay. Sure, I can come and talk to you guys.” I grab my beer and follow her to the table. “Hey, guys,” I say when I join them.

“Hey, man, how you been?” Danny asks, and I just nod in response.

“Coach,” Hendrix says in way of greeting.

Once I’m seated, they’re all just staring at me. “Is this where you tell me that I can’t see Cassie anymore?” I ask.

“Oh, is that still a thing?” Hendrix asks with a shake of her head. “Don’t think we didn’t notice how happy she is. Or seeing your Audi coming in and out of the complex.”

I nod. “So, you caught all of that.”

“Yeah, we did,” Mac replies. “Plus, she told us.”

She said she was going to tell her girls that we were dating again—or whatever it is we’re doing. It’s weird we never put a label on anything. But I told her I loved her, and I meant it. It put me on cloud nine when she said it back. I hadn’t expected that from her. I figured she would just say that she cared for me or something, but that wasn’t the case. She said she loved me, and I spent the rest of the evening showing her just how much I loved her. And how much I missed having her body lying next to me.

“So, what can I do for you guys? Or is Cassie on her way here?” I look at my phone to see if I have a text from her.

“No, she’s not. We wanted to talk to you,” Hendrix tells me before taking a sip of her beer. “We want to come up with a plan that gets Cassie her job back.”

I look from Danny to Mac to Hendrix. I’m not sure if I heard them correctly. “Are you going to August about this?”

“Yes.” Hendrix says the word like she’s talking to someone who’s impaired. “We want to ask him if he’ll hire her back. The fraternization clause was broken, sure, but he sometimes breaks it when he hangs out with us, too. So, it’s not fair that she lost her job.”

“Plus, technically, Danny was employed by the Blaze when he wrote that article about me, and I slept with him.” She leans over and squeezes his shoulder. “I wasn’t fired. I just…got a stern talking to. So, he doesn’t have a consistent policy, and he’s choosing when he enforces it. It’s not fair to Cassie. He should hire her back.”

I nod, considering what Mac said. “So, you want to convince him to hire her back by pointing out all the things that he’s done wrong?”

“Yes,” Hendrix replies. Mac nods proudly.

I look over at Danny. “What do you think?”

He shrugs. “I’m not sure that it’s the best move. I mean, I feel like we’re telling him he’s not doing his job right. And then we’re also saying, remember the people who you hang out with? The only friends that you have here in Tampa? Well, we’re going to point out that it’s wrong of you to hang out with us.”

Mac shakes her head. “Stop it. Come on, I told you this might work.”

I chuckle. “So, you’re not a hundred percent on board with his either, huh?”

“I feel bad using our friendship against him,” Danny says. “It doesn’t seem right.”

I nod in agreement. “I want her to come back. I hate that she’s not playing soccer and that she’s missing out on her dream. I just don’t want to sling mud or blackmail August with some kind of a gotcha clause.”

“Agreed,” Danny says, taking a long pull from his beer. “I told you guys this wouldn’t work.”

Hendrix just glares at me. “You got her fired. You have to find a way to get her rehired. Come on, Jase. You said you love her. Now fucking act like it.”

“You said you love her?” Danny’s head whips in my direction.

“Well, yeah.”

“Oh, wow. Good for you, buddy. I knew you liked her. I just didn’t realize that it had turned into love. Good for you guys.”