Page 43 of Racing Heat (The Forbidden Heat #2)

Chapter Forty

~JASE~

It’s been a while since I’ve been at The Backwoods. The last time I was here, I was worried Cassie, and I were going to blow our cover. Now I’m here alone, unsure if anyone else is going to be coming in. I’m sipping on a beer, trying to figure out what to do.

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’m not 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 is we?”

“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.”

“Thanks. I’d love to get her playing again, but I’m not sure if August would go for it. I’ve been having my agent put some feelers out there to see if she could be picked up by another team. So far, though, that’s not bringing a lot of results.”

“Does she know you’re doing that?” Mac asks.

I shake my head. “I didn’t want to give her hope if there wasn’t going to be any.”

“Good plan,” she replies. “What if she gets picked up by a team in like, San Diego or something? Then what will you do? It’ll be a long-distance thing. Do you really want that?”

“I don’t.” I scoff. “But I’m not sure what else to do here.”

“That’s why we have to talk to August,” Hendrix insists. “Will you come with me when I talk to him?”

“Me?” I ask. “I don’t think I’m the best person to talk to him. I was the one who got her fired. I’m on thin ice with the organization. I don’t think going in and calling August a hypocrite is the best move here.”

The table falls silent while we all consider our options.

I love that they’re trying to find a way to get her back on the field.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.

I’ve invited her to my pickup game on Sunday so that she can still play soccer.

I’m hoping it’s something that helps brighten her mood.

Something other than sex. Because that sure seems to make her smile too.

“What are you thinking about?” Danny asks me.

I raise my eyebrows. “Who, me?”

“Yes, you, Jase. What has you smiling so big over there?”

“I’m not sure you want to know.” I chuckle.

“Oh geez,” Mac says. “I don’t want to hear about all the weird sexual things you do to my best friend.”

“Sure, you do. I’ve had to hear a tale or two from all your exploits with Danny. I feel like this is only fair,” I tease her.

“What do you tell him?” Mac asks, smacking him.

“Ouch. Why am I getting hit? I don’t tell him jack shit. He’s messing with you, Mac.” Danny shakes his head. “Come on, man, don’t get me into trouble.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Mac asks, changing the subject back to Cassie.

Hendrix bites her lip. I can tell there’s something on the tip of her tongue, but she seems hesitant to say it.

“Do you want me to ask August to trade my life for hers?” I ask her. “Is what you’re thinking about over there?”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t think he’d do that. Plus, you said he talked to your agent, which probably helped you keep your job.” She runs a hand through her hair. “If I tell you guys something, can it just remain between us?”

“Absolutely,” Mac replies. “Everything okay?”

“I might have something that could help us. But you can’t tell anyone, okay? This information cannot leave this table,” Hendrix stresses.

“What’s going on, Hen?” I ask her.

Danny and Mac are staring at her intently.

She sighs and begins. “August and I went to the same college. We both went to UNC. And while we were at UNC, we kind of, sort of…”

Mac reaches out and squeezes her hand. “You don’t have to tell us if it’s causing this much stress.”

“Did you two fuck?” Danny asks.

Hendrix’s face goes bright red. “As a matter of fact, we did. We actually dated for a year. I met him when I was a freshman. We saw each other at the same parties for most of the year, and then when I got back to UNC during my sophomore year, we hooked up at a party one night. It didn’t stop there, though.

” She takes a big sip of her beer and continues on.

“August and I hooked up a lot, and eventually we started hanging out and didn’t stop for that whole year. ”

“Wow!” Mac cries. “You hooked up with August! I can’t believe this never came up before.”

“Damn, now it makes sense why you two are always so weird around each other,” I add.

“I thought he graduated from an Ivy League school?” Danny asks.

Hendrix nods. “He did. We had a messy breakup the end of sophomore year because his father didn’t think I was good enough for him.

So, he ultimately dumped me when his dad threatened to cut him out of the family money and businesses.

In order to sweeten the deal, he got August moved to Brown, and that’s where he graduated from.

We didn’t speak after that. I’m pretty sure Maxwell Cromwell has forgotten all about me.

I know August hasn’t, but I’m not something he likes to be reminded of.

So maybe we use that to get Cassie back on the team. ”

“Hen,” Mac says, pulling her into a hug. “That’s why you hate him so much. He threw you away for money.”

“For his future,” she defends.

“Same diff,” she counters.

“I had no idea, Hendrix,” I say. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that. And then we all make you hang out with him. That can’t be easy, can it?” I feel like an absolute shit for the grief we sometimes give her and August for how much animosity there is between the two of them.

“Maybe we could use that information to our advantage,” Danny says. “You tell him he owes you. I mean, it sucks, but the dude might have a conscience, so it might just work out.”

I hate to do that to August. He’s a person too. But I don’t say that. Hendrix trusted us with something personal, and I hate that she’s in pain because of it. She puts off this front like it doesn’t matter, but I think deep down it must.

“Are you sure you want to play that card?” I ask her.

She nods. “If it gets us Cassie back, yes. She’s the best midfielder we’ve got. And she’s become one of my best friends. I can’t lose her like this. Please, Jase.”

I look over at Mac and Danny to see what they think.

“If you’re okay with it, I say it’s worth a shot,” Mac says to Hendrix. “But you have to be absolutely sure you want to play that card. He’s going to realize that it still affects you. Do you really want him to have that power?”

“It doesn’t affect me,” Hendrix insists.

“I think you protest a bit too much, my dear,” Danny teases her. “But it just might work. Appeal to the human side of August.”

“Do you want me to come with you guys?” Mac asks. “Use my position as the captain to make this happen.”

I consider it for a moment. “Nah, I think this should just be me and Hendrix, if it’s alright with you.”

Mac nods. “Whatever gets my girl back.”

“Okay” is all I say.

We spend the rest of our night scheming on what we could say to August to make him change his mind. It’s a solid plan. I just hope it works.