Page 68 of The Defender

“I wanted to talk about why you haven’t accepted the Blackcastle offer yet.” Coach glanced at me, his mouth twisting. I suppressed another wince. My advice to him had come back to bite me in the ass in the worst way. “I guess I have my answer.”

She didn’t respond.

“I have to head to the clubhouse soon. We’ll continue this discussion another time,” Coach said abruptly. “DuBois, pack your essentials and meet me outside in ten. You can get the rest of your stuff later.”

Brooklyn shot up straight again. A panicked expression spread across her face.

I stared at him, my gut twisting with foreboding. “Uh, where are we going, sir?”

“My house.” His smile lacked any semblance of humor. “You’re moving in with me.”

CHAPTER 19

VINCENT

Have you ever moved in with your coach after 1) he caught you shacking up with his daughter, 2) he and said daughter got into a massive fight, and 3) he vowed to make your life a living hell because of reason number one?

I don’t recommend it. It’s not fun.

To be fair, Coach didn’t explicitly say he was going to torture me in every legal manner possible. However, his actions expressed what he wouldn’t confirm verbally.

Mandatory carpools to work every day. Five a.m. runs with him every morning, including on the weekends. Killer drills at training and awkward dinners where he grilled me on obscure football trivia over what I was sure was intentionally bland chicken.

I couldn’t prove it, but I was convinced he’d wired some sort of futuristic spyware into the Wi-Fi because he magically popped up every time I texted Brooklyn.

It was like bootcamp without friends. After a week, I was ready to go home and just let the intruder stab me.

To make matters worse, the team found out about my new living situation via a “leak” (aka Coach) and had proceeded togive me never-ending shit about it. Besides Asher, Adil, and Noah, everyone thought I’d moved out of a hotel and into Coach’s house because I “needed a more comforting home environment.”

If they used common sense, they’d know that was bullshit because Coach was about as comforting as a radioactive hedgehog.

Stevens

Hey Cap, say hi to Coach for us, will ya? Now that you’ll be braiding each other’s hair every night and all

Samson

Don’t be insensitive. Cap doesn’t have enough hair for braiding. They’ll be snuggling up for Bake Off night instead

Don’t you dare bring Bake Off into this

Gallagher

It’s too bad Brooklyn doesn’t live with him. Imagine waking up and seeing her every day? I’d never leave the house. It’d be flatmates with benefits, y’know what I mean?

Say another fucking word about Brooklyn, and I’ll knock your teeth out

Stevens

Oooh

Samson

Oooooh

Adil

Oooooooooh