Page 111 of Play Maker

Axel and I had talked late into the night. He wanted to tell Coach and then the rest of the team now. I still thought he was rushing things. Until he showed me his phone and the jersey he was ordering for me with his name on it. Once Axel made his mind up about something, that was it. He was stubborn as hell and there was no changing.

Well, he’d changed his tune about me. And I couldn’t really hold the past against him. Preston had lied to him too.

Speaking of my ex, I checked my phone. There was still no word about Preston, and it made me restless. I was dreading theidea of Axel being in touch with him again. Would Axel tell him that we were together? Would Preston convince Ax that I wasn’t worth it?

We were finishing up breakfast and my urge to run to the bathroom reared up.

You can’t control what other people say or do. You can only control your reaction.

Taking a slow sip of water, I repeated that mantra in my head until I talked myself out of making a run for it. I was feeling calmer.

Until the sharp ringtone of Axel’s phone broke our team chatter.

“It’s, uh, family stuff,” Axel said to Coach, who nodded.

Axel excused himself from the table and I stared at him as he walked off, his posture stiff, and his voice low as he answered his phone.

“Everything okay?” Dane nudged me.

“I think so.” I turned to my friend and whispered. “Sort of. We got word yesterday that Preston was arrested.”

“Oh my God, for what?”

“Don’t know yet. Axel’s parents just said he’d been arrested, and nothing else. We tried searching in the news, but nada.”

“What about?—”

Dane’s comment was interrupted by a sound I’d never heard before.

Coach was laughing.

Everyone at the table turned to stare at him, me included.

Banning never laughed. Like, ever. Occasionally, after a win, he’d smile but even that was rare. What had I missed?

“Dane.” I leaned in and whispered. “I know I had a lot of sex last night and not enough sleep, so maybe it’s my imagination, but did Banning just laugh?”

“He did.”

Dane sounded as awed as I was at this turn of events.

“What?” Banning’s smile turned to a glare as he looked around the table.

And just like that, things were back to normal.

“What’s so funny, Coach?” Ethan outright asked, because, of course he did.

“Ask Silas,” Banning returned and motioned for the server.

“Come on, Moss, spill,” Ethan urged Silas.

“It was nothing,” Silas insisted, ignoring our interested stares and reaching for his glass of juice.

“You can’t make Coach laugh and not tell us the secret,” Ethan replied.

Silas gave an enigmatic smirk and shook his head.

“It’s no secret and it wasn’t even a joke.” Silas took a sip of his drink. “He told me that I was the oldest player he’d ever coached, and I told him he was the oldest coach I’d ever played for.”

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