"Zaiden," I snapped in warning.
"Go get changed, Ariella," Zaiden said, his tone lethal. "Coach and I need to have a chat."
"You need to leave, boy," Coach Palmer growled, throwing an arm out to prevent me from leaving. "How did you get in here?"
My eyes narrowed. How did he get in here? I did lock the door, didn't I? "Just go, Zaiden," I pleaded.
Zaiden took a step forward. "Move your arm, or I'll break it."
"Are you threatening a Coach?" Coach huffed out a humorless laugh. "I'll make sure you never step foot on this campus again."
"Go ahead," Zaiden shrugged, completely unfazed by Coach's threat. "I'm sure they'd love to hear that you were about to rape a student."
"It's your word against ours," Coach said, sounding so confident in his words.
"Yeah, except for all the video footage I have of you with your students."
Coach's face turned red as he dropped his arm. "You're bluffing."
"Go get dressed, Ariella, and go home."
"Zaiden, please, don't do this."
"Get. Out," he raised his voice.
My jaw clenched, grinding my teeth together as I walked past them and out the door, wincing when the door slammed behind me.
Fuck—
CHAPTER21
ZAIDEN
The door crashed against its frame, rattling the glass. Coach Palmer's eyes snapped up from his desk. "What do you want?"
"You don't want to see the evidence first?" I smirked, leaning back against the wall.
He shook his head. "No, tell me what you want and get out."
I leaned in close. "Stay away from Ariella." Anger coated each syllable. "Her name. Never leaves your lips after practice. This office? She's never alone in here with you again." I paused, letting the silence stretch between us. "And if I catch even a whisper of you threatening her scholarship or her place on the team—" My lips curled into a cold smile. "Those videos? They'll go viral faster than you can say 'disgusting coach.'"
"Anything else?" A vein pulsed in his forehead, his words coming out in sharp, clipped tones.
"Ariella no longer steps foot in this locker room. Going forward, you'll ensure she has a place in the hockey locker room."
"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" He narrowed his eyes. "I have no control over the other locker rooms and?—"
"I don't give a fuck how you do it," I hissed, cutting him off. "But you are going to do it."
His upper lip twitched, exposing a flash of teeth as his jaw clenched tight. "Is that it?"
I shook my head. "No, the same goes for Journey and Mila. You don't touch them again, but they can stay in this locker room." Kacie's face flashed in my mind as I spoke Journey and Mila's names. My throat tightened. But when I thought of Ariella, my fists clenched, a familiar mixture of desire and hatred flooding through me.
"Fine," he gritted out through snarled teeth. "Now, please leave, and don't ever come into this office again."
I smirked. "You're not really in a position to throw around orders. So I'll tell you what, I'm going to leave, but if I find out that you look in Ariella's direction, your job will be the last thing you're worried about losing."
I jerked open the office door, stepped out into the football locker room, and slammed the door behind me.