Page 81 of Cole

Annie picked up her phone one last time, typing a message before she could lose her nerve.

Can we video chat tomorrow? There’s something important I need to talk to you about. Nothing bad, just… something you should know.

She hit send before she could reconsider, then set the phone down and pulled her blanket close. Warding off the chill that seemed to have invaded her cozy home, sinking right into her bones.

Her phone buzzed almost immediately, surprising her, since she’d been sure that he would be asleep. It was already one in the morning on the east coast.

Cole:Sure. I have something I need to talk to you about, too.

Annie stared at the message, her heart beating faster. What did he need to talk about? His tone seemed serious. Was hegoing to break up with her? Had her father already gotten to him?

She typed back quickly.Is everything okay?

There was a long pause before his response came through.

Cole:Just some things on my mind. Can we talk around eight your time? Before our team meeting?

That works. Talk to you then.

Annie set her phone down, her earlier peace now replaced with nervous anticipation. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something significant was about to change between them. Whether for better or worse remained to be seen.

She closed her eyes, offering another silent prayer for strength and clarity. Whatever tomorrow brought, she would face it with honesty. It was time to stop hiding.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

When Cole’s alarm went off, he was already awake. His night had been restless as he’d considered the coming day and the call he and Annie would have. That was disruptive enough for his sleep, but he also had the team meeting weighing on his mind.

They were in a losing streak, and nothing made Coach angrier than losing more than one game in a row. He tolerated a single loss, but when it became more than that—they were now on their third loss—he took action.

Cole knew that his own performance on the road trip had been less than stellar. He wasn’t a stranger to having off-games. Though he was known for his consistency, he still had games that didn’t go great.

The bonus to playing with this particular team was that they were good enough so that his bad days didn’t always result in a loss. But lately, it felt like the majority of his teammates were struggling like he was.

Coach would be frustrated if he couldn’t pinpoint what was going on. Unfortunately, Cole wasn’t about to share what had him knocked a bit off-kilter. The NDA prevented that, but even without it, he wasn’t sure he would have been interested in sharing details of his personal life at a team meeting.

Cole groaned as he sat up on the edge of the bed, his body holding tension both physically and mentally. He stretched for a few minutes before going to the bathroom to take a hot shower.

After he was dressed for the day, he debated what to do for breakfast. He could get room service, or he could head down to the room where they’d said breakfast would be served.

Before he’d made up his mind, there was a knock on his door. He checked the peephole, then stepped back to open the door.

“Morning, bro,” Marcus said as he brushed past Cole into the room.

Cole closed the door and turned to see Marcus heading for the coffee maker. “Your room has no coffee?”

“Oh, it does.” Marcus began the process of making coffee in the small appliance. “I just thought we could have breakfast together.”

“I was thinking of going downstairs,” Cole said.

“Let’s just order room service.” Marcus glanced over his shoulder. “I think we need to have our own discussion about the last few games. Maybe we can hash some of it out so we’re not fumbling around when Coach demands answers.”

Cole wasn’t opposed to that, so he grabbed the room service menu. It didn’t take too long to decide on what they wanted. Heavy on protein, moderate on carbs plus healthy didn’t allow for too much creativity.

Once they’d placed their order, Marcus filled two of the provided mugs with coffee and brought them to the small table. The mugs looked hilariously small in their hands, and Cole felt like he was at a tea party or something.

Marcus didn’t waste any time diving in. This wasn’t the first time they’d had this type of conversation over the years.

Though not official, he and Marcus had shared the role of captain for the past couple of years. So there were times they discussed things before a team meeting, just to get a feel for what the other person was thinking.

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