Page 82 of Cole

Cole wasn’t surprised when they pinpointed the same things. And he was grateful to have something to focus on during thecouple of hours he still had to wait before his conversation with Annie.

They only paused to answer the door for their food.

“So,” Marcus said as he pushed his empty plate away from him an hour later. “Want to tell me what’s been impactingyourplay?”

Cole had known they’d get to this point, and he’d tried to think of what to tell Marcus. The NDA prevented him from telling him the truth.

“Stuff going on with your girl?”

“Something like that,” Cole said. “Just working through our first real challenging situation.”

“Want to talk it out?” Marcus asked.

“Not yet.”

“Is it something you might break up over?”

Cole didn’t like to consider that, but he couldn’t discount any possible outcome. “Maybe?”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Marcus said with a frown. “She seemed to make you really happy.”

“She does,” Cole agreed. “But it’s possible that our lives don’t align very well.”

“Do you think she was just with you for the attention or the money?”

Cole couldn’t help the huff of laughter that escaped before he could hold it back. If only that were the case. He’d have no trouble walking away from someone like that. He’d done it before.

“No. That’s not it at all.”

“Well, if you ever need to talk about it, you know my number.”

That was something that Cole appreciated about Marcus. He made himself available but didn’t push.

Before Cole could respond, Marcus’s phone chimed, followed almost immediately by Cole’s. That could only mean it was a message to the team chat.

Cole opened the app and read the message from the coach.

I’ve got practice space at noon. I’m moving the meeting up to ten-thirty.

Well, that sucked. Now he wouldn’t be able to talk to Annie. He wanted to tell the coach he had something else on, but Cole knew he couldn’t. As far as Coach was concerned, when the team was struggling like this, there was nothing else to focus on.

He had no choice but to text Annie and let her know that their call wouldn’t be happening. Cole hated that that was the message she’d wake up to, but there was no avoiding it.

Once he’d sent her a message, he grabbed his team jacket, then they left the room. Marcus led the way to the room the coach had booked to use for their team meetings.

Several of their teammates were already gathered outside the meeting room when they arrived, their expressions ranging from resigned to anxious. No one liked these post-losing-streak meetings.

The one the previous night had contained a prolonged lecture about how they were supposed to operate as a team of elite athletes. This one would probably be more focused on figuring out the problem and fixing it.

“Hey,” Evans nodded at them, his usual cheerful demeanor subdued. “Coach is already in there. Setting up film, I think.”

Cole checked his phone again, hoping Annie had responded to his cancellation message. Nothing yet. It was early in Serenity—she might still be asleep.

“You good?” Marcus asked quietly as they filed into the room.

“Yeah,” Cole said, though they both knew it wasn’t entirely true.

The meeting room was arranged with chairs facing a large screen. Coach stood at the front, his tablet connected to the display, scrolling through game footage with quick, irritated swipes. He didn’t look up as the players entered, which was never a good sign.

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