Page 6 of Behind the Bench

…I’ll take the hesitation as confirmation that he is indeed nice to look at.

Do you remember when I told you about the guy who made my life a living hell when I was growing up and somehow continued to do so randomly throughout my life?

SADIE

Of course I do. We made a voodoo doll that looked like him. He was pretty hot. OMG does your head coach look like him?! Yummy.

YOU made a voodoo doll that looked like him.

SADIE

You’re welcome. So, does this guy look like him or what?

It is him.

My phone starts ringing immediately. This should be good.

“Hey, Sades.”

“You’re telling me that tall, brown-haired, green-eyed drink of water we hate is your head coach?”

I can hear her doing her deep breathing and picture her pacing the condo. “Breathe, Sadie. But yes, Lincoln was hired as the head coach.”

I close my eyes and the weight of the situation sits heavy onmy chest. The moment I got the phone call that I was hired for this job still lives rent free in my mind. It was the happiest moment of my life. Now, as I sit here, it all feels extremely different. The reality of what’s happening isn’t full of excitement and happiness. Instead, I’m left anxious and worried. I’m alone in a new city where the only person I know despises me. I have to prove to him, this organization, and the entire League that I deserve to be here. How am I supposed to do that when my coaching partner would rather have anyone else standing next to him? I tell myself not to laugh. Because this is some sick joke right?

“Why are you laughing?”

Shit. I guess that didn’t work.

“I don’t know, Sadie. Because this has to be a joke. No way did my dreams just come true less than forty-eight hours ago, only to be shit on by one of my least favorite humans. Link is the absolute fucking worst.”

I hear a throat clear, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Sadie.

“Sadie, I gotta go. I’ll call you tonight.”

“Wait! What do you mean you’ll?—”

I hang up the phone and open my eyes to see Lincoln leaning against my door frame with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

Link’s biceps are almost bulging with the position of his arms and the look on his face tells me he’s not impressed with the conversation he just walked in on.

“So, tell me more about how I’m the absolute fucking worst.”

Shit.

My breath catches and my eyes slowly trace his body from head to toe. “You weren’t supposed to hear that. Were you spying on me?”

A sinister chuckle escapes his mouth and he shakes his head. “Ellie, I have much better things to do with my time than to waste it spying on you. I was on my way to get coffeewhen I heard you whining about working with me. Maybe next time shut your door, Blondie.”

There is nothing I hate more than when he calls me Blondie. Every time we played against each other, his insults were followed up by that name. Hearing it today ignites a rage I haven’t felt in years.

“If you hate me that much, you could do us both a favor and quit.”

The cocky look on Link’s face has me standing up and flashing one of my own back his way. I slam my hands down on my desk and lean forward. “Let me make something clear to you,Link, I’m not going anywhere.”

He strides into my office and places his hands across from mine on my desk. When he leans forward we’re inches apart, face to face, and a hint of mint invades my space along with the woodsy smell from earlier. His eyes are blazing with fury, but I keep my mask in place, not revealing the fury that matches his own.

“Let me make something clear to you, Ellie. This is my team. I won’t have some pretty face step in thinking she runs the show just because of who her daddy is. You work for me.”

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