Page 24 of Break

My phone buzzes and I see a message from Coach. Not Coach Carpenter, but the coach we’ve been waiting on. “Coach is here.”

As much as I don’t like everything about Hope’s father, he was there when I needed him. Once he realized what my grandfather was doing to me, he beat the shit out of the old man. Coach was good to me when no one else was, when no one else cared. A man who’s willing to defend me like that wouldn’t hurt his own daughter. He’s not a monster. He saved me.

He protected me, brought me under his wing, made sure I was eating, that I had somewhere safe to go. There’s no way he can be terrible like she says. It’s impossible.

“Let’s go pick him up,” Dimitri says. “We need to show him around.”

That’s exactly what we do. He’s impossible to miss at the airport. He has a thick head of graying hair that he doesn’t try to save. He’s got broad shoulders and he’s clearly been adding to his beer belly. He wears jeans and a sports jersey as if he doesn’t own anything else and the letterman jacket from our old university.

He sits up front when Jax moves to the back and pats my shoulder. “My boys. It feels good to see you three again. Doesn’t feel right in town without you.”

“You know how things go. Once you have every mailbox memorized, it’s time to get out.” Dimitri chuckles.

Coach doesn’t say anything to that, but the way his eyes darken, it makes me wary. It never used to bother me, but now, my muscles tense like I’m expecting a blow. That’s just because of the inspection. It’s just because of what Hope saw. That’s all.

“We’ll show you around,” I say simply.

The first stop is the stadium. He whistles as he drinks it in. I almost lead him to the physical therapy wing, but Jax pipes up talking about the food and giving me a look that saysNo.

“I’m always eager for food,” Coach says.

Dimitri insists on showing him a stir fry place, then a Mexican spot, while saving the wings and sports bar for last. Which is where we settle in to eat. When I walk out to have a cigarette despite Coach’s warning that it will slow me down, Jax comes out.

I give him a look. “There a reason you’re limiting things?”

“Yeah. And you know it, or you would have ignored me,” he answers, eying me intensely.

She called him a monster. She was terrified. That look in her eyes…It lingers in my head until I banish it by downing water until I’m sloshy and eating the hottest wings on the menu. Then we’re left with the option to show him our apartment. It’s a win for me. I’m not relying on my shitty family, not at anyone’s mercy. I’m almost proud to show him how far we’ve come.

When we get in the elevator, he shifts slightly. “And Hope?”

Jaxon shakes his head once, but I handle that. “We’ll bring her to you.”

Dimitri grins. “A reunion.”

Coach lights up and happily checks out my apartment as Jaxon gets out to get her. Her dad doesn’t need to know that she lives here, that her apartment is on this floor. That’s something just for us. Jaxon has reasons and I have mine. Hope is ours, not his. She’s outgrown him just like we outgrew that town. Her specific location, her home, the place she likes to go to eat, that’s all off limits. I’m not going to lose control.

I might not believe he’s a monster, but I’m not about to give up my access to Hope. I don’t want her running again. Not this time. Like Jaxon said, she’s our plaything, and until she accepts that, I’m not risking a thing.

Thirteen

JAXON

There’s no way that Coach is a monster. He can’t be. Today proved that. He didn’t ask about her until the end. It was all about us, it was just him checking in, making sure we’re set, and that’s how it will be with Hope. Coach helped Knox with something, and Knox has a good judge of character. So why didn’t I want to involve her? Why did I hate how he lit up when shewas mentioned?

That horrible, possessive glint in his eyes. I was always disgusted by his relationship with Hope. A man should know what’s right and wrong, even if his daughter is eager, but all those videos he showed us, how she lay down obediently, how she’d moan…

She wasn’t fighting, but I can’t shake her fear and fury when she talked about him.

I stop thinking before I get wrapped up in too many questions. I exhale as I stop in front of Hope’s door. She’s screwed up, there’s no question about that. All four of us are fucked up. I think there’s a difference between us and her dad, though.

Iknowthere’s a difference. And she’s messed up in a way that’s different from me too. My brow furrows, and I hesitate a moment before I knock. Something like an alarm is going off in the back of my head. It’s soft, easy to ignore.

I knock and a moment later, Hope answers. She’s wearing short cotton pajama shorts and a crop top. The shorts are high-waisted, leaving only a sliver of skin. Fuck, she’s hot. Hot without trying and in a way that makes me hard just seeing her.

“Did you get all dressed up for me?” I ask, looking her over again.

Fuck, she’s not wearing a bra either. I can tell. Twice as hot.

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