Page 38 of False Play
Even if this was fake, I didn’t like their tones one fucking bit.
Coach scrubbed his black beard with flecks of gray. “You have to understand I know my players well and I can tell when something’s off.”
“It’s not a publicity stunt,” I gritted out. Annoyance slowly crept in. I was getting tired of their questionnaire. “I respect the hell out of you both, but I suggest you choose your next words carefully, because when it comes to Kennedy, I’m not in the mood to play games.”
An overwhelming instinct stirred inside me. One that made me want to shield Kennedy from everything and everyone. It didn’t make a damn lick of sense. A strong woman like her didn’t need a protector. But damn it all, I was still going to do it even if it was the last thing I did.
Coach Sloane was stunned. He looked almost…proud? But he schooled his face quickly.
Anthony thinned his lips, and something like amusement passed over his eyes. But he concealed it just as quickly. “I believe you. And I’m happy for you. You need a woman like Kennedy in your life.”
“A woman who can put you in your place,” Coach commented, amusement dripping from his tone. “And we all know how much she loves to do that.”
I stifled a laugh, because yeah, they weren’t wrong.
“You’re dismissed,” Anthony said.
I quickly nodded and mumbled, “Thanks.”
As soon as I stepped out of the office, I exhaled the biggest sigh of relief known to man.
Later that day,I was at the players’ gym with Hayes getting some weightlifting done. Just because I was going to start missing training some weekends, didn’t mean I couldn’t fit in some workouts during our days off. Hayes was even more obsessed with the gym than I was, so it was easy to convince my best friend to tag along with me.
“Can you spot me?” I asked Hayes as I set up the bench press. “I’m trying to see if I can bench over 300 pounds today.”
Hayes dragged his cropped workout shirt across his forehead to clean his sweat then nodded. “Fucking hell, dude. Are you trying to break a record or something?”
“I never stop training, not even during the off-season. You know that.”
Laying off training during the off-season was difficult for me. Many praised my dedication, while others thought I was too self-centered and wanted to stay on top of my physique for, hell…I didn’t know. People would twist shit until it didn’t make sense.
The reality, however, was much darker.
Overworking myself was engraved in my psyche the same way permanent ink made its way into one’s skin when getting a tattoo. The way my father taught me discipline wasn’t kind, to say the least. From the ages of four until fourteen, underneath my father’s thumb, his voice seeped in and took residencyinside my head. By the time my mother walked away, it was too late to shut his voice out. And believe me…I tried.
You have a name to live up to. You’re an Anderson. Being a failure isn’t in our vocabulary.
You’re a disgrace. You’ll never make it to the big leagues.
It was funny in aha-ha-here-go-my-daddy-issues-showing-up-once-againtype of way. I’d fought my whole life to become the opposite of what my father was, but there I was—nothing to show for it.
I couldn’t lie to myself either. Training at the gym, doing drills until I couldn’t feel my legs anymore, tamed the unwelcome beast that resided in me. When my blood pumped with anger, when anxiety flickered through me with unpleasant thoughts, my discipline was there tocenterme.
He laughed. “Right.” He stood before me and darted his hands out while I started my warm-up reps. “What happened with Anthony today? Did he chew you up because of the pictures?”
“One sec.” I gritted out and counted the last five reps then placed the barbell back where it belonged. I huffed a breath as I sat up, grabbed my water bottle, and took a sip. “They think we’re dating.”
His gaze snapped to mine in shock. “What?”
I leaned forward on the bench and rested my elbows above my knees with a weary sigh. There was no point in hiding the truth from Hayes. Or any of the guys, for that matter. They knew me too well.
I reluctantly began explaining everything, including the fact that this whole situation had been my idea. Once I was done, a silence so heavy you could hear a pin drop settled between us for a good fifteen seconds until Hayes started laughing hysterically. His face was red from his hearty laughsas his shoulders shook uncontrollably and he struggled to catch his breath.
“Why thefuckare you laughing?”
“God, you aresopathetic.” He snorted another loud laugh. “You’re so down bad for this woman, you somehow convinced her tofake dateyou?”
“Are you not listening to me?” I threw the bottle of water at him, but the fucker quickly snatched it with his quick reflexes. “I’m doing this for her. I don’t want her to get in trouble.”
