Page 2 of Hidden Plays
The guys chuckled around me.
Holden focused on me, his gaze hard. “Always such a smartass, Matthews. I see nothing’s changed.”
Marks tagged my stomach. “Do you two know each other?”
Sending Holden my best grin, I said, “Sure we do. You heard Coach. He played at Desert Mountain, the same as I did. He was my quarterback there when I was a junior.” I glanced at Holden’s left leg, the one that was injured in the championships. A few scars remained around his knee. It would be too much of a dick move to mention that. He should’ve recovered from the injury, right? It’d been bad, but…“You were supposed to go to Penn State. What happened?”
Clearing his throat, Holden dropped his gaze and shifted his stance. With his focus returning to me, he said, “That’s in the past. Broken leg and knee injury. Remember? Or maybe not. You always were self-centered.” His lips tensed.
I stepped toward him, his scent like fresh rain mixed with cinnamon wafting over me. “I remember. Just didn’t want to be the one bringing it up. It’s your story to tell.” I looked down at him. I’d grown a few inches since high school, and my six-foot-four frame was probably two inches taller than him now.
“So maybe you’ve grown out of your immaturity. We’ll see.” Sucking in a breath, he swiveled and headed toward the treadmills. “Come on, everyone, let’s do a five-minute warmup, and then I’ve got some resistance band training for you.”
I watched the sway of his tight, round ass in his team athletic shorts. Too bad he was straight. It would be a great ass to fuck. And fucking a guy like him, all full of himself? Hot. Except there was no way that would happen, and I needed to focus on training.
After our training session,I stretched my hip on a foam roller, rocking back and forth on the mat. It had been tight as fuck lately, and I didn’t need a sprain in the game.
“How’s that hip?” Holden strolled to me and sat cross-legged, his hands resting on his knees.
“It’s fine.” So what if he was my new trainer? He didn’t need to know my weaknesses. I changed position, sliding my leg crossways. Pain shot up my side, and I winced.
“Doesn’t look fine to me. You’ve been favoring it throughout our session.” He reached out his hand, then snatched it back. “Where does it hurt?”
Fuck. “It’s okay. I know how to deal with it. Stacey set me up with a stretching routine.” With a scoff, I stopped rolling and sat with my legs tucked under me. Would he try to tell me Stacey didn’t know her shit?
“Okay, but maybe I have some other stretches you could try?” He lifted his brows. “We don’t need you coming up injured in the next game. We’re playing a tough team on Saturday.”
“I know that, and I won’t get injured.” God, he thought so fucking highly of himself. “What do you think you know that Stacey didn’t?” There, I’d said it.
“Nothing. Stacey was a great trainer. I don’t have a beef withher methods. I just have some new ones for you to try.” He pursed his lips. “For fuck's sake, I’m here to help you, JJ.”
“Are you though?” I stared at him. It just slipped out. “I like what I’m doing. It’s helping.” I attempted a quick grin. “If it’s helping, why change it?” Shit, would he tell Coach I wasn’t receptive to his suggestions?
“Because it’s not helping.” He glared at me. “I know you’ve been battling this for a few weeks now. Did you think Stacey wouldn’t leave good notes on what she did here?”
“Uh, no.” Fuck, he had me there. I wiped my hands together. I had to give in. “Go ahead. Show me your ideas.”
“Lie down on your back.” He shifted to his knees.
“What? Why?” My eyes widened as my dick twitched. I didn’t need him climbing all over me with him looking like…like that. What if I got a boner?
“I want to assess at what inflection point you have pain.” He snapped his brows together. “What’s the problem? You’ve been through this before.”
“Yeah, but there’s no…” I surveyed the room. Some guys finished at the bars, and others wound down on stationary bikes. “There’s no bench?—”
“I don’t need a bench to assess you.” He scoffed out a laugh. “Matthews, we need to get over our past if we’ll be working together.”
Direct hit. “What past? I didn’t know we had one.” I breathed in deeply. That was a fucking lie. But I wouldn’t let him know how much I hated him. It didn’t need to be a problem now.
Dipping his head with a soft snort, he said, “It figured you’d say that.” He crawled closer to me. “Get on your back. Now.” His hard gaze bore into me.
My stomach fluttered, and heat flooded my belly. Holy fuck, I liked that tone. I stared at him. “Fine.” I lay on my back on the mat, my legs long and arms at my sides. “Do your worst.” Dammit, this was not a sexual move. My dick plumped.Not now.
“Okay.” He crept next to me and grabbed my leg, just below the knee. “Lift this leg to your chest.”
“Sure.” As he guided my leg, I lifted.
I glanced at him, and his gaze flicked to mine, his blond hair falling around his stunning face. I should break the awkward silence. “What have you been doing since high school?”
