Page 62 of Degradation
‘Maybe not. Depends on if Coach thinks we need to run more drills.’
I look back at her as I get to her door. She’s watching me still, all her attention on me.
I register surprise on Mav’s face, but whether it’s how she’s acting, or how I am, I’m not sure. I mean I don’t think I’m being weird, but I don’t usually say goodbye to girls, I just leave.
I go to class and try to listen to the theorems and the principles, the postulations I need to know, but all I can think about is Daisy. How soft her hair is. The way she thinks. How smart she is. Her smoking body. How she’s going to feel under me…
It’s not the only thing on my mind when it comes to her. It’s not even the first thing, but I’m still a guy!
When class is over, I get some homework done in the lab and go over the mathematical data for the hundredth time, trying to figure out what the problem is. But no matter how hard I try, it eludes me.
Seven rolls around quickly and I get to the gym for practice with a few minutes to spare. I watch my teammates, noticing that Kirkland is standing by himself while the others look between me and him nervously. They’ve all heard about the Daisy debacle, except him.
Good.
I’ve never liked Kirkland. He’s the kind of guy you can’t turn your back on. No loyalty. I’ve never done anything about it because he’s never crossed me before.
But he sure as shit has now.
My body hums in anticipation of educating this sonofabitch. I might hate being a lacky, having to follow orders from the kind of men who shouldn’t be allowed near power. But in here, I have that power, and I can use it to make sure Kirkland never gets close to Daisy ever again.
‘Coach,’ I say softly to the guy in his forties with the thinning hair and black tracksuit on. ‘I’m going to need a little one-on-one time with the team.’
Coach White looks over his clipboard at me and grunts. ‘Who am I losing?’
‘Kirkland.’
He snorts. ‘He’s useless anyway. I’ll go...make a phone call, or something. Ten minutes enough?’
‘More than.’
He sighs, glancing at the round camera on the ceiling in the corner. ‘I’ll make sure the footage is lost, too, I guess.’
‘Probably for the best, Coach.’
‘Okay!’ he yells at everyone. ‘On the mats! McCauley and Rider. Baker and Mafosa. Kirkland and Blake. Deluchay and Ramirez. The rest of you, partner up and show each other what you’ve got.’
Coach grabs his phone and puts it to his ear, leaving the gym a moment later without a backward glance. Maybe I should be classed as a man who shouldn’t be allowed near power too, I think, as I get on the mat with Kirkland.
The dumb fuck grins at me. He has no idea what’s coming.
I grapple him, taking him down quickly and punching him in the ribs hard.
‘What the fuck! That’s an illegal move. You can’t- Coach!’
‘Coach ain’t here,’ I snarl low, pulling his arm behind his back and putting all my weight on him. I shove his face into the mat hard and he yowls.
‘What is wrong with you, dude?’ he wails, trying to dislodge me.
But he won’t. I’m better than him.
‘Daisy,’ I growl in his ear.
‘Who?’
‘The girl you assaulted out by the fields, moron.’
‘I didn’t do nothin’ to that retarded bitch!’
