Page 2 of Nailing Heat
“Thank god,” Hendrix replies, standing up and rolling out her neck and shoulders. “I thought that might have loosened me up a bit, but nope. Still tense.”
“Well, you would have had to actually do the poses, Henny,” Cassie reminds her with a smirk.
“You did the best you could,” I tell her. “We both did.”
“Sure, you did,” Cassie teases us as Mac approaches.
“So, what did you all think?” Mac is bouncing on her toes, full of excitement from the class. Clearly, she enjoyed it.
“Yeah, it was great. A great activity for us all,” Cassie replies, mimicking her excitement.
“Totally,” Hendrix and I reply at the same time. I’m sure she can see right through us. But if she can, Mac doesn’t call us out.
Fortunately for us, August Cromwell comes barreling into the room. “Ladies, if I could have a moment of your time, please.”
The instructor shoots him a glare for interrupting the silence of the calm environment she created with his loud, booming voice. She went over the importance of the calm before class even began, so I know she’s pissed.
August is, of course, oblivious to any of this. Standing there, khaki pants well pressed, wearing a Tampa Bay Blaze blue polo, with his perfectly styled brown hair. His eyes study us all as he motions for us to join him at the front of the room.
“Ladies, I only need a minute of your time and then I can let you get on with your day,” he tells us, clapping his hands for emphasis. I snicker as the instructor rolls her eyes hard before gathering her stuff and leaving. “I have just come from a meeting with legal. And they are telling me that we are making so many adjustments and expectations to the fraternization policy that it needs to be dropped.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cassie tense. She’s the most recent breaker of this rule, so I’m sure she believes this has something to do with her. Hell, I think it might too. And if I do, that means so do the rest of the girls on the team.
“We have all decided that we will not prevent these relationships from occurring. Instead, I need you all to be adults and disclose them. Just come to me or HR and let us know that you are in a relationship with a member of the Blaze organization, and as long as it does not interfere with practices, games or any other work that is being done here, we will not have a problem. But step out of line and cause scenes and issues for staff, coaches or another player, and it will result in consequence that will be decided by HR and legal.” He looks around the room, surveying the team before asking, “Does anyone have any questions?”
I notice a few glances in Cassie’s direction, but no one says a word.
“Great,” he announces as he claps his hands again. “You are all dismissed. However, I need to speak with Amelia.”
My eyes widen. It feels a bit like being called to the principal’s office.
I wait for crowd to part before I start making my way over to him. He turns to me as I approach when Hendrix suddenly appears next to me. She looks pissed.Great, I think to myself. They have a checkered past from what I’ve been told, and the wall of a goalie really enjoys pushing her limits when it comes to him. So far it has not caused any backlash, but I swear, one of these days, her luck is going to run out.
“What the fuck was that?” Hendrix asks him, hands planted firmly on her hips.
“What was what?” August takes a step back, brow furrowing in confusion.
Sighing, she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Why are you signaling out Cassie like that?”
He looks over at Cassie, who has joined the conversation. “I hadn’t intended to call out Cassie, I’m sorry.”
Cassie shrugs. “It’s okay.”
“Thenwhydid you make that announcement so damn loud after our quiet yoga morning?” Hendrix accuses.
“Oh, well, I didn’t realize that I was interrupting any sort of quiet time,” he says, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. “But the announcement had to be made because we have an emergency housing placement emergency that is in the process of taking place and it impacts Amelia, and I need to talk to her about it.”
August throws the grenade out there and watches as Hendrix, Cassie and I gape at him.
“What have you done?” Hendrix seethes.
If she wasn’t pissed at him before, she certainly is now.
“What’s going on?” I ask him, my brown eyes homing in onhis. “Is everything okay? And why are you talking about a housing emergency placement?”
“Sorry,” he says sighing and taking me by the elbow, leading me out into the lobby. I hear the footsteps of my teammates following us. “There’s really no easy way to say this so I’m going to come out with it.”
He swallows loudly and I brace myself for whatever mess August is about to hurl on me.
