Sean levels a hard stare at Mack. “Maybe I’ll forward a copy to your uncle. Doesn’t he work in the mayor’s office? Bet he won’t like the shadow it’ll cast on his political aspirations if this gets out.”
I push Zach’s hand off my chest and glare at Mack. “I don’t want you within shouting distance of Adeline, my gyms, any of the team members, or anything or anyone even remotely connected to this event.” My tone is hard and flat. “I better not catch you so much as ordering from a hot dog vendor within a hundred yards of the event when it’s going on.”
“This is bullshit.” Mack backs away, and the crowd parts to let him through. “She didn’t deserve to be here.”
Wrong again. Red’s shown me that I’ve gotten soft catering to my gym members, and I let that overflow to my team. She’s the better coach and deserves this far more than I do.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Several Weekend Warriors file past Red to offer support as they’re leaving the park. She’s gracious, considering she was set up for an injury and almost got screwed out of the coach’s position. She’s on the far side of the sandy playground area, saying goodbye to each person on her team, when Zach and Sean huddle around me.
“I won’t lie,” Zach says. “If any of this gets out, it’ll cast a shadow over the whole event.”
Sean pulls sunglasses from his shirt pocket and slides them onto his nose. “I think the situation is salvageable. The question is how to move forward.”
I hold up a finger so they’ll put this conversation on pause. “Wait a sec,” I say and wave a hand at Red to get her attention.
She’s talking to the last three team members and glances my way.
I wave her over. “Let’s wait for her, guys.” I want Red included in all of our event meetings from now on.
She says goodbye to the last few stragglers and walks toward us.
We should’ve been including her all along. Even thinking about manipulating the outcome of a challenge between coaches was poor judgment. After Mack’s shitty treatment of her, I can’t do it anymore. As soon as I have Zach and Sean alone, I’m going to tell them the coaches’ challenge is off unless it’s straight up and honest. No question, Red wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s capable of winning without me throwing the challenge.
“Nice work, Adeline,” Sean says when she reaches us. “You outsmarted Mack.”
She shrugs and pulls on her windbreaker. “Wasn’t hard.”
Everyone chuckles.
“Listen, we owe you an apology,” Zach says to her, his voice all smooth silk and sweetness. No wonder he’s so damn good at his job. “When we heard you had the teams train on a playground we jumped to the wrong conclusion. We should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt.”
They should know not to underestimate a woman. Especially this woman. I made that mistake in the beginning when I thought a yoga instructor wouldn’t be able to keep up with a competition like this.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
She chuckles. “It does sound kind of absurd, doesn’t it?”
Sean laughs then gets down to business. “At this point, there’s no time to find replacements. The way I see it we’ve got three options. One, we close the event down, which will suck for all of us because everyone has a lot invested in this thing. Two, we ban all six of the guys who quit. We can take three members from Ethan’s team and move them over to Adeline’s team to even things out. That sucks for the athletes who have to switch teams because they’ve been training together for months.” Sean drags in a breath. “Or three, we only ban Mack from the competition, which will suck for you, Adeline, because you’ll be short a team member and you’ll have to continue working with the guys who wanted you out.”
In short, all three options suck. Then again, this hasn’t been an easy situation since the last coach had to withdraw just a few weeks before the competition.
“I can handle it,” Red assures them.
No. Fucking. Way.
“No.” I shake my head. “Ban all of them.” It wouldn’t be ideal, but I don’t want any of those asswipes around her.
“Ethan.” Red’s voice is patient. “There needs to be a good mix of both male and female contestants. That’s the whole point. We don’t want it to be gender biased one way or the other.” A gentle breeze picks up, and she brushes away a strand of hair that’s blown across her lips.
Yet, that’s exactly what Zach, Sean, and me conspired to do—bias the coaches’ challenge in Red’s favor to please some of our sponsors.
My eye twitches. “No,” I say again. “What if they try another dirty trick? I don’t want them near you.”
“Ethan, I can handle it.” Her tone is getting coolish. “I’m not a little girl who breaks into tears because someone tries to bully me on the playground.”
Zach and Sean laugh at the double meaning.
I don’t.
“I appreciate your concern,” Red says. “But you don’t get to make decisions for me.”
I unlock my jaw and say, “There’s got to be another option.”
“Not this close to the event.” Sean’s phone dings, and he pulls it from his pocket and sends the caller to voicemail. “Look, you’ve both done a phenomenal job with this transition. If Adeline is prepared to work with her existing team, then I think we should move forward without Mack and keep everyone else. Getting rid of all six of them means losing a quarter of our contestants.”
“Not to mention the bad press that would generate. Losing one team member isn’t that noticeable. Losing half of a team is another thing entirely. There would be questions.” Zach rolls his eyes. “There are always questions.”
“The best thing for the event is to stick with the same team less one asshole named Mack,” Red says and folds her arms. “I’m good with it.”
I’m so not. But I’m outnumbered. And I know that determined look in Red’s eye means I’ve lost this argument.
Sean chuckles. “I’ll be at the gym tomorrow morning to speak to the teams. I’ll send a message loud and clear that this is their last chance. Anymore bullshit and they’re out.” He gives Red’s arm an encouraging nudge. “I doubt they’ll give you any more trouble after the way they came forward today, but if they do, they’re history.” He shifts his attention to me. “Ethan, this really is the best option. We’re still on track to provide great entertainment for the spectators. Zach’s PR work is creating a lot of buzz for the event. Even the way you two set up the coaches’ challenge so Adeline can win is brilliant.”
Oh. Shit.
“It’ll wow the crowd and the sponsors and keep the excitement level high during the event.” Sean rubs his hands together. “Adeline, you’re going to get a lot of exposure and advertising for your yoga studio, just like you wanted. And Ethan, you’ll have the sponsors eating out of your hand. They’ll jump at the chance to sign the corporate contracts you’ll be proposing to them after the event is over.”
Fuck me.
Red’s lips part, and her eyes are as round as the moon.
As she processes what Sean just said, pink creeps up her neck and her expression is clearly stunned.
“Red, no.” I shake my head. “It’s not what you think.”
“Isn’t it?” she whispers. “No wonder you’ve gone to such lengths to help me.” Disappointment vibrates in her tone. “Silly me, I actually thought you were investing so much time into me because you…” Her bottom lip quivers, and she glances away. “Because you cared. Because you respected me enough as an athlete to want it to be a real competition, not just a hoax to entertain the sponsors.”
Zach’s expression says oh shit.
“I don’t understand,” Sean says. “You two didn’t rehearse the whole challenge at the bar? It was so perfect. Even better than the way you and I discussed setting it up, Ethan.”
My eyes slide shut.
“Wow.” Wetness shimmers in her eyes. “The good ol’ boys club is alive and well.” She blows out a lau
gh. “You three planned this, and I made it easy for you by offering up the challenge myself.” She shakes her head. “Gotta hand it to you, you make a slick team.”
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding here.” Zach tries to salvage the situation with his PR charm.
“Oh, I think I understand,” Red murmurs. She pinches the corners of her eyes. “Dick, here, was even good enough to break his one-night rule for me.” Her voice isn’t cold. It’s pained as her lashes flutter up and her gaze lands on me. She’s obviously so rattled that she doesn’t care if Zach and Sean know the whole down and dirty truth about our personal relationship. “Nice touch, by the way. I bought it. It won my trust, just like I’m sure you planned, right? It never occurred to me that you were setting everything up to help you land some sort of business deal.”
“That’s not why I broke my stupid rule,” I say, my teeth grinding at the pain on her face.
Gently, she slices a hand through the air like she’s still processing. “All for money. I mean, that’s what it boils down to, right? I seem to be a magnet for guys who want to fuck me because there’s some kind of monetary gain in it for them.”
“I do care. More than you know.” I take a step toward her, but she backs away.
“Um, maybe we should give you two some privacy.” Zach motions to Sean for them to leave.
“Oh, no.” Red shakes her head. “You two stay right where you are. Tell me, was getting me in bed part of the plan you three cooked up, or did Dick improvise on that one?”
“That’s not why I’m sleeping with you!” I run fingers through my hair. Jesus, Red isn’t usually short on words, but I’ve never seen her talk so fast. “If you’ll let me explain—”
“Oh, don’t even.” Red holds up a palm. “I’ve heard it all from the last guy I trusted. That’s the reason I agreed to this farce to begin with.” She smooths back her hair with both hands in frustration. “Jesus, I’m so damn dumb.”
“I’m nothing like your ex, Adeline.” I don’t know why, but I use her real name.
For the first time since Sean opened his big fat mouth, Red is at a loss for words. Her lips part, and she stares at me, the afternoon sunlight shimmering off her watery eyes.
I want to wrap her in my arms, make love to her, show her how much she means to me. This was a stupid, stupid mistake. Suddenly, I don’t care about the prize money or the corporate contracts. My life is good. No, scratch that. It’s fucking great. I’ve got four successful gyms that are thriving. And I have a woman in my bed at night who I’m falling in love with.
No. Scratch that, too. I had a woman in my bed at night. The pain in her eyes tells me she won’t likely be between the sheets with me tonight. Or any night after.
And I’m about to get my heart ripped out because I’m going to lose the woman I’ve fallen for. Again.
Except this time, it’s my fault, not hers.
“Adeline,” Sean says. “You’re wildly popular with some of our sponsors. They signed because of you, but you’ve known from the beginning just like we have that your team is at a disadvantage because of you joining us so late in the competition.” He rubs the back of his neck. “So I asked Ethan to set up a friendly competition between you two to entertain the crowd and keep it interesting. I figured since the deck is stacked against you and the odds are in his favor to win the team competition, then a friendly challenge between the two coaches…” He gives me a look that screams help.
Props to him for coming clean, but please God, don’t let him say what I think he’s about to say. I should probably smack him to shut him up.
“…Well, if you won the coaches’ challenge then you’d both be winners, and it would make everyone happy,” Sean says. “So I asked Ethan to let you win.”
Yeaaaah. Should’ve smacked him.
“And it was my idea to keep it from you,” Sean says. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew after the way you challenged him at the bar…like it was rehearsed.”
“So I get the consolation prize, which is worth a big goose egg.” She holds up a hand, making an O with her thumb and forefinger. “And he gets the million dollars.” She laughs. “How convenient that the winners and losers have been decided and the competition hasn’t even happened yet. I mean, yes, I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but I’ve come from behind many times to win a competition.” She wrinkles her nose and waves a hand in the air like the pressure was no biggie. “On live national and worldwide television, I might add. When I was just a kid,” she deadpans. “So I figured I’d at least get a fair chance at the prize money.”
“Red, the event isn’t rigged. Just the coaches’ challenge,” I say and even I know how douchey that sounds. “Let’s go somewhere alone so we can talk.”
She backs up another step. “Seriously? Just do me the courtesy of being honest about one thing—did you set me up all the way back to the first night we met at the bar?” She nods and gives me a melodramatic smile of admiration. “Typing your number into my phone and acting concerned about my safety was genius. I trusted you from that moment on.”
“Adeline, stop it. That night wasn’t a set up. Neither was sleeping with you the first time or any time since then.” I want to say it was honest and real, just like falling in love with you. But I can’t. My heart drums against my chest, and I try to squeeze the emotions back into that tiny box where they belong. The one I kept them in for so long so I wouldn’t get hurt. Unfortunately, they’ve grown so big for this woman that they don’t fit anymore.
“I’m leaving.” She takes a few steps backward and looks at Zach and Sean. “You’ll have my decision tomorrow about whether or not I’m staying on as a coach.”
She turns and walks away.
And I let her go because I’ve fucked this up and none of it’s her fault.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I want to rip Zach a new one, both for spilling our dirty little secret in front of Red and for even suggesting such a ridiculous plan to begin with. I can’t though because I went along with it.
But that was before I got to know Red. Before I started sleeping with her. Before she came to mean so much to me.
“Dude, why didn’t you warn us?” Zach says. “The way it went down at the bar, we assumed she was on board with the coaches’ challenge being more for entertainment than a real competition.”
Hell, it’s not Zach and Sean I should’ve warned. I should’ve told Red the truth. Honestly, I’ve been so caught up in her, so caught up in us, that I haven’t thought of much else since the night I met her.
I rake a hand over my face. “I fucked up. Frankly, we all did from the moment we brought her on board. If she decides to stay on as coach, she’ll be included in all conversations and meetings about the event from now on. No more maneuvering behind her back. I’ve always been an honest businessman and an honest competitor, and as far as I know, so have both of you. But this fucking event has turned all three of us into that guy. The kind of guy who’s willing to cut corners and skirt the truth to get the outcome we want.”
I’m still staring across the park, in the direction Red disappeared. I want to go after her, but my gut tells me that would be a mistake. She needs time to process, time to cool down. Then maybe I can convince her to listen to me. Convince her to give me another chance.
I shove my hands in my pockets. “I gotta go. I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning at the gym.” I turn to leave but stop and face them again. “If I do win the prize money, make the check out to a charity. I don’t know, maybe pick an organization that promotes health and fitness for kids.” I think back to my conversation with Red and how she wanted to teach tumbling to children at her studio. “And make sure to pick an organization that makes it fun for the kids. Like using trampolines…or tumbling.”
I walk away without waiting for them to respond. At the moment, I could care less about the Weekend Warrior competition. The only thing I care about is Red and how much I’ve hurt her.
When I get to the gym, I sit
behind my desk and pull up the YouTube video I’ve been avoiding. The one that shows Red’s injury, the one that shows her gymnastics career crashing to Earth in a split second in front of the whole world. I steeple my fingers at my nose and watch. She’s just a kid, but she’s on a four-inch wide beam and masters it like the champion she is. She’s dressed in a sparkly red, white, and blue bodysuit, and the announcers’ voices are shrill with excitement.
They go on about how she’s destined for Olympic gold, her balance beam routine is the most difficult in the world and has never been attempted in competitive gymnastics. She does the splits with no hands, her toes curling around the beam are her only support.
It makes me want to cover my crotch with protective hands, but it’s awe-inspiring at the same time.
She’s packed in one-footed spins, back flips, front flips, and handstands in just sixty seconds plus. Throughout the routine she twists and contorts her body into positions that defy human logic, all while maintaining impeccable balance on a piece of wood no wider than my hand.
About a minute and a half in, she takes a position at the end of the beam, and I know the dismount is coming. This must be the moment of truth. She back flips from one end of the beam to the other, vaults into the air on the last one, and does a double round off back flip away from the beam with her body spiraling at lightning speed.
But something’s off. Her last landing on the beam, where she pushed off for the dismount was unsteady, like she miscalculated and doesn’t have quite enough momentum.
The crack of bone is audible when she lands, and the crowd gasps as she crumples to the ground in pain.
My finger stabs the track pad to click the Stop button. I close my eyes, then with a forearm, I swipe all the papers off my desk. They fly off and scatter across the floor.
Fucking amazing how Red suffered so much loss at such a young age and still managed to get on with her life in a way I couldn’t. See, I built up walls to shut out the hurt and disappointment I’d suffered. Red did the opposite. It was because of the disappointment she’d suffered, that she worked toward the goal of building up others instead of thinking of herself.
Get Wilde (A Checkmate Inc. Novel Book 3) Page 16
