Nets and Lies (7 page)

“I’m sure you would,” I whispered.

“All right, it’s eleven, and I’m gonna hit the road.” He started for the door, but I pulled on his arm.

“Stay with me.”

“What?”

“Stay with me until I go back to sleep.” When he stared at me in surprise, I forced a smile to my lips. “You know, to kick the boogeyman’s ass and all.”

Will laughed. “Okay.” He kicked off his shoes and lay down beside me. He pulled me into his arms, and I rested my head on his chest.

When I heard the gentle rhythm of his heart, I murmured, “My favorite position.”

At that moment I realized I would do anything in the world to save what Will and I had. I’d promised Coach T I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I decided it would be a vow I’d keep—regardless of what I had to say or do.

I drummed my French-manicured nails across the steering wheel, throwing another impatient glance at the clock. “What’s taking him so long?” I hissed.

I was waiting for my usual Monday night hook-up to commence. It’d been two weeks since our behind the concession-stand quickie. For a moment, my aggravation subsided when I thought of how lately Coach T, or Mark as I should’ve thought of him, couldn’t seem to get enough of me. Monday nights were set in stone, but lately, he’d texted me to meet up at least two more times.

Regardless of what I was doing, I dropped everything to meet him. Nothing filled the stretches of lonely days quite like those stolen hours we shared together.

But when I eyed the clock again, I twitched in frustration. Usually, as soon as everyone had cleared out of the building, Coach T would flick the outside lights twice. Then I knew the coast was clear, and I could go inside.

But he was thirty minutes late tonight, and I quickly texted a, “WTF is going on?” message. I wasn’t gonna wait outside all night for him. Especially after I’d turned the car off fifteen minutes ago, and I was shivering in the late January cold. Well, I told myself I would leave, knowing full well I would wait for him forever.

My eyes caught sight of a figure in the parking lot. I squinted and recognized Melanie Reeves. Even though it was after practice, she looked like hell. Her mascara smudged across her cheeks, and her lipstick looked smeared. Geez, she could have at least taken the time to clean up before heading home.

Her car had barely left the parking lot when I saw the flick of the lights. I checked my reflection in the mirror one more time before opening the car door. My heels clicked across the pavement as I made my way to the door. The only nice thing about meeting in the practice gym was the fact there were no cameras and no fear of discovery. It was the one area of the school that had yet to be remodeled or brought into the technological age.

I found Coach T sitting at his desk, his head in his hands.

“Hey,” I said softly. I reached over to run my fingers through his dark hair. He surprised me by jerking away. “What’s wrong?”

He still refused to look at me. “We can’t do this.”

“Aren’t you in the mood tonight?”

He raised his head to stare at me. “No, I’m not.”

I cocked my head and grinned at him. “I bet you I can change that,” I said, and then leaned over to kiss him.

At first, it was like crashing against a solid wall. But then he gave way, and his lips became frantic against mine. He jumped up from the chair and crushed me to him. When he finally jerked away, I panted for air. “That’s more like it,” I gasped.

He ran his fingers through his hair and then shook his head. “I can’t do this, Jordan.”

“I don’t understand—”

“We can’t see each other anymore. It was wrong, and it never should have happened.”

I stared at him in disbelief, slowly shaking my head from side to side. It felt as if his lips were moving, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. “Not see each other anymore? But why?”

“You’re too young. I took advantage of you.”

I snorted. “Took advantage of me? Has there ever been a time I came to you unwilling? I’ve wanted you every time—I want you all the time.”

He winced. “It doesn’t matter. It was wrong.”

Heat filled my cheeks as I tried desperately to fight for him, to fight for
us
. “But I don’t understand. Why would you suddenly decide it was wrong?”

“I’m trying to make things work with my wife, Jordan. She doesn’t know about you, but she knows I’ve been having an affair.”

“Why did you tell her?”

“I didn’t. It all came out in therapy.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Therapy?”

He nodded. “I—well she and I—have been in couple’s counseling for a long time.”

“For what?”

He gazed down at the floor. “Well, if you must know—”

“I think I have a right to know if you’re blowing me off!” I cried, bringing my hands to my hips.

Coach T raised his gaze to stare me straight on. “For sex addiction.”

I gasped.

“Anyway, I love her, and I want to save my marriage.”

My heart skidded to a stop, and I fought to find my breath. “But…I-I love you,” I protested.

“No, you don’t. You just think it’s love.”

“Now you’re telling me what I feel?” I shook my head. “I’ve never loved anyone in my life the way I’ve loved you. These past few months have been the best months of my life. I want to be with you.” My arms encircled his neck. “Forget about your wife. She doesn’t make you happy. I can see that. You know I can make you happy. I’d do anything for you, I swear!”

He took my arms and pulled them away. “In time, you’ll see this is the right thing. You need to be with someone your own age. You’d realize in a few years that you didn’t love me, and it was all just a
crush.”

My chest felt like it was caving in. I couldn’t believe the same man who couldn’t get enough of me just three days ago was now blowing me off, reducing my feelings to nothing more than fucking puppy love.

Tears stung my eyes. “No, it’s not a crush.”

“Jordan—”

“So was I just some piece of young ass to you?” That thought burned in my mind. Was I just a conquest to him? Something he did to see if he could get away with it? Part of his alleged sex addiction? After all, guys usually only wanted me for one thing. And once they used me, they tossed me aside. The sad thing was I never seemed to learn.

I stared pleadingly into his eyes, waiting for his response. He sighed and brushed a tear off my cheek. “No, you weren’t. You are much, much more to me, I promise. And I do care for you.”

“Care for me? I tell you I love you and I want to spend my life with you, and you can only say that you
care
for me.” My mind spun with what he had told me earlier about his wife knowing he was having an affair. “Is there someone else?”

He refused to meet my gaze.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a speck of blue peeking out of the couch cushion. That one tiny piece of cloth sent electricity firing through me and an image formed in my mind. “So you swear that there isn’t someone else?”

“No, of course not.”

My head shook maniacally as I stalked over to the couch. I ripped out the fabric, which happened to be a pair of panties with white embroidery reading
Captain
. “Then what in the hell is this?”

The color drained slowly out of Coach T’s usually tanned face. He looked like a corpse standing in front of me. And then I remembered Melanie streaking across the parking lot, and it hit me. “You’re doing Melanie, aren’t you?”

He stared at me in disbelief. “Jordan—”

Fury crashed over me. I’d been replaced by Miss Goody Two-Shoes! I struck out at him as best I could. “She’s your son’s girlfriend, you pervert!”

“It’s not like that at all.”

“Oh, and why did she leave here just a few minutes ago looking like hell?”

“If you would calm down for a minute, I would explain!” He reached out his hand for me, but I jerked away.

“I sure hope you can because you’re gonna have a hell of a lot of explaining to do when I go to Micheltree’s office in the morning!”

I clamped my mouth shut, regretting what I had said. But in spite of the acid nature of my words, Coach T’s reaction was not what I expected. Instead of a face filled with fear, he stared mockingly at me. “Go ahead and tell your little story. No one will believe you.”

“What?”

“Think about it, Jordan. I’m a well respected teacher with tenure in the county.” He jerked his head toward his Victory Wall of trophies, plaques, and awards. “Not to mention, I’ve got one of the best coaching records around. I’m practically a god around here. And then there’s you: someone who is a known liar who has been a frequent resident in detention for cheating, skipping school, and other offences.” He stared daggers at me. “Who do you think they’re going to believe?”

I trembled under his glare. I’d never seen this side of him before. He’d always teased me, joked with me…been tender with me. This was frightening.

But I refused to let him see how scared I was. “You don’t know what they’ll believe.”

His lips curled into a cruel smirk. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to see.”

I stared at him in shock before flinging the panties at him. My hair fell in front of my face, shielding the tears that flowed. Slamming his office door, I stalked out of the gym and into the icy night.

My mascara stung my eyes and blinded me, causing me to stumble towards my car. Thoughts swarmed in my head like an angry beehive.
This can’t be happening. He’ll come after me. He’ll realize he’s wrong. He doesn’t want me to tell. He LOVES me.

I slammed the car door and banged my head on the steering wheel. Without bothering to cover my mouth, I screamed and thrashed and sobbed. My vision became clouded by a mixture of eyeliner, mascara, and salt.

I’d been rejected.

Again.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. He was going to pay. I was going to hurt him like he’d hurt me. If it was the last thing I did, he would pay.

***

My mother has never been a cookie-making, PTA Mom. She had me at twenty, and I guess you could say we grew up together, especially after my dad took off when I was five. From that moment on, it was Mom and me against the world.

So, I knew when I entered the house, crushed and sobbing, she would be on my side. It wouldn’t matter that a married man had broken my heart—a married man who was a coach and teacher at my school. The details would be insignificant compared to the fact I was in pain.

Since it was late, I knew she would be doing her second favorite thing—working out. I descended the stairs to the basement as loud 80’s music blared in my ears. Mom seemed to only be able to get her exercise groove on to the big hair bands. As my hand hovered over the doorknob, I could hear the faint humming noise of the elliptical.

Once I opened that door and spilled my guts, there would be no turning back. Secrets spoken out loud could never be silenced. They always seemed to spiral out of control, filling you with regret that you ever acknowledged them.

I was right. The instant Mom saw my tear stained face, she gasped. “JoJo, what’s wrong?” she asked, hopping off the machine. She was at my side at an instant.