Slope of Love (Love in Bloom: The Remingtons) Read Free Page B

Marcus a threatening stare before sitting back down, as if every muscle in his body hadn’t been corded tight as a jaguar ready to attack.
    Jayla sat across the table from Rush, between Kia and Teri. Kia and Teri leaned in close, whispering to Jayla, and goddamn if her eyes weren’t damp.
    Not my problem . He called bullshit on himself again. Jayla would always be his… problem . He pulled out his cell to make sure he hadn’t missed a message from Jayla. Guess she didn’t need me after all .
    “Listen up.” Coach Sean Cunningham was the strictest, most cutthroat coach in competitive skiing. Even pushing sixty, he was six feet of barrel-chested bulk, with more brown than gray hair, a thick neck, and even thicker arms. Chad stood off to the side. He was short, stocky, and although he tried to keep a rigid exterior to match Coach Cunningham’s, his friendly brown eyes and boyish face betrayed his efforts.
    Coach Cunningham took charge with a dead-serious, commanding tone. “You’ll be teaching by day, training in the evenings, and although there’s no curfew for this week of teaching”—he set his steady, slate-blue stare on Patrick, then moved it from one player to the next around the table—“you know the rules. You show up hungover, you can’t practice, or I see one deficit, we go to curfew. Got it?”
    “Yes, Coach,” they answered in practiced unison.
    He set his eyes on Jayla. Rush sat up straighter, his full attention on Jayla’s lack of eye contact. She knew better than not to meet the coach’s eyes, which could mean only one thing. Whatever was going on with Marcus had messed with her head too much for her to react. That was the danger zone. If Marcus messed with her head, he’d mess with her focus, and in turn, her ability to win her competition.
    And that was why he couldn’t ignore whatever the hell was going on with her.
    “One deficit, and all hell breaks loose.” The coach let the words hang in the air. All eyes slid to Jayla.
    Deficit? Rush knew she would do anything to continue competing. Including covering up lingering pain. Athletes lived in a state of denial when it came to injuries. Coaches, too. They’d rather pretend that the best couldn’t be stopped, and admitting otherwise weakened their faith in the team and their strength overall. Rush knew athletes were a strange breed—himself included. It wasn’t going to change anytime soon. And after the way the coach was staring at Jayla’s shoulder, he was sure she was covering up more than just a relationship gone sour.
    After the tension in the room grew thick, which Rush was certain was Coach Cunningham’s intent, the coach continued. “You have free rein today and tomorrow; then you’re mine in the afternoons. Now, please give your full attention to Danica and Blake Carter. Danica coordinated these workshops. She runs No Limitz, the community center in Allure, the next town over, and Blake owns AcroSki, a local ski shop that’s sponsoring the classes.”
    “Thanks so much, Coach Cunningham, and thanks to each of you for volunteering to teach,” Danica began. Dark corkscrew curls sprang wildly in every direction, giving her thick mass of hair a windblown look, but Rush knew that was how she always looked. He’d met her husband, Blake, a few years earlier, when he was in town for a competition. He’d gone into Blake’s ski shop and the two had talked for hours and had since become good friends, which was why when Blake told Rush about Danica’s ski clinic, Rush presented it to the team.
    Danica continued. “We’ve put these classes together as a way to try to give kids—teenagers in particular—something more to focus on than trouble. Not that these kids are troublemakers, but I think it’s easier for teenagers to stay out of trouble if they have interests beyond the opposite sex.” She paused and flashed a friendly smile. “We’ve got three classes scheduled for each of you every day. You’ll be paired up. Two