Read Online Skin in the Game by Jackie Barbosa - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jackie Barbosa
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absence?”
“Oh, it’s not that I don’t trust Angie! She’s a genius when it comes to drawing up plays, and the kids worship the ground she walks on.” Lund let out a wheezy laugh. “And what teenage boy in his right mind wouldn’t? She looks more like a supermodel than a math teacher, let alone a football coach. In fact, I think every boy in school is taking calculus now, just to spend his senior year mooning over her.”
As Lund rambled through his explanation, Cade felt everything in his brain shifting and snapping together like the parts of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit. Angie. Click. Supermodel. Click.
Math teacher. Click. Calculus. Click.
He closed his eyes and flopped back against the couch, stunned and a little amused.
Angela Petersen—the woman who’d rocked his world last night and then given him the coyote ugly treatment—was the assistant coach of the football team. And Harvey Lund wanted Cade to take over the team and be her boss.
Irony was a beautiful thing. He’d been ready to let the whole incident go, even though he’d known it would be easy enough to find her. He just hadn’t seen the point in pursuing her when it was obvious she didn’t want to be pursued.
But now…now he was looking forward to just a little taste of revenge. Not that he’d abuse his position of authority, of course. He had no intention of treating her badly or sabotaging her with the team. He just couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized she hadn’t gotten rid of him so easily.
“It’s not her I have the problem with,” Lund finished.
Cade dragged his attention back to his old friend. “Then I don’t understand why you want me to fill in for you as head coach. If you have so much faith in her…”
The older man heaved a breath and shook his head. “It’s Chuck Donnelly, the other assistant coach. He may be twenty years younger than me, but he’s still old school. When I passed him over and put her in charge of running practices and calling plays, he was furious.
Told me I was an idiot to put a woman in that position and insinuated I must be—how’d he put it?—‘banging’ her.” He looked down at himself pointedly and gave a derisive chuckle. “As if, right?”
“If he doesn’t agree with your decisions as head coach, why don’t you fire him?”
“It’s not as easy in high school football as it is in the NFL. Donnelly isn’t my employee; he’s an employee of the school district. I can’t fire him any more than he can fire me. All I can do is assign my staff the roles I think they’re best suited to. Angie was best suited to the lead assistant position, hands-down. But that’s the reason I need someone like you to fill in as head coach.” Lund gave Cade an imploring look. “We have our first real shot at winning the state championship since your senior year, Cade, and it’s mostly because of Angie’s brilliant play-making and play-calling. I can’t take the chance that Donnelly will ruin that because he thinks he should have her job.”
Cade was beginning to appreciate the older man’s dilemma. “So, how do I come into this? What can I do to help?”
“Just be a figurehead. To be honest, I’m not much more than that these days, anyway. Let Angie run practice and call plays like she normally does and make sure Donnelly doesn’t constantly interfere or try to sabotage her.”
“Okay. I do have a question, though.”
“Shoot.”
“Why isn’t she here? Shouldn’t she know what you’re doing?”
“That’s two questions, son,” Lund pointed out.
“Related, though.”
“True.” At that moment, his coach was overtaken by a coughing fit. Lund reached for his glass of water, but his arm was so unsteady that he only managed to knock it over.
Cade leaped to his feet to help, taking the glass to the kitchen to refill it while simultaneously grabbing a towel from the rack to dry up the spill. Once there, he couldn’t help noticing the sink piled
“Oh, it’s not that I don’t trust Angie! She’s a genius when it comes to drawing up plays, and the kids worship the ground she walks on.” Lund let out a wheezy laugh. “And what teenage boy in his right mind wouldn’t? She looks more like a supermodel than a math teacher, let alone a football coach. In fact, I think every boy in school is taking calculus now, just to spend his senior year mooning over her.”
As Lund rambled through his explanation, Cade felt everything in his brain shifting and snapping together like the parts of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit. Angie. Click. Supermodel. Click.
Math teacher. Click. Calculus. Click.
He closed his eyes and flopped back against the couch, stunned and a little amused.
Angela Petersen—the woman who’d rocked his world last night and then given him the coyote ugly treatment—was the assistant coach of the football team. And Harvey Lund wanted Cade to take over the team and be her boss.
Irony was a beautiful thing. He’d been ready to let the whole incident go, even though he’d known it would be easy enough to find her. He just hadn’t seen the point in pursuing her when it was obvious she didn’t want to be pursued.
But now…now he was looking forward to just a little taste of revenge. Not that he’d abuse his position of authority, of course. He had no intention of treating her badly or sabotaging her with the team. He just couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized she hadn’t gotten rid of him so easily.
“It’s not her I have the problem with,” Lund finished.
Cade dragged his attention back to his old friend. “Then I don’t understand why you want me to fill in for you as head coach. If you have so much faith in her…”
The older man heaved a breath and shook his head. “It’s Chuck Donnelly, the other assistant coach. He may be twenty years younger than me, but he’s still old school. When I passed him over and put her in charge of running practices and calling plays, he was furious.
Told me I was an idiot to put a woman in that position and insinuated I must be—how’d he put it?—‘banging’ her.” He looked down at himself pointedly and gave a derisive chuckle. “As if, right?”
“If he doesn’t agree with your decisions as head coach, why don’t you fire him?”
“It’s not as easy in high school football as it is in the NFL. Donnelly isn’t my employee; he’s an employee of the school district. I can’t fire him any more than he can fire me. All I can do is assign my staff the roles I think they’re best suited to. Angie was best suited to the lead assistant position, hands-down. But that’s the reason I need someone like you to fill in as head coach.” Lund gave Cade an imploring look. “We have our first real shot at winning the state championship since your senior year, Cade, and it’s mostly because of Angie’s brilliant play-making and play-calling. I can’t take the chance that Donnelly will ruin that because he thinks he should have her job.”
Cade was beginning to appreciate the older man’s dilemma. “So, how do I come into this? What can I do to help?”
“Just be a figurehead. To be honest, I’m not much more than that these days, anyway. Let Angie run practice and call plays like she normally does and make sure Donnelly doesn’t constantly interfere or try to sabotage her.”
“Okay. I do have a question, though.”
“Shoot.”
“Why isn’t she here? Shouldn’t she know what you’re doing?”
“That’s two questions, son,” Lund pointed out.
“Related, though.”
“True.” At that moment, his coach was overtaken by a coughing fit. Lund reached for his glass of water, but his arm was so unsteady that he only managed to knock it over.
Cade leaped to his feet to help, taking the glass to the kitchen to refill it while simultaneously grabbing a towel from the rack to dry up the spill. Once there, he couldn’t help noticing the sink piled
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