Chapter 16

Cassidy
She could hear David shuffling around in his bedroom. Something must have happened after she’d left him with Frank and Kent because he usually went right to sleep. She heard his door open and then footsteps as he went up the stairs to the roof.

Cassidy got out of bed to see what was up. She found him sitting on the couch, so she sat next to him. The cool night air was a jolt to her system, sending her own desire for sleep fleeing. She shivered. He must have felt the movement because he slipped off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with counterfeit indifference.

David’s arm felt warm and comforting around her waist. She burrowed into his side, suddenly feeling very safe and sleepy.

“Come to bed,” Cassidy encouraged.

“I made an ass out of myself tonight.”

She knew that when David got mad, it typically was better to leave him alone. If you did that, he usually calmed down and saw reason. But if you ignored the signs, David would lash out. It sounded like he was at the reasonable stage and wanted to talk.

“What made you upset?”

He chuckled.

“You know me too well.”

“Just tell me,” Cassidy ordered.

David recapped his conversation with Frank and Kent.

“You should have fired them. Kent is using company resources to get laid. She obviously either had no training or is incompetent, and she might have caused you and your friends a world of hurt. In either case, she should have never been your PA,” Cassidy said.

David didn’t say anything for a minute.

“But that’s not what you’re really mad about, is it?” she asked.

He looked over at her.

“It’s Lexi cheating,” she guessed. “And that’s why you feel guilty for yelling at them.”

David nodded.

“Did you mean what you said?” Cassidy asked.

He sighed before answering.

“Yes, but I could have been more ... diplomatic.”

“You are such a people-pleaser,” she said, amusement touching her eyes. “There are times when you should tell it like it is, just like when you were telling Oliver where to get off. He’s bad news, and you don’t need someone like him in your life.”

“The difference is I don’t have anything invested in Oliver.”

“Do me a favor and don’t apologize tomorrow. They need to fix their internal problems, and having them think you plan to give them a pass will never solve anything. In fact, it would do more harm than good,” Cassidy warned.

David nodded his agreement and then pulled her closer.

“You’re a good friend.”

“I’m glad you think that because I have another favor to ask.”

“If it’s within my power to help, all you have to do is ask, Buttercup,” he said softly.

“My dad told me you would eventually get your head out of your butt and take over the leadership of the football team,” Cassidy said. That earned her a raised eyebrow, but she ignored the warning and pushed forward. “I’ve been watching what you’ve been up to and was hoping you would teach me to do the same with the rowing team.”

“Do you have a plan?” David asked.

“What’s yours?” she shot back.

He was smart enough to know that meant ‘no,’ so he let it go for now. Cassidy knew David and his ‘plans.’ His idea of a ‘plan’ would be to make her do stupid stuff like envisioning what outcome she wanted, creating goals and timelines, and so on.

“My overall goal is to win a National Championship. The soonest that can happen is the season after this one because I know Coach Clayton is a stubborn ass and won’t even consider starting me this year.”

“You really think that? Shouldn’t it be that the best player plays?” Cassidy asked.

“You would think,” David said, clearly disgusted. “But your own dad wanted to start your brother.”

She scrunched her nose as she realized he was right.

“And you think you’ll start next year?” Cassidy guessed.

“There’s no thinking about it. I will,” he said with a confidence that left no doubt it would happen.

She knew that if David set his mind to something, it would get done.

“I take it that you have a plan for that?”

He nodded, saying, “But you don’t need to know the details because your situation is different. Your coach has already penciled you in as the lead rower, right?”

At her nod, he went on. “What you want to do now is win. If that were my goal, then there’s a lot of stuff I’d be doing differently,” David suggested.

Cassidy gave her friend a confused look. They’d been friends long enough that he didn’t need to know what her question was; he just answered it.

“Remember our sophomore year when the juniors and seniors tried to freeze us out?” David asked, and she nodded. “I took the underclassmen and a handful of backup juniors and created a core group that went on to win three state championships. I plan to do the same with the freshmen and pull in a few upperclassmen to work with this summer.”

“I hope you aren’t thinking of including Oliver in all this,” Cassidy said.

He smiled.

“You’re learning. But I don’t think Oliver’s a bad fit just because he’s an ass.”

“That would be enough for me,” she admitted.

“Did you know Oliver’s probably the best punter in the conference, and he hasn’t even played a down of American football?”

“If he’s so good, why don’t you plan to include him?” Cassidy asked.

“First, he’s just a kicker. That group goes off to the side in practice and does their own thing. They never really get involved with the rest of the team. Second, he’s so much older than all of us, even the seniors. With his bad attitude, Oliver won’t want to listen to anyone. He’ll discount what we try to tell him, and frankly, I worry that he’ll work against me. I don’t need someone like that poisoning the minds of my key players.”

“We could have Ruth ambush him, stick him in a crate, and ship him back down under.”

“You still haven’t hurt any boys this week. Maybe you could make him squeal like a little girl for me,” David suggested as they jested about Oliver’s demise.

“I already told Ruth about the one boy a week rule, but I made it clear that it didn’t apply to Oliver.”

“I’d almost forgotten how much fun it was to watch you take down big tough high school boys. I still have no idea what Ruth did to Oliver,” David admitted.

“About Ruth: she has a big crush on you.”

His head fell back as he turned his face heavenward and moaned.

“Please tell me that’s not true,” he worried.

“Well, I am your best friend, after all. I exist to tell you the truth, even if it won’t make you feel good. Deal with it.

“I told you that she and I talked before you first met her. She confessed it then. I explained that she was here to do a serious job and shared a few of your dustups and about Trip being shot. I advised her to treat you formally and not let on about her true feelings,” Cassidy said.

“And here I was trying to get her to loosen up. Having her call me ‘Mr. Dawson’ might not be such a bad idea,” David decided.

“I’m not sure that wouldn’t bug the hell out of you. I think her calling you ‘sir’ is probably the right compromise,” Cassidy suggested.

Then a yawn hit her.

“I’ve kept you up late enough. Let’s go to bed,” he suggested.

“Can I sleep with you?” she asked.

She’d asked because David slept better when she did, and he was still keyed up about Lexi. Cassidy hoped that by changing his focus to football and helping her, he might get to sleep. If that didn’t work, she might have to let him have sex with her. A good orgasm always seemed to cause David to nod off.

The only problem was it would open up feelings that Cassidy wasn’t ready to face.

After having been postponed, it was finally time for Cassidy’s appointment with Tank, David’s strength and conditioning coach. As she walked to his office, she reviewed what she sought to talk about. She’d decided that she wanted to become a leader of the women’s rowing team.

Part of Cassidy’s leadership plan was to get the girls in better physical shape than their competition. Currently, her team primarily worked out on rowing machines, which mimicked actual rowing. But she’d had seen the variety of exercises David did, most of which were not football-specific. She thought that with Tank’s help, she could come up with a routine to help her girls.

She’d also done some homework on Tank’s career. He’d graduated high school at seventeen, gotten a full athletic scholarship to Penn State, started varsity all four years, and carried a three-six GPA, graduating cum laude.

After college, Tank went to work for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Within two years, he’d been promoted to the number two position in their strength and conditioning staff. He was quickly recognized as one of the bright young minds in the industry. That was when USC came calling and hired him to head their football program’s sports and conditioning team.

Tank had hired a diverse group of trainers and nutritionists to propel athletes to reach their highest potential. They did this while at the same time getting the players’ bodies to where they could better resist injury. David had commented that Tank’s group had scienced the shit out of it, and from what Cassidy could see, that was true. Tank was on the cutting edge of the industry, and he was only twenty-seven.

She figured that she would need to barter something, so Cassidy had brought all of David’s records from high school that the trainers had put together. She was sure her friend had selective amnesia about many of his injuries that Tank would want to know about.

Tank was receptive to her request and offered to help the rowing team.

“What do you have there?” he asked when Cassidy plopped the thick folder down on his desk.

“I’ve been working with David for nearly five years. Since you’re going to take over this summer, I thought you might want to see his high school records. The trainers kept detailed track of his progress. This also has all his injuries documented,” Cassidy explained. “By the way, one of his trainers just joined the baseball training staff here. If you have any questions about what’s in there, you can ask her.”

Tank flipped through the folder and frowned.

“How many concussions has he had?” the coach asked.

“At least two.”

“We’ve been learning a lot more about the hidden damage of head trauma. I’m going to have our team doctor, Doctor Liao, check him out,” Tank said and then paused before asking, “Can I keep this?”

“Let me ask David,” she said and gave him a quick call.

David wasn’t thrilled that he would have to get his head tested but gave Cassidy permission to let Tank have a copy.

Turning her attention back to Tank, Cassidy studied his shock of curly brown-black hair, his stubbled jawline, and his broad shoulders. She decided he was handsome. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine what was underneath those shorts with the way they clung to him in all the right places. She tilted her head to the side and made an appreciative face. ’Nice,’ she thought.

After they’d talked about David, the conversation changed as they began to get to know each other on a more personal level. Cassidy unexpectedly found that she was attracted to Tank in a very unprofessional manner.