Chapter 1

Hi, I am Coach Paul O’Dell and I am the swim coach for a medium sized state college in the northwest United States. The school is Division 2 and while we don’t compete against the huge swim powers like the Universities of Texas, Georgia, Florida, and California, we do on occasions come up with a guy or girl who scares them.

I’ve been pretty good at finding hidden gems in my recruiting. I find swimmers who have not had the opportunity to compete in the best of conditions with passable coaching and who have decent times in their best events. I figure that with good coaching, and yes I am a very good coach, and better facilities and surrounded by a team that is more of a family that some kids will blossom into really good swimmers.

One of those kids was Candy Franconi. We recruited her to come to State from a small town in the southeast. We recruited her at the age of 17. Candy was 5’11”, weighed 130 lbs and was a slender 34-24-32. I’d recruited her for her distance swimming ability after her performance at the US Junior Nationals in August. When she showed up on campus after her Senior year in high school she was her current 6’1” weighed 165 lbs and had ballooned to 46E-35-44 and was not any stronger.

Fast swimming is also about body shape, you don’t see fast airplanes built like a beach ball. You don’t see UPS trucks racing in Formula 1. And you don’t see female swimmers with huge tits, well at least not successful ones.

Swimming fast is all about technique and strength to weight ratios. A big swimmer can get away with being big if they are strong enough to drag that weight through the water. It is not unusual to see a guy that is 6’4” and weighs 190 lbs. with a 28 inch waist. It is very unusual to see a fast swimmer built like Candy is now, a big girl, a very pretty, big girl. No scratch all that, a gorgeous, big girl. Candy had, far and away, the most beautiful face on the team.

As soon as she walked into the pool the first day, I put her on our strength and conditioning program and I’m proud to say that she was the hardest working woman on our team. She worked her ass off, literally, for months before everyone figured out that her size was not fat. She was as solid as a rock.

One day the women’s team Captain Carla ‘Carls’ Fellows asked for a meeting with the coaches.

“Well, Carls, what can I do for you?”

“Coach O’Dell, I’m afraid that Candy is pretty much a lost cause as far as being a fast distance swimmer. I don’t think that she can even do the sprints.”

“Carla! As team captain I expect a better attitude from you. With some work and care and dedication Candy should be able to get back into the swing of things.”

“Coach that is not going to happen. I just took a shower with her after practice. Once you get past those big breasts of hers, she is solid as a rock. The girls were joking about our breasts and she started to do jumping jacks in the shower. Coach! Except for those breasts, NOTHING else moved on her; not her stomach, her butt, her thighs, nothing was shaking or jiggling.”

“Coach, I have to agree,” Ronny Baker, my strength and conditioning coach, chimed in. “She’s a moose! She out leg presses almost all of the guys on the team and ranks 8^th or 9^th among the guys in everything else. Her problem is definitely strength. What’s more, she can run on the treadmill for 45 minutes at 7:30 mile pace.”

“Coach, all the girls love her,” Carla continued. “The guys love her but won’t date her because they’re scared of her ripping off a cock by accident. We need to recruit a miler for next year to complement Tiny T. Right now, it doesn’t look like she can make finals in any event at conference.”

“I better break it to her but it is going to kill her. She is a strong team member. She has embraced the Family. We need to keep her, but I guess I can’t count on her swimming.”

I sat there for a moment before something really obvious hit me.

“Damn. She had so much potential. Carla, will she accept a position as team manager? We’ve still not replaced Kara and it has been looking like the only candidate was a guy. I really want a woman in the post.”

“I think once you point out her physical situation, her body fat percentage, and her strength to weight ratio and explain it to her she will be crushed. Then if you offer her the manager position and let her know that you still care for her and want her, I think she will deal with it. I just hope she keeps her scholarship.”

“Carla, as far as scholarships go if the school won’t honor it, the Family will. Let’s set up a meeting with her Saturday morning after practice and I will talk to the trainers.”

“OK Coach. Her heart is gonna break. I know that you’ll let her know you care. We will let her know that she is still Family.”

Saturday mornings practice was what swimmers call, in technical jargon, a bitch! The sprinters swam at maximum velocity until they couldn’t move, rested and did it again, several times. The distance swimmers did 10,000 yards in less than an hour and a half. Everyone else just got beat on. It was what Coach liked to call an aspirin and Ben-Gay practice.

While the kids were picking up their training equipment, (did you know that swimmers had to use parachutes?) Coach called out that he needed to see Carla and Candy. He had a special way to do that.

“Carla! Candy! Step into my office.”

His office was wherever he was standing at the time. The other swimmers all moaned or chuckle, because going to talk to the coach right after practice, with him using those words; it usually meant that a severe heart to heart was coming. It scared the freshmen to death; it made the upperclassmen grin and call out fake taunts.

“You did it now!” “You’re gonna die!” “Been nice knowing you!” “We’ll send flowers to the funeral.” Were some of the most popular taunts.

“Yes coach?” Candy looked concerned.

“Yes coach?” Carla came up and stood right next to Candy.

“Carla, as team captain, I want you to hear this, so please bear with me. Candy, you have done a hell of a job since you got here. We gave you some tough work to try to get you in great shape. However, the trainers tell me that there is nothing they can do. You are in great condition. You are as strong as you can be, without taking PED’s. I am afraid that their evaluation is that you are just not going to be as fast as you were last year. No matter what we do.”

Candy stood there for a few minutes. Carla put her arm around the big freshman.

“What does that mean? It’s because of my tits, isn’t it? Am I off the team?”

She started to cry.

“No, you are not off the team! You are a member of this team and a part of our Family. But you won’t be doing much swimming in meets.”

That put Candy over the edge. She broke down in tears and sobs and started to drop to her knees. Carla, being a slightly smaller 6’0” tall, held her up and let out one of her famous whistles causing every head in the pool to look at the source. Seeing the image of Candy slumping and Carla trying to support her, the other girls on the team came rushing to them and suddenly Candy was surrounded by her family.

“Candy in the short time that you have been with us, you’ve earned the loyalty of the women on this team. Look around you. They care for you. I would be an absolute idiot to get rid of you. So although I can’t make you a part of the travel team and the National team as a swimmer, I do happen to have a position open for a team manager. It would allow you to keep your scholarship, so you would stay in school. It would allow you to travel with the team and go to Nationals. And most importantly, it would allow you to remain a member of our Family.”

The young woman stood there, trapped in a hugging mass of team mates. She was contemplating what was to happen, when she realized that everything she wanted, except competing, was still out there waiting for her to take advantage of it. She could continue towards her degree. She could still work out and stay in shape. She could still be on the team, but most important she could still help her team and family reach its goals.

“Coach, can I still get in and workout with the team once in a while?”

“Of course, but there might be times when I’ll need you to help record test sets or video swimmers. But if not doing those things, I’d love to have you in the pool with the other women.”

After a few minutes of thought, “OK, I am honored to be your team manager.”

The women that were surrounding her were transformed into a crying, giggling, goofy mass of girls. Everything was going to be OK.

Candy jumped into her role as an assistant to the coaches and a record keeper and a cheerleader. She got information from the coaches and helped the swimmers, female and male, understand and absorb it.

On a Monday morning about three weeks later, Candy got a call from home.

“Aunt Jess! Hi!” Candy said after checking the caller ID.

“Hi Candy. Candy there is a problem here. I don’t know what to do. I think your dad is going to do something bad.”

“Daddy? What is going on? What happened to him?”

Candy was about to lose it. Her dad was all she had. He was her biggest fan and her biggest supporter. Her mother had died of cancer during Candy’s seventh grade year. It hit her very hard but drove her father to the brink of suicide. The only thing that saved him was knowing that his daughter needed him and the love of a family friend. That friend’s name is Allison and she was her mother’s best friend.

Candy’s father and Allison fell in love and married during Candy’s eleventh grade year. Allison was a huge supporter and while she never tried to take the place of Candy’s mother, she did become one of her best friends.

“Candy, I just found out that Allison has been cheating on your dad with her ex-husband. It looks like she started back with him just before their wedding. I am afraid that when your dad finds out he is going to do something to both of them.”

“Oh no. So he doesn’t know yet?”

“No. But I can’t keep this a secret from him. I walked into the house and heard noises. I followed them up to your dad’s bedroom and there they were, in your dad’s bed, they were necking and had their hands all over each other. I took a video with my phone and quietly left. I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t tell him yet. Let me think of something. Maybe I can get him to come here and I can tell him. That way he won’t be able to go off in a rage. He will have a cooling down period before he goes home. Let me talk to my coach. I will call you back. DON’T TELL HIM!”

Candy turned off the phone and ran out of the dorm and to the pool office. She caught the coach just as he was leaving.

“Coach O’Dell, have you got a few minutes? I have a real problem and I need to talk to you.”

“Sure Candy, come on in.”

He pointed to a chair as she walked in. He left the door wide open due to the concerns that the university had about female students being alone behind closed doors with teachers. She sat, putting her knotted hands into her lap.

“What is the matter, dear?”

“Coach, I just got a call from my aunt. She is my dad’s sister. She found out that my step mother is cheating on my dad. You know all about my mom passing away and how dad found this wonderful woman that saved his life. Well I guess she is not so wonderful. My aunt has a video of them. She and I are afraid that when dad finds out, he is going to do something bad to both of them. I can’t lose my dad, coach.”

“I want to find a way to get dad here for a visit and then tell him myself. He will be far enough away that he can cool down before he goes home, but I am still worried. Coach, he could kill them. Her cheating is going to violate his trust right down to the core of his soul. How can I get him to visit?”

“Candy, let me think about this. We have to act on this right away. The longer it goes the bigger the chance that he will find out on his own. He could walk in on them. Let me figure it out and I will call you.”

‘Thanks Coach, you know that you are the closest thing to a dad that I have outside of my own father. Thank you.”

Candy stood and left the office. The coach picked up his phone and dialed a number from memory.

“Hello Coach! Let me say that it is good to hear from you before you tell me why you called. How much money do you need this time?”

“This is not a money call, Cap. I have a swimmer that needs some Family help, fast.”

He told the whole story as he knew it to Cap (short for Captain). Cap asked for the identity info for Candy and her family from the teams’ roster records.

“OK, I’m on it.” The line went dead and the coach left the office.

Allison and her ex were walking into a local motel room on Thursday afternoon. They could not have guessed the changes they were about to go through. They immediately took off their clothes and fell into the bed. Just as he was about to enter her there was an electronic squeal and a voice spoke to them.

“You have been caught. We have been taking pictures and videos of your activities for a few days now. We are going to be telling your husband Allison and your wife as well, Phil”

“Wife!? You didn’t tell me you were remarried!” Allison screamed in shock.

“He is married and has three children. His wife’s name is Mary and they have been since you got divorced. We are preparing to send all of our data to her right now via email and courier, unless you take certain steps.”

Phil was pulling on his clothes as fast as he could and was heading for the door, only to find that it was locked.

“We have taken care to make sure that you were not going to go anywhere until you fully understood our offer. Both of you need to sit on the bed and listen.”

Allison was now in tears. Between finding out the truth about her lover and that she had been caught, she was borderline hysterical. She pulled on her shoes to finish dressing and sat on the bed.

“Good. First of all, Allison, you have a great husband and step daughter. When he finds out, you know that he very well may kill you and Phil. We cannot allow that to happen, so when we are done here, we will pick both of you up outside the door and deliver you to our lawyers to start the divorce filing, we will take each of you to a new town, far away from each other. If you make any attempt to contact your spouses or your families or each other, you will disappear from the face of the earth in a most painful manner.”

“We will take care of notifying your spouses that you have left them. We will take care of them and see them through the rough spots that are to come, not that you really care what happens to them.”

“But my wife and my kids, I love them. This was only bad sex.”

“Bad sex! You son of a bitch!” Allison slapped Phil across the face.

“STOP!” Someone had turned the amp up to eleven.

The two cheaters froze. The hotel room door suddenly made a clicking noise and opened itself. Outside the door were two pitch-black SUV’s. Each one had a man in all black, even with a black face mask, standing by the open back doors.

“Now get out. Allison you take the front SUV, Phil the back. And then we will get you the fuck out of the lives of your wonderful families.”

The two stunned lovers walked out of the door and to their assigned vehicles. They did not look at one another, they did not show any sign of farewell. The trucks took off.

The truck carrying Allison was moving along when a voice came over the radio.

“Why did you do it Allison?”

“I don’t know. He was my ex and...”

“STOP! That is not what I wanted to know. Why did you marry Brian Franconi?”

“I love him.”

“Bullshit. We know that you went back to seeing and dating your ex-husband weeks after your wedding. Tell me the truth.”