Chapter 3
Reid
I shouldn’t have recognized him right away.
My interaction with Rowan was a blip on the radar.
I was only stationed at that college for three months.
The time I spent alone with him lasted five minutes at most. And yet, the vision of him in my office, propositioning me, tempting me, was forever burned in my mind.
So much so that in times of extreme loneliness—something that happened way more often than I would never admit—I thought back to that day and wondered what it might’ve been like if I had chosen differently.
There were some days the fantasy played out in my mind where I took him up on his offer, except I took it further and took him home with me and made him my own personal plaything.
What would have happened if I’d leaned my chair back, spread my legs, and said yes to what Rowan offered?
My morals wouldn’t have allowed it. My ethics most certainly not. But what if? What if I had thrown all of that out the window and taken exactly what I wanted in that moment, which was to see Rowan on his knees for me with his pretty lips wrapped around my cock.
And now, by some cruel twist of fate, he was here again. In my life. In my locker room, interacting with my players. He wasn’t a player now, but he was part of the organization, a mascot.
Did he take that job because he couldn’t make it as a player and wanted to stay close to the game?
Probably. Still, this organization was one of the biggest names in the league, and I couldn’t have the sort of behavior that he was known for interfere with my program.
Because I had to wonder: of all the alphas in the room, the players, the coaches, the managers, how many had he propositioned like he had me?
And how many had taken him up on it? Was that how he got this job?
“Team meeting in the conference room in twenty minutes. Please be on time,” I said. “Rowan, my office.”
His eyes widened, and he nodded. The alpha that was standing next to him, the captain of the team, Evan, looked at him with raised brows. His gaze bounced between me and Rowan, but I turned away before I could see more of their interaction. One of Rowan’s conquests, perhaps?
The team around him oohed and ahhed like they were fourteen-year-olds instead of professionals.
I went to my office, not bothering to wait to see if he would follow.
He did. After a few moments, he closed the door and sat down.
He sat on the edge of the seat, his back straight with his hands folded in his lap.
The whites of his knuckles were bright against his blue pants.
Thankfully, there was a window everyone could see in, but they wouldn’t know what we were talking about.
I couldn’t risk being in a room with him without witnesses. Not with his reputation.
Time had been kind to him. Gone was the baby face, and instead, a man was in front of me. Clean-shaven, with shaggy hair that was slightly too long. His long eyelashes brushed against his cheeks each time he blinked.
“Hi, Coach,” he said.
“I’m not your coach,” I said. I focused on the wall behind him, rather than looking directly at him, the same as I had done all those years ago. He was too beautiful for me not to do something stupid if I stared at him too long.
“Right, of course.” He rubbed his hands on his pants—an obnoxious bright blue that contrasted against the fur of the Port City Jersey he wore.
“It’s been a long time,” I said. “Five years or so?” As if I didn’t know exactly how long it had been since I saw him last.
He nodded.
“So, how did you get this job?” I asked.
His brow furrowed in genuine confusion. He tipped his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
Oh fuck, it was hard to look at him. The innocent air he seemed to have surrounding him was almost convincing enough to fool me. I knew better.
“Well, did you sleep with the previous coach? ‘Cause that is not happening anymore. I will not tolerate that conduct in my organization.”
He reeled back like I had slapped him, his eyes flashing with anger before turning almost sad. He bit his lip. This was not the omega I remembered. An act. It seemed to be a pretty good one. How many alphas had he fooled over the years?
“Please don’t fire me,” he said. His hands balled into fists, and he rested them on his knees. “Please. I can’t lose this job.”
“Oh, will you do anything?”
He stood up fast, his chair sliding backward on the carpet. He drew in a deep breath. He wouldn’t quite look at me.
“I deserve that, I know that I do. And I understand where you’re coming from.
I hope that you will understand and see that I am not the person I was five years ago.
From now on, I’d like there to be a witness for our conversations.
I don’t feel comfortable having this conversation without someone else present.
I will not waste my breath defending myself to you when I know it is unlikely that you will believe anything I say.
So if you would like to fire me, please, let’s talk about it with HR and have one of the other managers present, sir. ”
Fuck. He was right. I was opening myself up to all sorts of problems by talking to him before explaining to anybody in any sort of official capacity about how I knew him and why I would want him fired.
I’d leapt through common sense based on assumptions and a ridiculous notion that I knew the omega after one interaction with him half a decade ago.
Was that really my endgame? To fire an omega who was just doing his job?
From what I understood about this organization, the mascot was a crowd favorite, not just for our fans, but for the entire league.
I had zero proof of any wrongdoing, nor had I heard any rumors.
All I had was a two-minute conversation that took place over five years ago.
“Of course,” I said. Because what other choice did I have.
“Thank you.” Rowan spun on his heel and opened the door. The noise from the locker room broke the spell that came over me. I watched as Rowan grabbed his bag from his locker and left. The guys waved to him as he left; clearly he was a well-liked member of the group.
Just what was going on here?