Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Hayes
Word spread like wildfire around the resort. I’d heard their names whispered among the players, but I didn’t need them to know what happened. Everyone heard the blowup at dinner, and I was in that lounge when they snuck out like teenagers.
My omega, my scent-match, went upstairs with one of the youngest players on my team. It was a stark reminder that I was far too old to be a part of this pack.
The new physical therapist was another anomaly. I was protective of him. Now that I knew Roxie was both our scent-matches, it made sense.”
My alpha was screaming for me to get my shit together and bring them all together.
So, for the last two days of this damn resort trip, I avoided them at all costs.
What would I even fucking say to them at this point?
Was I being stubborn? Oh, absolutely. I knew I was being stubborn, but there was little I could do about it.
“Well, well, well. Coach, are you just in here trying to avoid me?” Speak of the she-devil. That was Roxie’s voice calling out to me.
I’d tucked myself away into the small reading nook downstairs, and she found me anyway. I swear this journalist was going to be the death of me.
“Yes,” I said, not bothering to hide it. We both knew the damn truth. I’d never found shying away from it did any good.
“You don’t have to, you know. I’m not going to bite you unless you ask.”
I put down the book I was reading, balancing it on my knee, and looked up at her.
“I’m not sure what you want me to say here.”
“Oh my god,” she growled, throwing her hands up. “How about we start with the fact that we’re scent-matches?”
“We are,” I confirmed, hoping that saying it out loud might give me more insight. It did not.
“Then why hide from us?” she demanded.
“How about we talk about the fact that you’re packed up now with two of my players and our new physical therapist.”
She let out a small chuckle as she dropped into the seat beside me, not bothering to put distance between us anymore.
Her scent washed over me, warm and vibrant, with a slight floral note and coconut to round it out. That scent made it damn hard to focus, and I was already flailing here.
I hate feeling out of control. I dislike it even more that she affected me the way she did.
“I didn’t take you for a coward.”
I nearly choked at her words.
“A coward?” I demanded.
She crossed her arms, raising a dark eyebrow. Her black-painted lips were pressed tight together, but no less enticing. She wasn’t going to back down.
“Yes. You’re barely acknowledging that we’re pack. You’re avoiding us all.”
“Little bat?” Kota’s voice rang out.
Little bat. Honestly, the nickname was fitting. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face this time.
“That nickname is reserved for pack, Coach,” she bit out. “And you don’t seem to want to be part of this.”
Shame burned in my chest. She had no idea how wrong she was. I did want this.
“It’s complicated.”
“Is it?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. God she was infuriating. This back and forth was turning me on as much as it made me want to scream.
Kota finally walked closer, giving us each a look. I thought at first that he and I were going to have problems. Hell, I still think we would if I said a single bad word about this omega.
I’d blame it on their scent-match status, but he didn’t even know she was his at the time. It was all his own righteous indignation.
I couldn’t really blame him, either. I’d fumbled that entire encounter. I’d pushed buttons, disrespected her, and tried to push her out.
I was an ass.
“Hello, Mori,” I greeted, nodding once. He let out a laugh and flopped onto the seat.
“I think you can just call me Kota now. We’re about to be family.” My alpha perked up in my chest. I could feel how badly he wanted this and I’d let myself keep us divided for a long time. He was practically thrashing at me from the inside, but it had to be my decision, too.
Did I want a life with them?
With her?
My eyes shifted to Roxie who was laughing at something Kota said as he sprawled across the nearby couch. She dropped down next to him and I watched as he pulled her close.
A deep ache that was all too familiar echoed through me. The loneliness I’d held close like a protective armor felt wrong now.
This was it. My one and only chance to have a life I never thought possible—if I just got out of my own way.
Listening to her laugh, watching the two of them be so close, seeing the real emotion on Greer and Rylan’s face last night… all of it made me realize that I wanted to be a part of something like this.
Something I didn’t just leave behind at the end of the day.
“Roxie… I owe you a major apology,” I found myself saying before I could overthink it again.
“The way I acted when you arrived was childish and unlike me. I’d worked my ass off to build my reputation, and them hiring you to watch over me and the team felt like a slap in the face.
I shouldn’t have taken it personally or out on you. ”
This omega was far too feisty to reassure me. She simply watched me, arms crossed, eyebrow raised, waiting for the rest.
“I was unprofessional and putting my own reputation on the line. It was ridiculous and it won’t happen again. I’m not sure where that leaves us, but I don’t want to start anything with that hanging over us.”
This time when I stopped, she started speaking, her voice harsh.
“Would you have apologized for this if I wasn’t your scent match?” she challenged.
“Eventually,” I said with utter certainty. “I was already creeping toward it when you arrived here. I’m just a stubborn bastard.”
Her shoulders dropped a little. I think she needed to hear that, and honestly, I needed to say it.
“For the sake of transparency… I dug into you. I spent hours looking into your past posts and tried to get to know who you were. At the time, I was just looking for some kind of reason to show Kingsford that you had no business working with the Narwhals. Maybe expose you, even. I was convinced that you had to have a grudge against us. It was common knowledge that Lana Flynn was your close friend and I just knew this could never turn out in our favor.”
Roxie didn’t get angry at my confession. Hell, she didn’t even seem hurt. In fact, she let out a laugh.
“Funny enough, I met her because of what the guys put her through. My cousin is in her pack and he contacted me because of my reputation. He thought I could give her a platform to say her part before they had a chance to twist it. So, that’s what I did for her.
Then I found myself tangled in the drama of them trying to kick deltas from the league.
She was against that, too, and we both refused to let those jerks twist her trauma into a movement it had no place in. If she had no grudge, how could I?”
When she put it like that, it all sounded so reasonable. I knew I was the asshole in this situation but this made me realize I was blinded to more than I thought. This omega was forever throwing me into a loop.
“It was definitely not my finest moment. Also, I found nothing on you,” I admitted.
She snorted. “That’s because I know how the internet works and I take pride in my reputation. Even when I was in high school working on the paper I kept my posts clean. The internet is forever. I keep all my skeletons firmly in the closet.”
“Well,” Kota said, interjecting like he couldn’t keep quiet a second longer. “As long as you’re good to my omega, I have no problem with you, Coach. You’ve done a good job with the team. You may work us a little hard, but this kind of made up for it,” he said, gesturing around the resort.
His usual smile was back in place. I swear that kid could find the bright spot in anything.
Fuck. I had to stop referring to them as kids.
“Why does it look like you’re having a battle with yourself?” he asked, calling me right out. This delta had no filter whatsoever.
“Because, apparently, fate thought it would be cute to match me to an entire pack that’s half my age.”
“To be fair, Greer is closer to your age,” Kota mused, making me groan. That did not help the way he thought it did.
“We go back in the morning. We can handle everything else the world throws at us after that. I just want to know where we stand before we go,” Roxie said. “I’m not going to make you be a part of this.”
“Just for the record,” Kota said, holding up his hand before I could answer her. “She doesn’t care how old you are, alpha. Your age has nothing to do with your integrity or your chemistry with her.”
“I haven’t done a good job of showing my integrity,” I admitted, my voice rough.
I fucking hated that my own words had come back to bite me. The fact that I’d felt confident enough to say them in the first place made it even worse. I had tried to ruin her reputation, while trying to defend my own.
“Look, I get it. I can understand that you were threatened by someone being here to show the world exactly who your team was. The team that you didn’t know very well yet. How could you predict just how this was going to turn out?”
She’d gotten right to the bottom of my fears before I even realized what they were. The team was new to me, and at the time, we hadn’t even had a chance to prove to each other that we were going to make the right choices.
I wanted to start over from the beginning, but that time has passed.
Now, all we could do was move forward. We’d have to see where our lives took us when routine took hold.
Things were easier here. This resort gave us the chance to give our full attention to each other with no real responsibilities in the way.
Now it was over and I’d hidden away for half of it.
I was a coward.
Leaving was a new chance to prove to her, to them, that I could balance a pack, my omega, and our careers. Show them that I’m worthy of being an alpha.
Finally, I looked up at the omega. Little bat. A smile played across my lips at the nickname. It truly suited her. She was small, covered in black, and more than a little feisty.
“I’d love to start over,” I said, looking right at her and not hiding away this time.
“Fine. But I don’t want to do it as friends… Hayes? Carter? I’m not calling you ‘Coach’ to your face.” She tilted her head to the side as she tested out the names.
“Carter never really felt like mine. I’ve been playing sports since I was a kid. I tend to go by Hayes.”
“Okay, Hayes,” she said, testing it out before repeating herself. “I don’t want to be friends.”
“To be honest, I don’t want that, either,” I agreed.
“Good. Then you have one week to plan a date,” she challenged. “And I feel like we should plan a pack dinner or something once things settle down. I want to get to know you all separately and together.”
“Speaking of settling down. What happened with Rylan and Greer?”
“They’ve talked it out, and we’ve been giving them a bit of space to come to terms with it. I think they’re going to be okay.”
“What about you and Greer?” She looked surprised that I knew there was some hesitation between them. “Sorry, that rumor was going around as well. I guess someone saw him talking to you and holding your hand, then running off.”
She scrubbed a hand over her face. “Of course, it’s going around.”
Roxie looked at Kota for a long pause, as if they were already close enough to silently communicate, and then she glanced back at me.
“Rylan and Greer worked things out and we’re taking it at our pace. Trying to focus on the pack and letting things develop naturally,” she explained.
If they left it up to fate and what felt right, they’d be together soon enough. It was impossible to ignore the pull I felt toward her and I knew it was the same for the others.
The fact that she was willing to let them work out everything they had to as well and wasn’t trying to get between that, was impressive. Omegas together were usually territorial but she and Rylan were both different.
I hated that every time I learned something new about her, I realized even more that she should be mine.
“Things are going to be hectic when we get back,” I told them both. “The omega that was in heat and postponed the last game is done, so our first game is in four days. Then we have an away game the day after. You get the drill.”
“Perfect. I’ll be able to get the first article out before too long. I’ve done some initial interviews. I think I’ve spoken to everyone at least once. Since you’ve been avoiding me, I had plenty of time,” she said, flashing me a smile that meant she was absolutely giving me shit.
I liked that she wasn’t some super-sweet, vulnerable omega that was afraid to push back.
Roxie was the kind of omega that would stomp on an alpha’s balls and make him tell her thank you.
That streak of fire was exactly what I loved in my partners. I couldn’t wait to quiet that mouth and watch her fall apart on my tongue. Claim her. Bite her. I wanted it all with Roxie now that I’d let go of my hangups.
I’ve been married to my career for so long and had just arrived in North Crossing. I could see myself settling here in North Crossing. Forming a pack wouldn’t change that.
This team was the kind that people transferred to and stayed. We had the highest retention rates and I’d fight against trading my packmates. I could make this happen for us, we all could.
Greer was retiring, but Kota was just starting his career. He’d made it clear from the start that he wanted to prove himself and stick around with this team.
Younger players usually didn’t want that. Kota might be young, but he was an incredible player and his charisma set him apart.
He was great in interviews and had already brought our team some good exposure. He worked crowds and made them feel like friends just chatting. That was an important skill, one Greer always lacked.
At least we knew why, now. Maybe that would change with Rylan and Roxie in the picture.
Which left me as the alpha. The one who would have to help guide this along, make it work, and ensure everyone got what they needed.
If Roxie would even let me. I had a week to plan a date, to sweep her off her feet and come to terms with it all.
I knew that she was it for me. Maybe it was time to finally put down some real roots and have the life I’d always wanted but couldn’t let myself have.
If my age didn’t bother them, then why should it bother me?