24. Chapter 24 #3
He lunges forward, his fist winding back to tear into my face, but before he can land a single blow, Lilly throws herself straight between us. She plants her palms flat against her father’s chest, acting as a human shield in front of my body.
Coach freezes instantly, his breath hitching as he stares down at his daughter protecting me.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind, Lilly?!” Coach growls, his voice cracking with disbelief.
From behind Lilly’s back, I catch Coach’s wild eyes.
“No, you’ve lost your mind,” Lilly counters. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” Coach lets out a bitter laugh. “I just caught my goalie pinning you to a sink, Lilly, and you’re telling me to calm down?! Has he…”
He can’t even say it.
“Yes, he has.” Lilly puts her hands on her hips.
“Oh my god.” Coach shakes his head, rubbing a hand down his face as if to erase the imagery from his mind.
“I’m in my twenties,” Lilly adds. “This is no longer your concern and you know it. You’re just upset right now.”
“You’re my daughter. And somehow you got wrapped up with Mercer.” Coach points a finger at me. “That’s my concern.”
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
Coach keeps talking down to Lilly like she’s a helpless child and treating me like a rabid dog that snuck in through the back door. Dark, venomous words are right at the back of my throat, ready to burn him.
I open my mouth and my brain forces a sudden wave of clarity.
Stop.
This isn’t just someone running his mouth.
This is Lilly’s father. This is the man who built the legacy I grew up worshipping, a legendary player whose posters were on my wall when I was a kid.
This is the Coach who fought tooth and nail behind closed doors for the front office to drop an astronomical, record-breaking amount of money just to get me transferred onto his roster.
If I play nasty here, I lose. No matter how hurtful Coach’s words are.
“Coach,” I start, my voice dropping its sharp edge. “I’m not saying this to you right now as your player. I’m saying this as a man who wants nothing but the best for your daughter. I would never, ever do something to hurt her. It’s unfortunate that you had to find out like this, but-“
“Unfortunate?!” Coach roars, the word exploding out of his throat as he steps closer, pointing a furious finger straight at my chest. “You think what I just walked in on is unfortunate?”
“Dad, stop it!” Lilly snaps. The panic in her face is melting away, replaced by a stern, unyielding edge as she stays firmly planted between us. “You are screaming at him like he forced himself on me!”
“I trusted you, Mercer!” Coach’s voice drops into a dark, ragged rasp. “I let you drive her home. I invited you to stay for fucking breakfast, and the whole goddamn time you were...” He shakes his head, disgust pouring off him. “How long? How long has this been going on under my nose?”
I look down at Lilly, watching her chest rise and fall, her jaw set tight as she holds her ground in front of me before raising my eyes back to her father.
“Since camp,” Lilly states firmly.
Coach blinks, his brows drawing together. “Camp? When did you even...”
He trails off. The room goes deadly quiet except for the muffled, low thud of the bass leaking under the door. I watch the exact moment the realization hits him. His eyes widen in horror, his face completely draining of color before twisting into a sickened grimace.
“Don’t fucking tell me,” Coach whispers, the words dragging out of him slowly. “That night on the dock... was that...”
I don’t break eye contact.
“Oh, my fucking God,” Coach groans, dragging a heavy hand down his face and pinching the bridge of his nose like he’s trying to wake up from a nightmare. He lets out a harsh, bitter breath, his hand dropping as he fixes me with a glare dripping with venom. “Get the fuck out of here, Mercer.”
“No,” I say.
The single word hangs heavily in the air between us.
“Excuse me?” Coach sneers, taking a dangerous step toward me. “I said get the fuck away from my daughter and leave, Mercer. That is an order.”
“Dad, stop it!” Lilly cuts in, her voice so stern it stops her father in his tracks. “This is not your choice to make. You are acting completely crazy, and we are not doing this here. Dom’s bathroom is not the place for this conversation.”
“It’s not a place for my starting goalie to be touching you like a piece of meat, either!” Coach screams, pointing a furious finger past her, straight at my face. “He’s older than you, Lilly.”
“That’s rich coming from you, Coach,” I drawl.
I give him a slow, pointed look, a quiet reminder of every tabloid cover, every scandal, every twenty-something year old woman he’s been photographed dragging out of high-end lounges over the past five years. “Don’t project your own garbage onto me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” his eyes flare.
“It means don’t treat me like a reflection of you,” I say. “I have made it clear that I would never, ever harm her. It’s offensive to Lilly that you think she’s too stupid or incapable of making her own judgment.”
Coach starts nodding silently, stepping from side to side and inching closer and closer to me. I already know what’s coming. He pulls his right arm back and throws a heavy right hook straight at my face.
In my head, time slows down to a crawl. Every reflex in my body tells me to slip the punch and throw one back. But I don’t move.
First, because I refuse to become what he’s trying so hard to paint me as in front of Lilly.
And second... because he’s my coach.
Crack.