Enemy Lines (completed)

4

None of the girls left the room they just stayed seated before Alyssa coughs alerting me to her presence in the room with her being the only AT to stay behind doing as I said to do.

"Would you like to talk to me about your questions about the girls tonight or tomorrow?" Alyssa questions as she opens her notebooks and starts flipping towards the final pages.

"I would like to speak with you tomorrow seeing as it's. . ." I look down at my wrist to check the time. " 12:45 I think you should just head off to bed. Unless you want to talk to me about something?"

"Ummm. . . No that's fine see you tomorrow!" She stammers before speed walking out of the room with her head down.

Once the door click shut I turn to face the 4 girls. "Was that weird or was I imagining something?"

"You definitely weren't imagining!" Abby says as the others chuckle.

"Okay moving on do you have any more questions and don't be afraid to ask if I deem they cross a limit then I will tell you that they have done so." The girls nod before Abby speaks up.

"Have you coached a team before taking this job?"

"First I would like to say that I didn't ask for it more as the job fell in my lap but I owed it to the person to take it, And yes I've coached my sons t-Ball and baseball team since he was 4 and my daughter's soccer team since she was 4. That's actually how I had met her mother."

"Why did you coach a little girls soccer team when you didn't have kids?" Christie questions.

I laugh as I made it sound like I was a creep and only did it for the MILFs. "Sorry, that came out wrong, her daughter was on a team with my Bestfriends daughter. my best friend had reached out to me saying that there were too many girls and not enough coaches so she asked me. I said sure as it was an extra $400 in my pocket by the end of the season."

"So you did it for your friend's daughter but somehow got a wife out of it?" Hope asks with a smirk playing on her thin lips.

"Not a very good one but I did get a wife." I felt relieved telling people this after about 2 years into my marriage I was working so hard and trying to juggle everything just so that my wife could be a stay at home mom and her kids well my kids could do everything they wanted to I had lost not only myself but all my friends. I didn't have time to hang out on Friday nights anymore I was working as a server at the local diner. On my off days, Sunday I would pressure wash people's driveway for extra cash.

"How long were you together?" Shannon questions.

" A little under 7 years I think. She was probably faithful for about 3 months once we started the relationship though." I admit feeling completely shameless and almost craving the release of telling someone what I had been going through the past year.

" Do you think you would start dating again soon?" Abby says while wiggling her eyebrows.

I laugh knowing where she is going with her suggestive remark."While we do have some very attractive women on this team it would raise questions about my integrity when rosters came out and I'm fine with just being single. My only focus is that my kids are healthy and happy and that this team isn't horrendous. That's all."

"Wow set the standard real low!" Boxxy quips.

"If your standards are low you will almost never get burned. I'd rather have you overshoot my expectations than undershoot them."

"What jobs have you worked?"

"At 14 I worked at a skatepark doing bike repairs, I was a busboy at a somewhat fancy restaurant. 15 I moved from the skatepark to an actual bike shop and did mostly bike builds. 16 I worked at the home depot after getting out of school since it worked out with my soccer schedule. I carried that job until I hurt my knee and I was out for a year I didn't take an actual step for a year and one month But once I was released from the hospital I was 18 so I didn't go back to sleep I dropped out and found a job as a sales rep for a clothing company/ screen printing. I am also still with this company to this day. "

When did you hurt your knee. Unless you don't know the date?"

"Believe me I know the date. January 14th I tore everything in my knee. That game was actually the semi-finals for state. We were in the second half I think we had like 30 minutes left in the game and we were winning 8-0.  This girl number 15 her name was Alicia McGrum she was a feisty 5'3 forwards. Three-star recruit which was stardom in my smallish town and she had signed to play at UVA. She hated me because we played them last in the regular season and so she could only break school records during the regular season. the school record for most goals in a season by a single player was 18 she had 17 goals all she needed was one and I didn't let her in all game. So she was pissed at me and when I went to clear the ball I thought the box was clear but as soon as the ball left my foot she had put on a super late tackle that had ended up tearing my ACL and MCL but I didn't feel it a little because of the adrenaline. I tried to be cocky 3 minutes later and go for a shot when I started to run towards a ball probably 3 yards from the 18 I felt some pain in my knee but I was also a 6 sport athlete so everything ached all the time, I disregarded it and when I put my foot through the ball I had collapsed. I hobbled off the field and I tried to deny that I needed medical attention and tried to get back into the game but my coach wouldn't let me. They called an ambulance because of how swollen my knee got turns out I didn't only tear Acl and Mcl I tore all four tendons ACL, MCL, LCL, and the PCL."

"Does that happen often?"

"What for athletes to tear their PCL, no. One of the doctors was explaining to me that since it is outside your knee and not on the inside it is rarely torn or sprained and it is the major stabilizing tendon in your knee. LCL sprains happen often as do tears especially from me playing contact sports my whole life but doctors believe that the late tackle caused the LCL tear since her cleat went right to where the tendon was but my tendon was already weak from ignoring past injuries to continue to play. My knee injury definitely could've been avoided."

"How long was the surgery?"

"Most people only have one surgery to repair their knee I needed three surgeries because apparently smoking and having sleep apnea isn't a good mix with anesthesia. so they did one surgery to repair everything inside my knee then they closed me up and did all the post-surgery with me because my vitals started dropping on the table. Then they went in again a week after to repair my LCL which is on the left side of my knee. A week after they did my MCl which is on the right side. Months of PT. I got injured in January I didn't take my first step until February 22nd."

"What is sleep apnea?"

"Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes you to start and stop breathing repeatedly during sleep. I have a very mild case of it, now I have to sleep with a mask that pumps oxygen into my body because my form of sleep apnea occurs when my throat muscles relax so by pumping oxygen frequently it keeps my throat muscles working." It's the truth well most of it. I don't usually wear the mask because it's loud and the mask makes me feel like I'm suffocating.

"Real question is what did you smoke?" Abby teases.

"Literally anything I could get my hands on but if I wanted to be picky Marlboro Red, Newports, or Camel."

"Why would you start smoking?"

"Everyone in my family did it so I did."

"Do you still smoke?"

"I always keep a pack on me just in case of a bad day but normally I don't even touch them," I admit truthfully.

Hope gives me a pointed look. "Just make the media doesn't catch you outside with one between your lips or else you are fucked."

"I know. Well on a different note I'm gonna head out it's got to be close to 3 at this point and I think the earliest flight arrives at 9 so If you all will excuse me I'll  be heading out." I say as I stand up push in my chair and walk back to my hotel room.

Once stepping inside I do my nightly routine before shedding all my clothes except for my sports bra and boxers and climb into the bed I'm sharing with Ansley.

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And we learn even more about Bryn.