My Brother's Brother (Book I of the Brother Series)

Chapter 51

"Man, what the fuck, Coach?! What is that ref's fucking problem?!" Ethan yells out what the rest of us are thinking to Coach, as we huddle back to our benches. "He's been calling all shit on us but hasn't said a single damn thing to that fucking Bulut kid for two offsides! Or what about number 6 for nearly taking out Jayden?! And I swear if they even think about coming after my star player over here," he now brings his arm over my shoulders, "Imma murder a bitch!" 

        Coach usually doesn't give two fucks about us cursing, hell he does it too when he's frustrated but we all must agree that this might have been just a tad bit too much, even for Ethan.

"Alright, alright, settle down Casino, would you?" Coach warns him, suppressing the rest of our snickers in the process, although we all can see the smile that he's trying to hide in the corner of his own mouth himself. "It's obvious that the ref isn't really on our side here, but rather than complain about it, we have to figure out a way around it."

"Murder the bitch," Ethan says under his breath just loud enough for only him and I to hear, and I swear it takes everything in me not to howl in laughter. 

        I quickly focus my attention back onto Coach as he draws out a possible play on his clipboard to avoid any further distraction.

"Okay, so it's clear that the regular switch the attack isn't working here. Their players are just too fast to get confused by it, despite our solid technique. We need a different strategy, something unpredictable, but what?" Coach asks more himself than he does the rest of us, as he bites down nervously on the cap of his marker.

"What if we try the old possession ball strategy until we find a clean break?" AJ, one of our defense players, suggests. 

"There's not enough time for that. Their pressure is way too good and the opportunity may never come." 

"We can always do a combination of 'give and go's'," Andrew, our midfielder, recommends next, "it's better than dragging out the plays any further."

"That may actually not be a bad idea, Paoli," Coach appraises him. "Perhaps we're holding back too much and they're sensing that, so let's try a more aggressive approach. I like it."

"Or we can always ask your hot ass assistant for some pointers?" Cody, a substituting midfielder suddenly blurts out with a grin and the rest of us, like some robotic army, turn our heads to his direction in unison. "She did help us win back in San Diego, after all." 

        At his remark, I know exactly who he's talking about and I instantly look up to see if my brown-eyed beauty is still up there with the rest of the crowd. And when I spot her in the very same moment that she's pushing her arms through the arm holes of my hoodie, I fucking melt right there and then.

"No kidding," I then hear Jayden comment, my eyes still on her as she now faces Dad to talk to him, "if only María were here tonight."

"María?" Charlie questions right after in great disbelief. "Willingly here, watching another game? No way, I don't believe it," he protests in his childhood friend's name. 

        Charlie was astonished when I first told him about María showing up to the San Diego match, but he quickly ruled it as a one-time thing, believing that she'd never do it again after I told her how she broke down afterwards. Now, he must be confused more than ever.

"Believe it, Charlie," I simply answer his question before finishing off with, "she was there then and she's here tonight." 

        As if right on cue, María's turns to face me but is completely shocked when she finds the entire UCLA men's fútbol team, Coach included, staring back at her along with me. Her cute, weirded-out facial expression makes me want to go up and kiss her almost immediately, but even the thoughts of doing so are interrupted by Coach's voice.