Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
"She taught Coach Exy," Neil reminded him.
"And what, he didn't notice that he knocked her up?" Aaron asked.
"She told him Kevin wasn't his," Neil said. "She knew Coach wanted to have an NCAA team one day. She thought he'd abandon his dreams to help her raise Kevin. She didn't want that, but she didn't want to give up what she was doing and move to the States, either. So she lied. The only person she told was Coach Moriyama."
Dan finally got her voice back. "How long has Kevin known?"
"Only a couple years," Neil reminded her.
"A couple years," Dan echoed, voice dangerous, "and he didn't say anything?"
"He was trying to protect him," Neil said. "If Coach knew Kevin was his son, he'd have tried to take him from Edgar Allan."
Nicky grimaced. "They'd have never let Kevin go."
"He should have said something when he ran away," Dan insisted. "He's been down here a year and a half now. He had no right to keep something like this from Coach for so long. Jesus, he didn't—" Dan's voice cracked a bit, more grief than outrage, and Neil assumed she was imagining Wymack's reaction to being blindsided by the truth. "That's not right. That's not fair."
"No," Neil agreed quietly, "but at least Coach knows now."
"Damn," Matt said. "How'd he take it?"
"I wasn't there for the conversation," Neil said, "but I don't think it went well."
Dan made an awful noise and got up from the couch. Matt reached for her only to get his hand smacked away. Dan bolted for the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Matt looked flabbergasted by that violent rejection, but Renee took over Dan's empty spot and slipped her arm through his. Despite that silent show of support, Renee was looking at Allison. The look they exchanged was tired.
"She's never going to forgive him for this," Allison said.
"When Coach comes to terms with it, she will too," Renee said.
Allison said nothing; her skeptical look said enough. Neil silently agreed with Allison. He'd spent enough time with the upperclassmen to know how much Dan admired Wymack. He was the only father figure she'd ever had and was everything she aspired to be in life. Dan had forgiven a lot of injustices over her years with the Foxes, but most of those insults had been directed at her and her friends. Forgiving someone for hurting Wymack might be more than she could handle.
"Keep an eye on her?" Neil asked.
"Of course," Renee said.
Neil went next door to pack. It didn't take long, but he didn't return to them when he was done. Instead he sat on the couch and waited for his teammates to pull themselves together again. Matt showed up fifteen minutes later, but it was another twenty after that before Nicky came looking for them. Matt slung Neil's duffel over one shoulder and his own over the other and let Neil get the lock. Kevin had come inside at some point, and he looked utterly exhausted where he stood at Andrew's side. Dan was obviously still mad as hell where she stood apart from everyone else. She didn't even look at Matt at his approach but stomped off toward the stairwell.
The Foxes headed downstairs in a scattered line and tossed their bags into the bed of Matt's truck. Andrew was the only one to keep his, and Matt didn't try taking it from him. Matt had a net cover tucked away under the passenger seat that took only a minute to snap into place. With their bags secured, the Foxes split up between Matt's truck and Andrew's car and got on the road.
Andrew detoured to the ABC store on the way to the interstate. Nicky went inside alone, was gone for fifteen minutes, and came back with an obscene amount of bottles. Without their bags in the trunk there was plenty of room for the haul. Andrew unzipped and upended his bag. It was full of sweaters, an odd choice for the mountains until Neil realized they were using the shirts just as packing for the bottles. Neil hoped Andrew had packed more practical attire in with Nicky's or Kevin's things.
They were back on the road a couple minutes later. It was a bit over two hours from campus to the mountains, but it felt like a short ride to athletes who were used to traveling for games. Neil thought they'd catch up to Matt's truck at some point, but the upperclassmen made it to the site first. Matt messaged Neil with directions from the main office to their cabin and a confirmation that he had all their keys.
Ten minutes later Andrew pulled into the dirt drive outside their home away from home. The massive cabin looked rustic on the outside and refined on the inside, with smooth log walls and polished wooden floors. The main room had heavy rugs strewn everywhere and decorative bones and art on the wall. The kitchen was stocked with all-new appliances, and an oversized magnet on the fridge advertised what time buffet meals were served at the office. The back room had both a Foosball table and a billiards table. There was also a TV mounted on the wall.
One bedroom was downstairs. The other four bedrooms were upstairs, one at each corner. Two bedrooms already had bags in them, which meant Andrew's group was splitting up between floors. Nicky immediately voted for Neil and Andrew to have the private bedroom downstairs, and neither Aaron nor Kevin contested it. Neil almost said something because the downstairs bedroom only had a king bed in it, but since Andrew didn't argue he kept his own mouth shut.
All four upstairs bedrooms had doors to a balcony that surrounded the entire building. Two back doors downstairs led onto a deck that wound around two sides of the building, overlooking the mountainside and a seemingly endless stretch of trees. Rocking chairs lined the porch, and little lanterns were set at intervals on the railing. A hot tub was installed in the corner of the L-shaped deck, and that was where they found the upperclassmen. They'd already changed into swimsuits and were sitting inside the tub as it filled.