Tyler POV
I pull into the gym lot about 45 minutes before the boys practice. I know the new coach is here today and I was interested in seeing her coach.
I get out and the first thing I notice is she is blaring music in the gym. My boys are all standing at the entrance talking to each other. That was unusual.
"What's up Coach?" John asks as I walk up.
"Nothing, what's going on?" I ask him.
"We were just watching. The new coach is amazing. She is so hot too." Billy says practically drooling as he talks.
I raise an eyebrow at them. Boys and their stupid high school crushes. I walk past them and I hear the squeaking of sneakers and girls cheering as High Hopes plays on the sound system. I stand on the edge and watch the drill play out. It was one of my favorites called 11 man. It worked on break away plays of 3 vs 2.
"Ball!" I hear an unfamiliar voice yell. I locate the newcomer and see her run on the court and curl when catching the ball. She brings it up the floor at a steady pace. She does a hesitation move and the first defender falls for it and she blows past them. The second defender engages and she spins on them and passes the ball to Hannah who cut to the basket.
Hannah scores and high fives the newcomer and they become the next two defenders. While waiting she directs two other players on how to do a move. The offense comes back towards them and she intercepts a pass but it flies out of bounds towards me. I catch it and she jogs up to me.
I throw the ball to her and she passes it off. She turns and faces me fully and my world stops. She was beautiful. Her face was red from running and her eyes glowed brightly with a green and brown color. She was in tight fitted yoga pants and a tank top. Her hair was braided back but had little wisps that framed her face. She smiles at me and I felt it. The mate bond. She was my mate.
She walks over and breathing hard holds out a hand to me. "Hi, I'm Rachel." She says.
"Hi, Tyler." I say still reeling from finding my mate. I reach out and the second our skin touches I feel sparks shoot up my body. I can tell she does too as she looks up at me and shivers.
"Nice to meet you." She says and looks back at the court.
"You too. I'm excited to have you here." I say and it was true. I was excited.
She turns back and smiles at me and my breath leaves my lungs. "Do you mind if I play some more then talk to you when they are running?" She asks me pointing to the court. I shake my head no. She grins and runs back into the drill. She stands in line and I see her talking to each girl giving them tips.
Taylor Swift's The Man comes on and all the girls squeal. "This one's for you coach." Monica giggles to her. She laughs and it was so beautiful and carefree. I notice her singing along with the girls and it was melting my heart.
She gets back in and I am amazed at how she moves. She was so predatory as a player. She stayed low and adjusted speed really well. She wasn't fast at all but used burst of speed to gain advantages. You could practically see the wheels moving in her head as she was twenty moves ahead of the girls. She easily scores and goes to another line to talk with more girls.
She fist bumps and high fives everyone. Several of the girls are singing and swaying to the music and she joins them and I laugh at how informal she is with them. She honestly just wanted to play. Animals by Maroon 5 comes on and all of my boys that are now lining the wall behind me snicker. It was a funny song for wolves since we typically stalk our prey and mates.
I see her smile and bob her head to the music as she runs back in the drill. A shot goes up and she positions a player behind her and rebounds the ball. She passes and sprints up the court. She gets the pass and as the two players try to take it she passes it behind her back to the girl waiting for it under the basket.
All the boys and most of the girls go "Ohhhhhh!" at the move. That's right my girl had some serious moves. She was so fucking graceful on the court. She stands off to the side and lets the girls play for a minute as she watches them closely.
She sings along, "Baby I'm preying on you tonight, I can hunt you down eat you alive, just like animals, animals." I feel my myself grin at her. She has no idea how sexy she was right now. She looked like a warrior fresh from battle and calculating her next move. She yells at the girls for something and then continues to watch.
The song and her singing along was egging my wolf on. All he wanted was to pick her up and take her home and make her his. She jumps back in the drill and I watched her do the sexiest thing ever. She walks the ball up and lowers her body into a crouch as she gets past the half court. She half smiles at the defender and tsk at her as she tries to get the ball. She easily keeps the ball out of reach. She shakes her head at the girl and as the girl attacks again she whips it behind her back and passes her as the defender keeps running forward.
She lays the ball up and scores. "Ok, girls line up with a ball." They all grab one and run over. "Ok, so this is how we run. Ball over your head, always over your head, and at each wall I want twenty taps. You have 5 down and backs." She tells them. "Go." They take off and she watches them carefully cheering them on. I walk over to her side.
I hold out my water for her and she looks up surprised. "Take it. You look like you could use a drink. You're pretty red." I say teasing her. She scrunches her nose at me and takes the water. She brings it to her lips and sips it slowly.
"Thank you." She says.
"You were pretty amazing out there." I tell her letting my voice show how much in awe of her I was.
"Thanks, I haven't played in a couple weeks, but this felt amazing. I forget how much I crave playing." She says as she watches the girls. "Keep going your halfway there girls. The legs feed the wolves." She yells to them.
I laugh at her words. She had no idea half the team was werewolves. "What?" She says looking at me.
"I haven't heard that one since the movie Miracle." I say.
"Well Herb Brooks was a coaching genius." She says shrugging her shoulders. "Besides, I always believed being the best conditioned team was the biggest advantage a team could have. It helped against the Russians in 1980 so it can help them." I look down at her amazed. She was fucking so analytical when it came to basketball. She was right of course. If you could run the longest it didn't matter if the other team was better, you could easily score on them.
"Ok girls come here." She says as they finish. They run over and gather around us. "Great job today, remember to drink lots of fluids today and tomorrow. I will see you in two days for the next practice. Remember music is a privilege. I'm fine playing with you guys but you have to play at 100%." She says and they all nod and say, "Yes Coach." "Ok girls go ahead and leave." She tells them and they walk away to change out of their shoes. My boys run on the court and start warming up.
"Do you want to stay and help with my practice?" I ask her hoping she would want to.
"Of course." She says assessing the boys as they warm up.
"So, who are my starters and why?" I whisper into her ear. I couldn't help it I wanted to be close to her and it was an easy way to get close.
"10 is your right side wing. He has good handles on the right side but very weak left hand. Can shoot well on right. 5 is your point guard and captain. He is taller than normal point guards and that gives him an advantage. He is sweeping the floor constantly and helping correct and corral the others. 43 is your forward. He rebounds well but is weak at swimming the player in front of him. He also jumps too much when a player fakes him out so he fouls out every game. 14 is your other wing but they are a driver, scared to take the outside shot. He is fast though which is why he starts. 21 is your post. He is good at the post moves but could be more fluid in his moments. He needs to bend his legs more so he can be more explosive." She tells me critically looking at my twenty boys on the floor.
"How did I do?" She asks me with a raised eyebrow. I stare down at her in disbelief. She was right.
"How?" I ask disbelief full in my voice.
"What did you notice about me when I was playing?" She asks instead of answering my question.
"You're smart. You're ten steps ahead of the others. You stay low so you can be as explosive as possible. You watch hips instead of the ball and you always force left. You literally don't let them go right. You handle the ball better than more college players but you aren't showy about it. You do moves that keep the ball behind or around you instead of in front of you. You compensate for something but I can't figure out what." I say. She smiles at me.
"I'm slow. I'm not tall but not short. I have a solid body so I use that to my advantage. I do moves that keep the ball out of reach of the defender which protects me. I am always scanning and I use my first step as the explosive step because that's the only advantage I have against anyone else faster than me." She confirms. "I don't let people go to the right because they can dribble with the right hand and not the left. So, I force them to use the left. I wait for the mistake on their part."
"You're amazing." I say before I can stop myself. She blushes and I want nothing more than to lean in and taste her lips which I'm sure are a little salty after running.
"It's nothing really. I'm average." She says dismissively. She really didn't see how smart she was or didn't want me to know she knows.
"Help me with a rebounding drill?" I ask changing the subject. I needed to touch her, and rebounding will help me with that.
"Sure." She says excitedly.
We walk on the court and I call the boys over to stand around the 3 point line.
"So, we are starting with rebounding today. Coach Rachel is going to help us out today and I hope you all give her respect and listen to her advice. She is going to demonstrate with me swimming the player." I tell them. "I'm the defender that has the positional advantage and she is the offender trying to get in front of me." I say and she moves to stand behind me. She places a hand on my shoulder blade and the sparks happen again and I love it.
I hear her slightly gasp at the sensation. Good she feels it too. "So swimming is called that because the motion looks like you are swimming. I like to rotate my arm over them and then push it into their stomach as I step in front of them." She says and she swings her arm over my shoulder and is goes into my chest lightly. Her left foot sneaks in front of my hips and she pushes her body against the front of mine as she pushes me back getting position.
God her small body felt so good leaning into mine. She fit perfectly in front of me. "Remember that you need to be low and back up the player as much as possible because the shot can go long. It's easier to run forward after it than backwards." She explains as she bends lower and pushes her ass into my hips and we move backwards. Ok I didn't think this through. Her pushing her hips into mine was causing me to think of other things we should be doing.
I pull away and adjust so no one sees the boner that is starting in my shorts. Thankfully the boys are all looking at her ass as she demonstrates moving backwards. I want to growl at them for looking at her like that but don't. Most look up and see me disapproving look at the drool forming at the sides of their mouths.
"Ready boys, get in two lines to practice." She says and they do it immediately. They continue to do that was she walks over to me. "Sorry I didn't mean to push too hard." She chuckles.
"You're fine. It was great." I say and laugh. We watch the boys and give advice but she stands close to me as we discuss several things over the practice. Later on we are doing a defense drill and we are partnered up in it. She trips and I catch her throwing my body under hers so she doesn't hit the floor. She lays on top of me as we both try to catch our breath that was knocked out of our lungs.
With my hand still on one hip the other goes to the back of her head to see if she is ok. "Are you ok?" I ask her worried. I tried to make sure she only landed on me and not the hard wood floor.
"Yeah, are you? I landed on you! Did you hit your head? I'm so sorry." She frets lifting up and kneeling next to me. Her green hazel eyes were huge and full of worry. She tentatively reaches out for the back of my head. I did hit it on the floor but I was ok.
"Oh, there's a bump. Where is the ice machine?" She asks me.
"My office through that door." I say nodding in the direction. "I'm ok, seriously it's fine. Are you ok? Did you get hurt?" I ask her again not believing the full yeah I got as a response.
"Coach you ok?" John asks coming over. I realize all the boys are watching us.
"I'm fine. Go get two bags of ice." I tell him and he runs over and starts the ice machine. I turn back to her and sit up. She puts her hands on my arm to help me stand.
"Let's sit down." She says as she leads me to the bleachers. John runs back over with two bags and Rachel grabs them. She sets one down next to me as I sit and she stands between my legs. She puts the one still in her hand to the back of my head where the bump was. I hiss as the cold stings my head.
"I'm so sorry." She whimpers watching me. "Boys play 11 man for thirty minutes. Whoever has the most points from baskets, steals, and rebounds doesn't have to run." She directs them over her shoulder. They all go to play and quickly stop watching us.
She places her hand on my cheek and slightly under my chin makes me look her in the eyes. She scrutinizes my eyes and makes me follow her finger.
"No concussion." She breathes out in relief. I chuckle and grab her hand.
"I knew that already. I told you I'm fine." I tell her still loving her hand holding the ice on my head and the other in my hand. She smiles at me then hits my chest unexpectedly.
"What were you thinking? Why did you put yourself under me." She says irritated at me.
"Because I didn't want you hurt, which you have ignored my questions when I asked you." I say as I pull back and look down her body. I notice her legging over her knee broke on in fall and she had skinned her knee pretty bad, but said nothing about it, instead all of her energy was on making sure I was ok. I frown at her knee and then up at her.
"Sit down now." I tell her as I pat the spot next to me. She does so with a frown at me and still holds the ice to my head. I grab her legs and throw them across my lap and look at her knee closely. I put one hand on her shin and the other on her thigh and move them closer to her knee applying a bit of pressure to make sure everything was ok.
When I get to the rip she hisses in pain and tries to pull away. I knew she was hurt. I grab the ice on the other side of me and put it on her knee. She gasps but settles after a few seconds. "How does that feel?" I ask her worried. I turn to look at her face and I can't read it. She looked so torn and conflicted and I had no idea why.
"Rachel? What's wrong?" I ask her really concerned.
"Sorry, nothing. It just stings. It'll bruise but it's fine. We probably shouldn't sit like this what will the boys say." She says as her cheeks flame.
"Darling they won't say a word because it's not inappropriate. We fell playing and are making sure the other is ok. They are more focused on not running than on you holding ice to my head." I tell her and it was true they were trash talking and trying to mess each other up to even pay attention to us. I got what she was concerned about though. I lift her legs off and pull the ice pack back and take her hand off my head. I make her ice her knee and I do my head.
We sit next together with our sides touching. After a few minutes we take the ice off but still sit there.
"How's your head?" She asks looking up at me. She reaches out and feels the bump to make sure it's gone down. It has and I was savoring her fingers in my hair.
"It's fine. Thank you for checking." I say to her with a smile.
"Of course." She says and playfully hits her shoulder into mine.
The boys finish the game and we had them run afterwards and then leave. We stayed sitting until they left. I stand up and move in front of her and hold out my hands to help her up. She takes them and is standing in front of me with only a few inches between us and our hands still connected.
"Come to my office." I tell her and lead her there. I sit in my desk chair and pull out two waters from the mini fridge under my desk. I hand one to her as she sits in the chair across my desk.
"So, do you have an assistant yet?" I ask her. It was one of the things she had asked in the interview for, but I had not picked anyone yet. I had been waiting to meet her to match her up with anyone.
"No I don't." She says as she opens the water.
"How would you feel about me being your assistant?" I ask her and she almost chokes on the water.
"You want to be my assistant?" She asks me in disbelief as she continues to cough up water. I get up and hit her back to try and help her. After she recovers, I lean against the desk in front of her.
"Yes." I say amused. I smile at her and she looks up at me quizzically.
"Why?" She asks me.
"Well, someone needs to catch you the next time you fall for starters, secondly you need one and I imagine one that has no basketball IQ will only hinder you than someone that can at least keep up with your IQ." I finish explaining crossing my arms over my chest smiling at her.
"I only fell because you distracted me." She says then gasps as she didn't mean to say that. Aha she was checking me out when we were playing and that's why she tripped. My grin widens at her words. "Fine." She says, "But you have to listen to what I say." She adds as she stands to look me in the eye.
"That's fine. I'm hiring you as my assistant as well." I tell her and her mouth drops open. I put my finger under her chin and close it as I smile at her.
"What?" she whispers.
"I want you to be my assistant. I already have one, but I am adding you to the coaching staff. I like working with you and want your help." I say and let my hand leave her face and brush down her arm to her hand. "Say yes."
"Yes." She breathes. I feel the sparks flying between us and it takes everything in me to not kiss her right now.
"I'm thinking of sending the varsity teams to a summer ball tournament in Columbia at MIZZOU would you be ok with that? It would be a week-long trip." I ask her.
"Yes, I would love that." She says.
"Good. I'll set it up. It's in two weeks." I tell her and she nods. At this point she realizes I'm still holding her hand and looks down at it. She doesn't pull away though. Her phone rings and she pulls it out and answers it.
"Hey, what's up?" She asks. I can't hear the other person but I listen to her speak.
"It was good. I stayed and helped with the boys and I hurt my knee so I'm still here icing it. I'll head home soon and shower and head to your place after that." She says. Why did she lie I wonder? "Oh, I'm fine. Yeah steak sounds great. Do I need to bring anything?" She asks the person.
"Ok, sounds great see you soon." She says as she hangs up.
"Who was that?" I ask raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, ummmm. It was Julian. We are having dinner." She says awkwardly. I frown at her. I did not like that she was going on a date with another Alpha when she was my mate. I grab her hand again.
"Do you have to?" I ask.
"I already made plans with him. He helped me move in yesterday and we had breakfast this morning." She nervously babbles. My wolf is pissed that this guy has been around her so much already and I just found her.
"I see." I say.
"I'm sorry." She says and I'm shocked at her apologizing.
"Why are you sorry?" I ask her tilting my head.
"You seem mad." She replies simply. Touché I was mad but not at her.
"It's fine. I just don't trust Julian." I tell her.
"Why?" She asks me.
"Well we have a lot of history and I just don't." I tell her not giving away any details. "Besides is this a date?" I ask her curiously. She nods. "I thought he was dating Madison. They have been together the last four years." I explain. I never pegged him as a cheater but maybe, who knows.
I see her face fall and she drops my hand. She turns her back to me and I'm confused at what is going on. "I have to go." She says and her voice is deep with emotion and unshed tears. She quickly walks out and I'm too stunned to move. What just happened?