I was awoken by the sound of my alarm, reaching behind me to turn it off quickly. Opening my eyes I found myself still immersed by love.
My arm was wrapped around Gracie who was cuddled into my side, her face pressed to my chest while Ender was next to her, his back to hers as he snoozed away.
Ashton was facing me, his back against the wall and his arm stretched out over all of us.
Smiling happily I let out a content sigh and then removed my arms from around Gracie so I could get up.
I gasped at the pain in my sides as I did so, stopping my moments and holding my sides, scrunching up my face from the hurt.
Forcing myself to move I went downstairs to take another pain pill and then start the coffee.
Gracie toddled downstairs and I lifted her up, carrying her around the kitchen while I got things ready.
Last night I had gone to sleep feeling miserable about coaching, but I had awoken with a new attitude. I was going to make those boys respect me whether they liked it or not. Today at practice I was going to be ruthless. I wasn't going to take their crap anymore.
I was starting to make pancakes for breakfast when Ashton came down stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Morning babe." He yawned and poured himself a cup of coffee.
Coming up behind me he pressed a kiss to my neck, and then rested his chin on my shoulder.
"Do you feel better?" He asked me softly.
"Much better. Thank you for last night, I needed that." I turned my head so I could kiss him properly.
"Me and the kids wanted to be there for you. We're a family, and family is always there for each other." He wrapped his arms around my middle.
"I love you." I leaned back into him.
"I love you more." He smiled his brilliant smile and I pressed a kiss to his jaw.
He took Gracie from me while I finished making pancakes, waking her up by tickling her sides.
Ender came down from my room as well and we all sat at the bar to eat.
"I forgot to tell you, the guys are coming in to town today. I think Cal wanted to come to the practice." Ashton said.
"Oh okay. That'll be fun. Maybe he can help me out." I smiled.
"I'm sure he'd like that." He beamed up at me. "Did you call Ari?"
"Oh crap, I forgot. I'll text her now." I rushed to get my phone and ask her, apologising for such late timing.
'I'd love to! Do they want to spend the night?' She replied.
"Do we want to overnight our date?" I asked Ashton.
"I like the sound of that." He winked at me and I let out a little laugh, replying yes to Ari
"Okay all done." I smiled and finished eating my breakfast.
Finally I got dressed and ready and so did everyone else, and Ashton brought us up to the school, but this time he was going to stay the entire day.
"I just don't want you to be alone today." Was his reasoning when I asked why he was staying with me.
So he had packed a little bag of toys for Gracie and the four of us walked into the school together.
Every single teenage girl head turned when they saw Ashton and I walk in, several of them taking out their phones to snap our picture.
We walked Ender to class and then Ashton carried Gracie as they followed me to the field house.
"Okay, I've got to go change, so you guys can wait out here." I told them and they stood in the hallway as I slipped into the girls locker room to change into my jersey and spandex. I put away my rings as well and laced up my shoes.
"You look cute in your uniform." Ashton winked at me when I walked out and I rolled my eyes at him.
I found a cart to start gathering what I needed and took it outside, both of them following me.
Ashton set up Gracie in the stands while I began to set up the field.
Once I was done we went inside and had lunch with Ender and his friends and then went back outside, just in time for Calum, Michael, and Luke to arrive.
"Hey!" I waved as they walked onto the field and I jogged over to meet them.
"Hey there Mrs. Irwin." Michael smirked as he hugged me and I laughed.
"Not quite yet." I smiled and Ashton shot me a wink.
"Nice to see you Carter, congratulations again." Luke hugged me next.
"Thank you."
"Ashton's a lucky guy, you're both going to make a great husband and wife team." Calum hugged me last and I smiled at his words.
"That means a lot, thanks."
Ashton then greeted the guys and they began to talk while I pulled Calum aside.
"You up to help me out today?" I asked him.
"Sure, what do you need?" He shrugged.
"Help me write out some plays, and I need another set of eyes on them, I can only see so much."
"Yeah, no problem." He smiled.
"Great, thank you so much." I grinned and he followed me over to the bench where we began to draw out a few plays on white boards.
"Okay now move that x over there, there you go." He said.
"This is perfect." I set the boards down.
Not soon after the team came outside they gave Calum a strange look. I stood up on the bench while they gathered around, Calum standing next to me on the ground.
"Okay, listen up!" I called out. "This is my friend Calum, he's going to be helping me out today. We wrote up a few plays for you guys since you asked for them so we will go over those with you and then practice them in the practice game today."
They nodded up at me.
"Same warmup as yesterday, go." I said and they started off towards the goals to start their lunges.
"You're a tough one." Calum commented.
"Well they pissed me off yesterday so." I shrugged and he laughed.
After warmup I got Wyatt and Jordan to the side to work with them while Calum explained the plays we had drawn up to the rest of the team.
Wyatt blocked 6 out of the 10 goals I kicked and Jordan only blocked 3.
I sent them back and then split the team into groups to practice the plays we had made up.
Eventually I got to Collins group and began to run through what to do with them. I brought in a few of the other boys to be the opposing team and we started the play but instead of moving to the left like he was supposed to, Collin moved to the right and right into me, his elbow hitting my nose hard, allowing me to hear a sickening snap.
Out of surprise I fell back on the grass, my hands coming up to cover my face.
"You okay Coach?" One of the guys asked me and I gasped in a breath, feeling the blood flow from my nose.
He had done that on purpose, I knew he had.
I wanted to cry, the pain in my nose killing me but I couldn't, I wouldn't give Collin that satisfaction.
Angry, I stood up, removing my hands and hearing a few of the guys gasp.
"You jerk! What the hell is wrong with you?" I marched towards Collin, a smug smirk on his face.
"Don't know what you're talking about Coach." He said with a sinister smile on his face and I reached him, pushing him back.
"You did that on purpose!" I yelled as he took a few steps back. "You're pissed because I made you clean up a damn field? You're mad because a girl is your coach? Huh? You son of a bitch."
"Hey, hey hey hey hey hey, Carter." Calum came and pushed me back by shoulders. "Calm down."
"No! You think this is a game Collin? Well it's over, you're off the team." I spat at him.
"You can't kick me off!" He fired back at me.
"Wanna bet?" I screamed back.
"You're a real bitch you know that? That's probably why your boyfriend didn't tell you he was famous." He snarled at me and I lunged at him before I was yanked backwards by Calum's arms locking around my waist.
"Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?" Calum shouted at Collin.
"Don't talk to me." Collin glared at him. "Why don't you deal with your little whore of a friend."
"Hey!" Calum yelled at him again. "You can shut the hell up."
"Collin, calm down man." One of his friends placed a hand on his shoulder but Collin just shrugged it off harshly.
I was absolutely livid but Calum turned me away and straight to Ashton who was jogging towards me.
"No he wants a fight, I'll give him one." I whipped around to confront Collin but Ashton ran up behind me, yanking me backwards.
"Carter, calm down. He's not worth it." Ashton said as I struggled in his arms.
"You know nothing!" I screamed at Collin, Ashton turning me away.
"Take her inside, I've got this." Calum said and Ashton tightened his arms around me, almost carrying me into the girls locker room.
"Just walk away man." I heard Calum say before I was inside the building and Ashton took me over to the sinks.
He didn't say anything but set me on the counter and grabbed a towel from a rack and wet it with water, then began to press it to my face.
"Are you okay?" He asked me and I nodded slightly, watching him move the towel from my face, the white fabric now red.
"Don't lie to me, I heard what he said. Are you okay?" He asked as he rinsed off the towel and instead of answering him I let out a sob, tears beginning to flood from my eyes.
"Hey, hey, shh...it's okay, you're okay." He moved so that his face was in front of mine, his thumbs moving to wipe away my tears.
"No, it's never going to be okay." I cried and he shushed me.
"What's not going to be okay?"
"This. You heard what Collin said about us."
"You know that's not true. You're not a bitch Carter, you're the sweetest person I know. He just wanted to hurt you." He pet my hair with his hand.
"Well he did." I blubbered out through my tears and he moved in to hug me.
"I know baby, and I'm sorry." He said and I hugged him tighter to me.
I rested my forehead on his shoulder as he ran his fingers through the hair on the back of my head.
"I love you Carter. You know I didn't tell you to protect you. And I know all you want is for it to go away and I'm sorry he threw that in your face."
I nodded against his shoulder and then we heard the sound of the locker room door opening, both of us letting go of each other.
I watched as Luke walked into the locker room, coming towards us.
"Collin just left. Calum has the team doing practice drills." Luke informed us and I nodded, trying to wipe away my tears.
"I'll be right out." I told him and Ashton turned back to look at me.
"No, babe you need to take a break." Ashton placed a hand on my still partially bloody face.
"If I don't go back out there then everything I've worked for will be for nothing. I'm not going to let him win." I looked up at him, no room for arguing in my voice.
"Fine. But can I clean you up and make sure your nose isn't broken before you go out there, please?" He asked me.
I nodded.
"I'll go tell Calum." Luke said and then left the room.
Ashton picked up the towel and continued wiping the blood away.
"Bet you never thought you'd be wiping blood off your girlfriends face, huh." I laughed bitterly and he gave me a little smile, shaking his head.
"Fiancé." He replied. "And no I didn't, but the love of my life is hurt and I'm going to do everything I can do to make her feel better."
I watched him carefully as he finished wiping away the blood and then set down the towel so he could feel around my nose.
"It's not broken, he just gave you a pretty bad bad nose bleed." He pressed his hand against my face.
"Thank you." I spoke softly and looked up at him, sincerity in my eyes.
"I'd do anything for you Car. When I asked you to marry me I told you I would always be there to protect you, and I intend to keep that promise." He gently smiled at me and I raised the corners of my lips to match his expression.
He placed his arms under mine and lifted me off the counter, setting me down on the floor.
"You ready to go back out there?" He asked and I took his hand, walking towards the door.
Once outside Ashton squeezed my hand. "Do you want me to go with you?"
"Please?" I asked and he followed me over to the bench where I dropped his hand and walked towards Calum.
"You good?" He asked me as I stepped beside him, watching the drill the guys were running.
"Yeah. Thanks for helping me back there, and for watching the team for me. And I'm sorry for acting like that in front of you." I told him and he patted my back.
"He said some pretty messed up things. I don't blame for you for getting mad. He's lucky I didn't punch him myself."
I gave him a half smile at this.
"Hey are you okay?" Wyatt jogged up to me, looking concerned.
"I'm fine." I replied.
"He was out of line. I'm sorry." He apologised, looking like a guilty child.
"It wasn't your fault." I barely gave him an assuring smile and he nodded before hesitantly walking away.
"Okay." I sighed to myself and then walked over to the bench and stood up on it, cupping my hands around my mouth.
"Huddle up!" I yelled and the boys snapped their attention to me, jogging over in my direction.
Once they were all there I took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." I started. "But I hope it's clear to you now that I'm not giving up on this team. I came here for a reason and I'll be damned before I let petty people who are pissed at me for making them clean a field, get in my way and your way."
I gave them all a pointed look.
"I may be tough and I may be mean, but I care, and I'm here to help you."
A few of the boys nodded at me.
"Now, shirts and skins, let's run a game." I folded my arms across my chest.
"Yes Coach." They all said and then jogged out to their spots on the field.
I slipped my jersey off over my head and went out to join them, but Ashton's voice called me back.
"Car?"
"Yeah?" I turned around.
"Be careful out there please." He gave me a pleading look.
"I will." I smiled at him and then jogged out to the field, getting into position.
You'd think for someone who just got their nose bloodied up and cried their eyes out in the locker room, I would've played easy; but that wasn't my style, I played this game rough and I wasn't going to stop just because of that stupid Collin kid, I was going to do this right.
My team won the practice match as I scored the last goal, my leg flying up to kick the ball and my body falling backwards as I hit the grass.
One of the shirts players took my hand and helped me up.
"Good practice you guys. I'll see you tomorrow at the game. But if any of you show up drunk from the party tonight then I will seriously kick your ass." I said and they laughed.
"See you tomorrow Coach." They said as they made their way to the locker rooms, each one placing their hand on my shoulder as they walked past.
Now smiling, I made my way to Ashton and Calum, going straight to Ashton, and leaning myself up against him, resting my head on his chest as his arms came around my bare stomach, tightening around me.
"Your fiancé's pretty tough Ashton. She doesn't take crap from anyone. You've got yourself quite the girl." Calum said and Ashton smiled, looking down at me as I looked up at him.
"Yeah I know. I'm the luckiest man in the world." He beamed at me and pressed his lips to mine.
"Okay, I'm all sweaty so I'm going to shower. But thanks again Calum. I owe you one." I squeezed Ashton's narrow waist before making my way to the locker room to clean off.
I scrubbed myself off with my favourite apricot scrub and washed my hair, hurrying to dry off and then brush my teeth and get dressed.
Placing my white sweater over me I yanked on my solid black yoga pants and then laced up my converse.
I packed the rest of my things into my duffel and then slung it over my shoulder as I headed out of the locker room, sliding my engagement and promise rings on my fingers.
Ashton was leaning against the wall outside and took the duffel from my arm, placing it on his and then slung his free arm over my shoulder.
"I'm proud of you." He moved in and said against my temple.
"Thank you." I leaned my head against him.
We walked to the parking lot where Michael, Luke, Calum, Gracie, and Ender were waiting. Gracie was up in Michaels arms and Ender was standing next to Calum and Luke.
"Mommy!" Gracie smiled when she saw me and I reached out to hug her while she was still in Michaels arms.
"Car are you okay?" Ender asked, concern covering his face.
"Yeah I'm fine." I smiled at him.
"Well we've gotta get the kids to Ari's house." Ashton said and went to get Gracie. "Come here girly." He took Gracie from Michaels arms.
"Bye uncle Mikey." She waved at him and he grinned.
"Bye Gracie." He reached out to poke her cheeks and she giggled happily in Ashton's hold.
"Thank you guys for being here." I hugged each of them individually. "Will we see you tomorrow?"
"Of course, just let us know." Calum smiled and we began to make our way to Ashton's jeep where he strapped Gracie into her car seat.
We waved to the guys in their car as we pulled out from the parking lot and started towards the house. When we arrived, Ashton and I hustled to get the kids bags packed and give Bear food and water before we left since Ash and I would probably be back late, and let him outside.
"Babe did you get her toothbrush?" Ashton called from my room as I was in the bathroom grabbing Gracie's things.
"Now I did." I called back and grabbed her little pink toothbrush before heading back in the bedroom to place it in her bag.
Once we had packed their stuff we let Bear back in and Ender hugged the dog goodbye before we left the house.
It was about 5:30 when we made it to Ari's house and Ashton went to get Gracie from the back seat, hoisting her up in his arms.
I took her bag and Ender grabbed his, the four of us making our way to Ari's side door. Knocking twice, I opened the door and entered her kitchen.
"We're here!" I called out and Ari emerged from the living room excitedly.
"Hi!" She made her way to us, hugging me.
"Hey." I hugged her back.
I set Gracie's bag on the table as Ari began to ask questions.
"So what is her routine at night?"
"Uh well after dinner we normally let her play for what, one or two hours?" I asked Ash and he nodded. "And then we give her her bath and she's usually in bed by 9:30."
"Okay, bath time...any certain instructions?" She asked.
"No she's good in the bath." I answered.
"Just make sure you use the pink towel; I packed it her bag." Ashton added.
"Oh yeah, she has to be wrapped in her pink towel to dry off or she gets very upset." I commented.
"Alright. What about bed time?" Ari asked next.
"Well once she is tucked in we both give her a kiss on the cheek and tell her goodnight. But you have to tuck her bunny under the covers with her or she won't go to sleep." Ashton answered. "Oh, and she usually sleeps all the way through the night, but if she does wake up and starts to cry just go down and lay with her until she stops, she'll go back to sleep in about five minutes."
Ari nodded. "Okay, anything else?"
"In the mornings she'll wake up if she hears you wake up, and then have you carry her around for a little bit, she'll probably fall back asleep until it's time for breakfast." I said.
"Okay. I think I got it. If I have any questions I'll text or have Ender help me." She patted Ender's head.
"She's pretty easy, but she loves being cuddled and held so she's going to be kind of clingy." I laughed and Ari waved it away.
"That's fine with me." She smiled. "Alright Gracie are you ready to spend the night with your Aunt Ari?"
Gracie beamed up at her and nodded.
"Okay then, we're going to head out. Give me a hug Gray." I went over and pulled the little girl onto my arms, holding her tightly. "I love you." I said as she hugged me back.
"I love you Mommy." She said and I kissed her cheek before handing her to Ashton.
"Bye baby girl." He held her close. "We'll see you tomorrow okay?"
"I love you Daddy." She said and a smile came to my face, that was the first time she had said that to Ashton and by the grin on his face I could tell he was excited.
"I love you too Gracie." He kissed both of her cheeks and then passed her off to Ari.
"Bye End." I kissed the top of his head and patted his shoulder. "Be good and help Ari if she needs it."
"Okay." He nodded.
"Bye mate." Ashton and Ender high-fived. "Love ya too kid."
Ender just smiled back at him and then Ashton took my hand.
"Alright, well I'll call you when we're on our way to come get them tomorrow. Thanks again." I said to Ari.
"No problem. We're gonna have lots of fun. You two have a good date night." She smiled.
"We will. Thanks Ari." Ashton said and we waved again before stepping back outside.
Ashton walked me to his jeep and opened the door for me, helping me in and then jogging around to the drivers side.
My head was turned away from him but suddenly I felt his fingers at my chin and I looked towards him seconds before his lips crashed into mine.
I was surprised at first but then got into it, kissing him back happily.
Breathless, I pulled away and he shot me a wink.
"Ready for date night?" He asked.
"Definitely." I smiled and sat back in my seat as he started the jeep and backed out of the driveway, heading into town to start our evening together.
--
One more chapter till all hell breaks loose (;
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and comment and vote if you'd like.
I'll have the next part up soon!
much love xx -M