“Tell me if it’s too tight.”

When he was done wrapping it he put her sock and shoe back on tying the laces himself.

“Stand up.”

Sarah did. The area between the chair and the desk was extremely cramped. When she stood her thighs touched his and her face was close enough to smell the gum on his breath. Sarah flinched back and almost lost her balance. Her eyes locked with the coach for a second.

“Careful now.” He grinned.

Sarah smiled feeling her face redden. The second wrap was much better and Sarah managed to get in a few laps before practice was over. She was feeling really stupid about the way she’d reacted in the coach’s office. Even her thoughts about the girl that had walked out of his office had been unreasonable.

Sydney had told her to read into everything but that was so unfair to jump to such ugly conclusions. Coach Rudy was good looking and a very nice person as far she was concerned. What need would he have to get involved with high school girls?

She saw Angel waiting by his car as she walked back to the locker room and her body reacted in the usual way. She concentrated on staying cool but her heart raced and she knew it had nothing to do with the laps she’d just taken. She’d already accepted that as long as she was here in California she’d never get over him. Not by a long shot. She would just have to do her best to avoid him until she went back to Flagstaff. But it was annoying how much just seeing him still affected her so much.

Sarah was almost to the locker room when she heard someone call her name. She turned to see Coach Rudy walking toward her.

“Hey, you looked real good out there. Anything hurting?”

Sarah shook her head and smiled. “Nope, nothing at all. Good as new, coach.”

The coach glanced down at her foot and then his eyes were on hers again. “Listen we’re going up to Mount Soledad this Saturday. You wanna come?” His lips went up in a crooked grin. “I promise I’ll give you a good work out.”

Sarah’s mind raced to remember if she had any plans for that weekend. But running in the mountain trails overlooking the ocean sounded exactly like what she needed.

“That actually sounds really good.”

“Great, I’ll pick you up at ten. Bring water,” He tapped her behind with his clipboard and winked before walking away.

Sarah stood still for a moment and then shook it off. Lots of coaches patted the players on the behind, even guys. She saw it all the time. She was done jumping to conclusions.

CHAPTER 28

Friday morning Angel sat in the kitchen going over last night’s Spanish homework. After switching his schedule around to get out of his physics class he got stuck with the same Spanish teacher as the previous semester. At the time he hadn’t cared, all he could think of was getting out of seeing Sarah every day. Now he was seriously regretting it. The amount of homework this lady packed on was unreal.

Alex was fixing himself a protein drink when Sofia walked in. “So, dad said if one of you can come into the restaurant for me tomorrow morning I can take the morning off.”

“I’ll go in,” Angel said, without looking up from his homework.

“Where you gonna be?” Alex asked.

Sofia stuck her head in the refrigerator and said something Angel couldn’t make out.

“Where?” Alex asked again.

“Running with the team.” She poured herself a glass of orange juice.

Angel looked up. Sofia avoided looking at him. “On a Saturday?”

“Ah hu,” she pulled out the toaster and plugged it in.

Angel frowned, she was being weird. Ever since she’d told him about her feelings for Eric and been so brazen about going through dad to get her way, he’d wondered how long it would be before she’d start to get sneaky.

“Why on a Saturday, Sof?”

Alex poured himself his drink from the blender and leaned against the counter. “Yeah, your track meets don’t start yet, do they?”

“It’s not a track meet. We’re just going to go run the trails at Mount Soledad.”

“So, it’s a field trip?” Angel asked, feeling the tension release.

“Well, no,” Sofia buttered her toast and spoke with her back to them.

“Well, what the hell is it?” Alex asked.

Sofia exhaled but didn’t turn around to face them. “The coach is taking a bunch of us to run the trails. That’s all.”

Angel’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re going in his car?”

“Oh, hell no,” Alex’s scowled in Sofia’s direction but she still hadn’t turned around.

“Sofi, what did I tell you about watching out for this guy?” Angel stood up.

Sofia finally turned around. “You said not to be alone with him. I won’t be. There’s going to be other people from the team there. Sarah will be there.”

That only soured Angel’s mood further. “So, he’s taking a bunch of girls up to the mountains with him?”

“I don’t know. Sarah’s the one that told me about it. I figured if she would be there it would be okay. We’re just running.”

“Forget about it,” Alex’s tone was final.

“But why?” Sofia looked up at the ceiling frustrated. “You guys are SO unreasonable. Dad said it was okay.”

“Does dad know he’s a pervert, Sof?” Angel demanded.

“Don’t worry I’m sure he’ll agree with us when I’m done talking to him.” Alex said on his way out the kitchen. “You’re not going Sof.”