Scoring Wilder(55)

Tara might have disliked me before, but the fact that I had some kind of relationship with Liam pushed me toward the top of her enemy list. Unfortunately, my friendships with Becca and Emily meant they were getting dragged alongside me.

"I'm so sorry, guys," I pleaded as we began to run. Emily wouldn't look at me, but Becca shot me a stern look.

"Do not apologize for anything. It's Tara that should be apologizing. She's trying to ruin your life by turning us against you, but she has no clue the kind of enemies she's making," Becca bit out.

"We have to be smart about this. We can get her to stop, but if we go about it the wrong way, we'll be taking ourselves down with her," I answered.

"Kinsley, I know about Liam," Emily said out of the blue.

Becca and I both turned sharply toward her. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"We share a bathroom, and you and Becca seriously talk way too loudly about personal matters. Like I know that you made Becca come look at a freckle on your butt last week because you thought it was shaped like a giraffe. I mean, I get it. You guys have a really strange relationship.” She realized she was veering off topic. “Oh, right. Anyway, no one else in the house knows about you and Liam, I've made sure of it, but I just wanted to let you know that I know,” she shrugged.

I had no clue how to approach the subject. "Are you upset that I didn't tell you? I’m really sorry I lied to you, Em. I just wanted to keep it as private as possible, and I didn't want to drag you in as an accomplice."

Emily furrowed her brows. "I'm not mad. I know why you didn't tell me. I just felt a little left out. To be honest I was kind of glad not to be included in the beginning because I would have told you it was a beyond terrible idea."

I cracked a small smile. "And now?"

"Still a terrible idea, but I can't blame you. If he were interested in any of the rest of us, we would have done exactly what you're doing. You’re just the lucky… or maybe unlucky one."

Relief settled over our small group. It felt good to have my secret out in the open and I trusted Emily not to tell anyone.

“I swear this is the last time guys. I feel disgusting from washing the bathroom. We'll take her down. We just need to figure out how…"




The three of us were focusing on pushups when I heard Liam’s harsh tone ring through the air.

"Tara, I thought I warned you about this last time? What the hell do you not understand about treating your teammates with respect?"

I paused mid push-up to see Tara turn to him with a conniving grin.

"Liam! Just the man of the hour..."

It didn't escape my notice that she called him Liam instead of Coach Wilder. She was proving how in charge she was in that moment. She held all of our fates in the palm of her pretty little hand.

"Excuse me?" Liam asked, standing to his full height. He looked lethal. He'd never looked at me the way he was looking at Tara. Unabashed rage masked his beautiful features, and for one moment I was scared something very bad was about to happen. I tried to shoot him a weary gaze that could somehow sum up how f*cked we were now that Tara knew about us.

"We've got to go get ready for practice. Excuse me," Tara said, waving sweetly and walking away without bothering to answer him.

Liam eye’s followed her movements for a moment and then tugged his hands through his hair. He looked helpless and in a sense, he was. Going to Coach Davis was his only option.

Would he do that?

If he did, would Tara tell Coach Davis about our relationship?

"Are you guys okay?" Liam asked, bending down to where we were all sitting.

Emily nodded, but stayed silent.

"Oh yeah! We had a wonderful morning. I'll let Kinsley fill you in though," Becca said as she pushed up off the ground with Emily so they could head into the field house after the seniors.

"Kinsley, why the hell are you letting her treat you like this? I'm taking this to Coach Davis."

The last sentence spurred me into action.

"She knows," I began, but I could hardly get the words out through the emotion building behind my eyes. I was in way over my head and I couldn't see which way was up anymore.

Liam nodded, slowly grasping the seriousness of the situation. His hand reached down for mine so that he could help me up just as Coach Davis pulled into her parking spot. She hopped out of her car and eyed us warily for a moment before heading inside. Just f*cking great. Her suspicion was the last thing we needed.

"I've got to go to practice. We'll talk later," I promised, turning on my heel and running inside before he could say anything else.

Our relationship was poison for my career. The media would spin us into whatever sold the most magazines and “happy soccer couple” wouldn’t sell shit compared to a soccer bad boy going after a na?ve girl that he was supposed to be coaching at the time.

We were royally screwed.

…



Liam: Is everything okay? Can you meet me tomorrow before practice? Call me.



"You're going to talk to him, right?" Becca asked after having read the text over my shoulder. We were in my room later that night trying to come up with a plan on how to handle Tara.

"Yes. Of course. I just need to think about it for a second. If I go to Coach Davis myself she'll pull Tara into the office and Tara will throw Liam and me under the bus. But if I tell Liam, maybe he'll have a better plan?" I chewed on my bottom lip like I'd been doing all afternoon.