Fuck. I couldn’t deal with that right now. Not when I was just getting used to not touching Echo.

  “I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”

  She just glared at me. “You’ve been an ass about the whole thing, and you know it.” She said, apparently refusing to back down. “You liked her, too, but you hate being at the Coulters’ beck and call, so you take it out on Echo. She doesn’t deserve it and you know it.”

  “Did she ask you to say something?”

  “Of course not. If she knew I was saying something now she’d freak. And have you seen Echo do the fast-talking-not-take-a-breath thing? Not pretty.”

  I did not need to feel sorry for Little Miss Princess. “You should go,” I told her. “She doesn’t take that long to clean up, and she’ll be wondering where you are.”

  “Fine. Just… She gets enough shit from her family. She doesn’t need it from you, too.” She left without another word.

  “Fuck,” I muttered as the guilt crept in. I had been riding her hard. Damn it. Even my thoughts couldn’t behave. Jen’s words were hard to escape. And there was a part of me that didn’t want to escape. It was the part of me that fell asleep every night to the way she looked as she came around me. Yeah, real helpful. Focus on the job. It was the only way we’d both survive this.

  I knew I was pushing her harder and nagging her more often than I normally would have. She might not be as bad as some of her family, but every time her grandfather showed up unannounced, or when her parents texted her about picking up her brother or running an errand for them, and she had to cut off training early, she was the one who was there for me to snap at and punish for the way they made me feel.

  Jen was right. Echo didn’t deserve as much crap as I gave her. She didn’t let me get away with all of it, though. She fought me on some things. But when it came to her family, she caved every time. And they took full advantage.

  Maybe she didn’t know how to be strong with them. But she needed to learn, or she’d collapse under the pressure. And I wasn’t helping. I was her coach. I was supposed to be in her corner. Time to start acting like it, asshole.

  13

  Cole

  They were fine. Just fine. This was fine.

  Except I had left every single practice for the last week since my conversation with Jen vibrating with anger. For starters, it didn’t seem to matter what Echo said to her grandfather, the old man continued to show up at practices. Second, for whatever reason, Echo was distracted as fuck. Third, I couldn’t get what Jen said out of my head. I wasn’t taking my anger out on her…not much anyway.

  I forced my brain to focus as Echo ran the first corner of the quarter mile. Again, she’d gone way too fast out of the gate and could barely finish the lap. “Echo, what part of 75% did you not understand?”

  She brushed her hair off her face. “Can you just ease off, Cole? I’m tired.”

  “Yeah, no shit, you’re tired. You didn’t listen. Now we need to waste time cooling you off so you can go again.”

  She grimaced. “Fuck, Cole. Just shut it, okay? I get it. You’re frustrated.”

  Frustrated? She didn’t fucking know the half of it. For the last week and a half, I’d been unable to sleep. At least not until I’d had a very long shower and uh…worked out some of my Echo frustration. But that didn’t usually help for long, because after an hour or two of sleep my subconscious would lead me right back to the place I did not want to go, and I’d wake up hard…again. Lather, rinse, repeat. “You have no fucking idea.”

  She got in my face and winced. “You think I want this? Every day, with you. The first guy—” She stopped herself. “And fucking Gramps. And you obviously hating me. And my damn parents.” She winced again.

  I frowned. There was something she said that I wanted to get back to. The first guy to what? But right now, she was wincing. “Where do you hurt?”

  She frowned at me. “I’m fine, just tight. I slept like shit.”

  “Of course you did. Head out to another bar, did you?”

  She winced again, then her lip quivered. “Screw you.”

  Shit. She wasn’t going to cry, was she? So far, whenever I got in her face, she’d pushed right back. But today, something was wrong. “Okay, look, we can scream at each other later. Right now you’re obviously in pain; where do you hurt?”

  She slid her gaze away as she sniffed. “Left hamstring.”

  “Okay, lie down on the grass.”

  “Cole—”

  I put up a hand to stop her. “I might not like you, and maybe vice versa. But my job is to look out for you. Push you, yes, but you’re no good to anybody hurt, and I want your body in top form.” Shit. “That sounded…” I sighed. “I mean, I want you feeling good—” Damn it. “I mean—”

  “I know what you mean.” She lay down in the grass, and flung a hand over her eyes to keep the sun out. From the corner of my eye, I saw her grandfather heading our way, and I held up a hand to stop him. There was no way she was going to relax with him in her face.

  “How long have you been tight?”

  “Couple days. It’s spasming, but not full-blown Charlie horse.”

  “Okay, we’re gonna pull back on the quarter mile and the sprint workouts the rest of the week, and have you do some heart-rate runs to work on endurance and strength. In the meantime, I want you drinking coconut water. The cold-pressed stuff. And up your banana and kale intake.” Before she could complain, I added, “You don’t have to do the smoothies, but you need to up the intake, okay?”

  She nodded.

  I leaned over her, lifting her left leg, placing it on my shoulder. At the skin-to-skin contact, Echo’s gaze snapped to mine, then she immediately looked away. Yeah, well, it’s no picnic for me either, sister.

  As I pushed her leg back, my thumb grazed over the pulse point on her ankle. Touching her at all was a bad idea. But tracing my thumb over that soft skin… Rookie mistake, because all I could think about was where else she was soft. Which obviously led to how she tasted, and then onto…other things. I had to stop.

  “Okay, push back against me. How do you feel?”

  She wasn’t wincing anymore, but she was still frowning. “Hurts less, but it’s still pretty tight.”

  “Okay.” I then lifted her leg and gently straightened it, then eased her leg back by centimeters. I didn’t want to push her too much, but I kneaded until the tension eased. “How’s that? Better?” Why did my voice sound so husky?

  Echo was looking at me again, her bright-blue eyes boring into my soul. Damn it, why did she have to look at me like that? Equal parts annoyance and…arousal. That’s the last shit I needed. She needed. We needed. Her soft gasp made me frown. I knew what hurt, and I knew how to make it better. Problem was, it meant touching Echo.

  At that spot where those impossibly short shorts met hamstring…just mere inches from where my fingers had played some weeks ago… Sweat popped out on my brow.

  “I’m going to help massage this out, but you’ll need to use the foam roller when you get home.”

  She pursed her lips. I knew she hated the foam roller, but there was really no choice. “Okay.”

  Right. Okay, then. All I had to do was massage her ass now. Okay, not her ass, her hamstring. I could do this. I’d be fine.

  When my hands smoothed over her leg, she hitched a breath, and I tried to ignore it. I did, I swore I did. But the low groan she made when I pressed my palms along the spot where glute met hamstring was too much. I was only human. I could keep it together, despite my cock twitching in protest. I had to.

  I massaged out the muscle, kneading and soothing until her body relaxed under my ministrations. With every pass of my hand, I bit back the moan. My brain might not want her, but my body…my body remembered every minute we’d spent in my bed and out of it. The hottest night of my life. It was seared into my memory, so no matter what I did, there’d be no ignoring her completely. I was too aware, too close. And she still smelled like fucking coconut and vanilla, and it made me insane.

  After a minute, she fully relaxed, and a tiny moan escaped her lips. My hands stilled immediately.

  “It’s, uh, a little better.”

  “Okay, we’ll do a couple more stretches, then we’ll have to do a good cool-down job, okay?”

  She nodded, but didn’t look away from me. When she licked her lips, I was barely able to bite back a groan. She was so damn beautiful. So damn sexy. And so damn off-limits.

  When the frown on her forehead relaxed, I eased back on her leg. She flexed and pointed her toes. “That’s better, thank you.”

  “And Echo?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Remember, we’re on the same side, so when you’re tight, tell me. We can work more consistent massage in with your needs, daily if we have to.”

  I stood gingerly, careful of my knee, then reached a hand down to help her up. “Go on, give me a couple laps and head inside for weights. I don’t want you running hard on that today. I’ll tape you when we get inside.”

  As she gingerly trotted off, I saw Rory Coulter approach. Shit, this was not shaping up to be my day at all.

  “What’s wrong with Echo?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing that getting some proper sleep and extra potassium won’t fix.”

  The old man glared at me. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Rory.” I deliberately didn’t call him sir or Mr. Coulter. This man was no better than me, and I wasn’t going to kowtow.

  “That little stretching exercise you were doing with Echo. I know what you’re doing. I see you.”

  “You mean coaching? It’s what Brent and Julia hired me for. I’m her coach. Occasionally, she’s going to need a stretch or massage.” Yeah, so maybe I didn’t have to add that last part, but it gave me a nice boost of satisfaction to see the old man’s face go bright red.

  “M-massage,” he blustered. “Back when I was running, we didn’t get massages for some cramps. You stretched it out and you walked it off.”

  “Well, I think we can both agree that a lot has changed since then. I’m not sure what you’re implying, but I’m coaching Echo. I’m making sure we can get the best out of her when it counts. I’m not here for show, or as a puppet you and the rest of the family can pull around. I’m here for her.”

  The old man glared at me. “I know your type. Talk smooth, throw around some new ideas. Dazzle her. It won’t work on Echo, and we’ll make sure of it. If you step a toe out of line, I promise you, you’ll regret that day.”

  Already have. But no way I was telling Rory Coulter that. “I’m sorry you think I’d do anything to interfere with Echo’s coaching. You can feel free to talk to Brent and Julia and Echo about my style, if you don’t like it. Since they hired me, and Echo is my client.”

  “Legacy Sports hired you, son.”

  I drew myself up to my full height. At six foot two, Rory and I stood eye to eye, but I was leaner. And probably a whole hell of a lot meaner right now. “Actually, you might want to check with Brent on that. Have a good day, Rory, we’re moving the session inside. Due to Echo’s cramps, she’ll only lift the rest of the day.” I gave him a wave and dismissive smile.

  “You keep acting like this and you won’t be around much longer.”

  I just managed to keep my temper in check. “I guess we’ll see about that. Have a good day, Rory.”

  14

  Cole

  After another long day with Echo, all I wanted was a beer, a hot shower, and a whole night without seeing Echo Coulter in my head. But no. The second I collapsed on the couch, my phone rang. I was so not in the mood for Dylan’s shit tonight.

  “What?” I barked into the phone.

  Alex chuckled. “Yo, working for Richie Rich has you in a bad mood, huh?”

  I forced myself to relax and to shove aside the anger and annoyance. My brother didn’t deserve it. “Alex. Sorry man. Just a shitty day, how are you? How are classes? You doing okay?”

  “Fine. Shitty, but fine, and yes. Stop worrying. You realize I don’t need a nursemaid right? I’m twenty-one.”

  “Not yet, you’re not.”

  “Fine—in two weeks, then. But I’m good. Okay. Now what’s up with you?”

  I was on the verge of unloading, then I thought better of it. Alex had other shit to focus on. “Nah, I’m good. Just a long day. Have you started running for the season, yet? Or training, rather?” My brother didn’t do the cross-country season, but he did do the indoor-track season at UVA, and it was getting to be that time.

  “Yes, of course, coach. But I want to hear about you. You realize you never tell me about you.”

  “That’s because I’m doing the adulting thing. That shit is boring.”

  “No, it’s not, and you realize you’re not my parent, right? You don’t have to shield me from shit. If something is going bad, I want to know.”

  Why did that sting? Because he was right? For three years, I had taken on the parent role, but I was Alex’s brother, and sometimes needed to act like it. “It’s fine, Lex. Just some chick. We got our signals crossed, is all.”

  “No way. Is she hot?”

  As a volcano. “She’s all right. If you like that ice princess thing.”

  “And clearly you do.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  Alex laughed. “Missy, man. ’Member her? Beautiful girl, but couldn’t melt ice to save her life. Homegirl was frosty.”

  Echo wasn’t frosty. She was actually sweet. No, dummy. Cece was sweet. “No, this one’s not cold. Just a liar.”

  “Ouch. Want me to come out there and talk some sense into her?”

  “You are not coming out here until you have fall break. Get over it.”

  “Damn.”

  Alex had been trying to come out ever since I moved. But I was holding off. I wanted to get settled in first, and I wanted Alex concentrating on school. “It’s fine. I just thought she was someone else.”

  “You want some unsolicited advice from your little brother, who has way more game than you do?”

  I lay my head back on the couch. “Oh, this’ll be good.”

  “Whatever you think she did? Cut the girl some slack. Not everyone can live up to Cole Jackson’s code of moral ethics.”

  I frowned. “What do you—?”

  “Shit, sorry, gotta go. Emerson is here to run. I’ll check you later. You okay, though?”

  When had we reversed roles? When had Alex started to be so grown up?

  “Yeah, I’m good. You go. Take it easy on that ankle. Road running only.”

  “Yes, coach. Later.”

  I loved my brother, but Alex was a kid who knew nothing about relationships. There was no way I was cutting Echo any slack. I didn’t care why she’d done what she’d done. Honestly, the sooner I could be done with her the better.

  15

  Echo

  “Would you relax, Echo? Have a drink. No one is here counting the calories.”

  I had to laugh. Jen didn’t know Cole. “Oh, I promise, the coach from hell will know if I don’t eat the diet. He’d say something like, ‘You look bloated’.”

  Jen’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious right now?”

  I sighed. He wasn’t that much of an ass. Close, though. “No, he’d just point out that I’m running like shit.”

  “God, I would have thought that you guys had mellowed. That day I came to meet you, he seemed calmer.”

  I shrugged. “I guess. But he’s all business. Zero play. He’s not fucking around at all. So it’s not like it’s playtime. Practices certainly aren’t fun.”

  “Well, not like you expected them to be.”

  “No, you’re right. I knew I’d be busting my ass. What I didn’t expect was to be busting my ass, playing chauffeur for Gage, keeping my brothers out of my parent’s hair, and avoiding Gramps. By the time I do everything for everyone else, and eat a perfectly balanced diet of mountains of vegetables, whole wheat quinoa or some nonsense and boiled chicken, I’m exhausted and crash. But of course I can’t sleep because I’m worried.”

  Jen patted my hand. “Honey, I’m sorry. I know this can’t be easy.”

  “It’s fine. But I love coming here. And there’s stuff on the menu that would be Cole-approved.” Green Living was the latest farm-to-table place in La Jolla. I had a rare day off training tomorrow, so I had taken the opportunity to go out for once. I’d eat properly, no salad dressing or oil on anything, but I was having a drink or two, damn it.

  The restaurant had that notorious La Jolla it factor, which made it impossible to get into unless you knew someone. It had also made it the nightclub of choice for a lot of the rich and bratty set. People like me, as Cole would say. Add to that the world-class bar and lounge next to it, and the place was a zoo.

  But the good news was, was there was no way I was running into Cole here.

  As dinner went on, the more I relaxed. This was just what I needed. A night out with nothing to worry about the next day.

  When Jen and I headed to the rooftop bar area, we picked a spot in the corner. “See, look at you relaxing,” my bestie grinned.

  “I know, right? So tell me what happened to Pierre, the guy you met last week.”

  Jen perked up and started giving me all the deets. She’d met him at the ranch in Ramona where she boarded her horse. He was one of the polo players.

  “He’s so cute.”

  “So he’s French?”

  “Well, technically French and Spanish, but raised mostly here in the States. I mean, Echo, the guy is smoking hot. But he doesn’t seem to pay me any attention, so I don’t think that’s going to go anywhere.”