Deep End: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (5 page)

The whole swim team
applauds and whoops, including the assistant coach.

“I hope they’re letting you race in the meet,”
hollers
the assistant coach, with a look of
expectant
adoration on his wide face.

“Of course,” shouts Anchor. “What would you guys do without Anchor, anyway?
Coach
knows better than to shut me out like that.”

What a cock
y
bastard. Who t
alks to
themselves in the third
person
like that?
Only someone with a really inflated ego, which this Anchor character clearly has.

Now I catch a glance of Anchor’s
friend
Dave, who is quietly sliding into the pool, without much fan fair at all. He looks exhausted from the effort of dragging the huge stone statue, while Anchor probably never looked fresher.

Now I remember. It wasn’t Anchor who was harassing me exactly. It was his sidekick, this Dave chara
cter, this weak-eyed Sancho
Panz
a
.

Anchor was actually trying to defend me. I feel a little bit of… something. I’m not sure what it is. Is it some weird type of pride, that this character
,
who
is so adored by everyone
,
made an effort to defend me against unwanted advances?

But I catch myself. I can’t possibly be admiring such a cocky jock,
can I? Even if he did try to
defend me, he was probably just doing it so he could get into my pants himself, just some sort of macho way of
trying
to impress me.

I’m annoyed at myself. I grab my bag full of books and leave in a huff, walking down the steps from the balcony at a tilt, leaning to the side of my heavy books.

I don’
t think anyone else notices
her, but how could I not?

What is
she doing up in the balcony, watching us?

There’s no doubt in my mind it’s the same girl from the night before. I think I’ve seen her around somewhere, now that I think about it. Maybe I’ve seen her in the library sometime when I had to pretend to be studying… Or, more likely, when I needed a quick
place
to hook up with one of the
swim
fans.

There’s really nothing like the library when you need a
private
spot, when you’re caught in a pinch. Deep in the stacks, down in the lower levels of the basement, there’s hardly ever anyone. And if there is
someone
there, they’re likely just fucking their
drunk
brains out like I was that night.

I can’t remember exactly what she was doing in the library. Does she work there, or is she just o
ne of those library nerds who’s
always
hanging around with a bag full of books and studying?

But I know she’s the girl from last night, the girl that Dave was so callously hitting on.

I knew there was something special about her that night, and now that I see her again, my
suspicions are only confirmed.

She’s certainly not doing herself any favors the way she’s dressing. But I know she’s sexy…
Sexy in a way that most girls can’t pull off.

I do a
couple laps with the team, passing two guys, even though I’m not supposed to, and when I finish, she’s gone, totally disappeared.

“Coach needs to speak to you,” says
Clug
, the assistant coach.

“I just talked with him before practice.”

“He probably wants to know why the hell you brought that statue with you into the pool to practice,” he says, but he’s not angry. I can tell he thinks the whole thing is just too funny.
Clug
has always been on my side, even though sometimes he has to put on a straight face in
front of c
oach.
Clug
is really
one of the guys. He’s even come out
partying with us once or twice. He can chug more beers in a row than anyone I’ve ever seen.

“You wanted to see me
again, coach?” I say, entering c
oach’s off
ice, still just wearing my swim briefs
and towel.

“Don’t you have any sense to change before coming in here?”

“I thought it was urgent,” I say, dripping some water onto the tiled floor.

“Just don’t
sit down,
damnit
,” says Coach.

But
grumpiness
doesn’t mean anything. He’s always like this.

“So
even after I essentially pardoned you and Dave, you
thought
it’d be a good idea to take the statue into the pool, to show off your little heist?”

I can’t help but laugh
.

“This isn’t funny, Anchor. I’m
still
going to let you race, as you know.”

“Thanks, Coach. I mean
,
there’s going to be a scout from the Olympics there and everything for me. I’m basically on the team already, but they need to see me one more time or something. I think they just want to copy some of my techniques.”

“Yes, yes,” says Coach, waving his hand dismissively. “You’ve told me, and no doubt everyone else, all about the Olympics.
Listen
kid, you’re not there yet. You’ve got a lot of work to do before you make the team, let alo
ne the practice summer session.
I’ve seen swimmers come and go, and sure,
you’re
one of the best I’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t mean…”

“It’s OK, Coach. I already know I’m making the team.”

“Wow, you won’t listen to anything or anyone, will you?”

I shake my head with a smile on my face.

“Just try to wip
e that cocky
smile
off your face during the meet, for your own sake. The Olympics is ser
ious, and the USA team doesn’t
tolerate your kinds of
shenanigans
.”

That’s not what
I’ve
heard about the recent
Olympic
teams. They seem like they’re even bigger party animals than I am.

“I’ve got a job for you, Anchor. And
you’ve
got to do it if you want to stay on the t
eam.
”

“What, you’re going to make me clean the fi
lters again, and add the chlorine
in the pool every morning?” That’s exactly what coach made me do last time I got into trouble. In the end, it wasn’t
so bad. I managed to convince
Dave to wake up at 4 in the morning and do it for me. As punishments go, it didn’t work out so bad.

“There’s some kind of
student reporter, a senior, who wants to do a piece on the swim team.”

“Finally,” I say. “It’s about time they did an article on me, the best swimmer the college has
ever
had.”

“One of t
he best,” says coach, emphasizing
‘one.’ “And no, she’s
not doing a story on you, you arrogant prick. She’s doing a story on the whole swim team. You’re not the only
one
doing good work, Anchor. Anyway, I get the feeling she’s trying to paint us in a bad light. I had a weird feeling from her this morning when she came into my office, so I did a little digging, and read through most of the articles she’s written for the paper. They’re all available on the web site. I’d suggest
you read
them, but I know you
can’t be
bothered too much with reading.
It’s too taxing for your pretty little thick skulled head.”

I shake my head. No, reading some boring articles is
definitely
not how I want to spend my time.

“Anyway, this is your punishment: You’re going to spend time with her.
Show her the ropes. She doesn’t
know anything about sports, let
alone
swimming. I know from her
articles
that she doesn’t have a good
attitude
towards sports at all. She’s one of these academic
types
that
wants
to paint us all as
idiotic jocks. She hasn’t minced
her words in the past, and I’m sure she’s already
drafting up a scorching
report
on the
swim team. You’re going to trail
her, keep an
eye on her, whatever you want to
call
it. Don’t let her get far from you at all.”

“But why me, coach? I’m probably just the sort of cocky jock she hates, right?”

Coach nods his head. “That’s true, Anchor, and we all k
now you’re a real son of a bitch
with a
big
head. But I’ll even admit that
you’ve
got a certain special charisma. And you’ve got a way with the ladies. But! And I’m warning you. Do not sleep with her! Whatev
er you do, don’t
sleep with her. I know how muc
h the girls like you, and that’
s
what we’re going for here. I want her to like you, and to write up a favorable article about us. But once you
sleep
with them, everything always goes down hill. You just can’t keep to one girl. If you pull this off, we’re going to get a lot more money for the team.”

“But coach…” I don’t know how to say what it is I want to say.

“I know what you’re going to say, Anchor.
You’re
a selfish bastard by nature, right? What’s in it for you if
you’re going to graduate soon and move on to bigger things, right?”

I don’t answer, but coach can read it in my face. That’s exactly what I’m thinking.

“Here’s the deal, Anchor. You do this well, and the article comes out good, and I’ll put in a good word for you with the Olympic scout. If you fuck it all up, then no Olympics for you, I’ll make sure of that.”

My mouth is ha
nging open. I don’t know what to
say. How could he? How could he threaten me, Anchor, the best swimmer the team’s ever had?

“I’ve
certainly
told
the team before, Anchor, b
ut I’m sure as hell you weren’t
listening, since you never are, but I was in the
Olympics
myself. I
wasn’t t
o
o bad. I was a hell
of
a l
ot of better
than you are now. I’ve got some
pull with the Olympics coach. We were on the team together back in the day, if you can believe it. I know the scout personally. Yeah, I know you
thought
it was big news to me when you came and told me
about your chances at the Olympics
, but the coach always calls me before he calls you. I’ve got more pull than you,
Anchor.”

I’m lost for words. Finally, I manage to say, “Where’
s
the girl?”

“Good, good,” says coach, patting his big belly, and putting his sneakers up on his dusty desk. “Glad to see
you’re
willing
to
cooperate. I just saw her leaving the pool in a huff. Go chase her down on campus. Won’t be the first time you’ve had to chase down a girl, eh?”

Without another word, I get up and run out of coach’s office.

I don’t
see the girl anywhere.

Part of me is furious at coach for pulling this shit with me.

Another part of me is… maybe curious is the
right
word? I’ve got a funny feeling in my
solar
plexus that I
haven’t
felt before. There’
something
special about this girl.
She
’s not like the countless
others I’ve slept with for a night and discarded
.

I see her. She’s standing out from the rest of the student crowd on the pathway with her huge library bag.

I sprint
up to her.

“Here, let me help you with that,” I say, trying
to
take the bag from her.

“Get lost, creep,” she says, without looking at me. She
holds
the bag tighter.

I kee
p pulling, and, after a moment’
s tussle, I pull the bag away from her. But, shit, it’s heavy. How does she carry this around campus all day and night? She certainly doesn’t look big, but she’s got some strength to her.

I fall back, tumbling onto the grass, my back hitting the ground hard. The bag of books falls from me, all the huge heavy textbooks go tumbling
chaotically
to the ground.