He shifted, staring at me a moment. A cough. He tugged his collar around. “You’re doing a good job, and I want you to know I’ve really appreciated all the extra help you’ve been doing around here. The board too.”

He was being kind.

He was smiling at me, and it wasn’t creeping me out.

But it was setting different alarms off in me, because this was not Keith. He wasn’t kind. Ever.

“But?” I was readying myself.

He stroked his jaw, an uneasy guffaw leaving him. “Uh, but. Yes. But… I got a call from one of the board members last night, and I guess you weren’t approved to be on staff during this time. We only have enough funds to cover your first two weeks here.”

My first two weeks… That would’ve ended three days ago.

“Are you kidding? I’m not getting paid for this week?”

“Well, it’s only been a couple days that you won’t have been paid, and the team wasn’t here, so technically, you shouldn’t have been doing any work anyway. But yes.” He moved closer to me, rolling his shoulders back, sucking his gut in. He began to tap on the counter, his nervous habit. “So what I’m saying is that—”

I was out of a job.

“I’ll be manning the gyms for the next two days. I mean, it’s really only today. They’ll be leaving in the morning.” He reached into his pocket and slid a check over to me. “Here you go. And we really do appreciate all the help you gave the kitchen too.”

Really? I had no words. None at all, and because of that, I just stepped back, let the door slam shut, and I walked out. Unfuckingbelievable.

“You okay?”

Reese was coming out from the cafeteria.

I didn’t look up. “No.”

“Forster!” one of his teammates yelled.

I looked now. He stood in the hallway, concern etched over his face.

“Reese.” His coach stepped up, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We gotta go. We have a meeting with the other coaches.”

But he wasn’t looking at Reese. He was watching me. There was a gravity in his gaze, but not the caution I saw last night.

I got it then.

This wasn’t Keith. This wasn’t the board. This was Reese’s coach. He knew. Somehow he knew about us, and he was putting a stop to us in his way. He was pushing me out.

There was a warning in his gaze, his mouth thinning as if knowing I connected the pieces.

“Yeah. Okay.” Reese was reluctant to go. He glanced back to me. “Charlie? You want to talk later?”