He did have a car again, and it was fine for what he needed. But he did miss his other car; it was his pride and joy, and it had been completely destroyed.
Thankfully, it was under insurance. Jason wished it hadn’t come to that. And given how people thought about him, he didn’t think anyone would find who vandalized his car. The police might try, but Jason wasn’t confident about it.
At least it was just his car for now. Jason didn’t want to think what could happen if anything happened to his home, or to his mother. Sarah didn’t live in Wenstown, but she could end up becoming a target. She wasn’t scared of anyone coming after her, but Jason was.
Whoever was targeting him might take it a step further. Jason hoped that wasn’t the case, but he didn’t think disgruntled fans would vandalize his car in the first place. That was a step over the line for him. Why couldn’t they stick to just the angry letters and emails?
“Well, I’m sure you’ve got more to do,” Carl said as he gave Jason a nod. “I’ve got to wrap up training. You need anything, it’ll have to wait.” He walked away before Jason could respond.
Sighing, Jason shook his head and turned away from Carl. His gaze landed on Elena, who was now jogging closer to him with Liam at her side. She was red-faced and Jason could see the sweat on her face, but her eyes were bright and sparkling, and she was laughing at something Liam had said. They both slowed to a stop, and Jason watched as the two of them spoke for a moment more, Elena saying something that was making Liam nod in agreement. He didn’t seem too resistant to whatever she was saying.
Jason waited until Liam was walking away, barely showing a limp in his stride. Then he approached Elena, who was kneeling by her bag and checking something inside. She looked up at his approach, and Jason felt his chest tightening again, along with his trousers. What was it about the way she looked at him that made him react in such a way? Jason cleared his throat.
“Liam’s looking good right now. By the sound of things, he wasn’t able to do that before you got here.”
“He would have gotten there on his own,” Elena replied, picking up her water bottle and standing up. “He just needed someone to work with him specifically to get things going. Men need one person to keep an eye on them, or they won’t get anywhere.”
“That’s a bit cheeky, isn’t it?”
“It’s true. From my experience, at least.” Elena took a hefty swig of her water, wiping her mouth before giving Jason a grin. “Liam grumbled in the beginning, but he’s knuckled down. He just had to have someone with him and make the recovery intensive if he wants to be back on the field.”
“Would he have gotten to this point on his own?”
“Yes, but it would have taken longer, and you lot want him on the pitch as soon as possible.” Elena frowned and shook her head. “Even though things are improving, I wouldn’t have him play for a while. He’s still not ready yet, even if he tells me that he is.”
“So, we won’t have him on the team sheet for the first game.” Jason’s mood deflated a little more. “We’re going to struggle without him there. While Adam is getting there, we won’t be at full strength.”
“You do realize that there are more people on a team than the quarterback, right? He’s not the one and only amazing player you’ve got, you know.”
“I know…”
“So have some faith in Adam, and the other players. They’re all good at the game on their own, from what I’ve seen. They just need to learn to work together instead of on their own.”
Jason blinked. “You think so?”
“Well, it’s a team game, isn’t it? How can you play a team game when everyone is doing their own thing.” Elena shrugged. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose,” Jason murmured.
He had paid attention to the stats of each player, but he hadn’t realized that it wasn’t great if they didn’t put it together. Things seemed to be going well in training, and yet Jason had completely missed that.
He wondered what Carl would say in response to Elena’s comments. The head coach probably thought things were fine, and they just had to work harder. All fair enough, but if they weren’t cohesive…
Jason didn’t want to think about football anymore. It was too much for him after the day he’d been having. He just wanted to get away from it all, and not have to think about football, the hate mail, or the vandalism.
Anything but that.
Elena put her bottle into her bag and zipped it up. She was bending towards him as she did so, but Jason could see the curve of her hip pretty clearly in her yoga pants. She looked pretty firm, which made Jason wanted to find out for himself.
Wait, what was he doing? He wasn’t meant to be ogling a member of staff. He needed to stop this before it got out of hand.
Jason shook himself, trying to force the images of Elena away. They were getting more erotic the longer they remained in his mind.
He’d known her all of two weeks, and Elena Duncan could turn him inside out just by looking at him.
“Are you okay?”
“What?”