Chapter Text
Jackie hadn’t meant to find out that her coach was an omega.
She’d been at the mall with Callie.
Jackie was a senior, and Callie was the newest addition to the junior varsity team, a transfer who had joined around the same time as the new coach, and she was fun, so Jackie had decided, as team captain, to welcome her properly to Rutgers. Tai, her unofficial co captain, had been planning to come along, but she got drafted into a last minute study session with her fellow prelaws, so Jackie and Callie had wandered the mall for a couple hours until Callie felt properly welcomed to the team.
Then Callie had sighed and said she forgot to pick up her suppressants, and they’d gone to the CVS together and Callie had grabbed her prescription, and then asked for another one under S Sadecki.
‘It’s my mom’s,’ Callie had told Jackie, cramming two packs of omega suppressants into a bag, ‘we get them at the same time so one of us remembers.’
‘No worries,’ Jackie had smiled, and then checked her phone, ‘you just reminded me. Mine are almost out. I’ll put in for them now.’
‘I’m always so jealous of you guys,’ Callie says glibly, ‘is it true you don’t have any side effects?’
‘Yeah,’ Jackie shrugs, ‘sorry.’
Callie brushes her off, ‘it’s fine. Better than not taking them.’
‘I guess.’
‘Wanna get some food? My mom will be here soon to pick me up,’ Callie suggests.
‘So, you and your mom are close?’ Jackie asks a few minutes later, as she places a carton of fries between them and they grab a chicken caesar wrap each.
Callie shrugs, ‘only geographically.’
Jackie chuckles, ‘been there.’
‘We do stuff together because it makes sense,’ Callie continues, ‘but she coached my soccer teams since I was old enough to wear cleats, and having a coach instead of a mom doesn’t make for the best relationship.’
Jackie reaches for her soda and sips it, ‘so she’s hard on you?’
‘As much as you’d expect,’ Callie bites into her wrap, and speaks around a mouthful of food, ‘my parents literally moved here so I could go to Rutgers, and she works at the school now, so… you know.’
‘Only geographically,’ Jackie echoes. Callie nods. Jackie picks up her own wrap and takes a thoughtful bite, and waits until she’s swallowed to say, ‘my mom was the total opposite. Didn’t want me anywhere near a soccer pitch, unless I was cheering on a boyfriend.’
Callie snorts, ‘has she met you? You hate boys.’
‘Yeah, it was all pretty reactionary. Soccer then alpha then dyke. She didn’t like any of it.’
‘Yeah, definitely the opposite to mine. She was so happy I actually liked soccer. When I told her I was gay she literally said thank god. Only time I disappointed her was when I presented as an omega,’ Callie tells Jackie.
Jackie frowns, ‘god, that is such a backwards mentality. I cannot stand alphas who are omegaphobic. Being an omega is brilliant and-’
‘Jackie, she’s an omega, too. She wasn’t a dick about it, she just… she didn’t want me to deal with the shit she’s had to deal with. Which is why she’s like 200 years old and still on suppressants.’
‘Well, that sucks, too. Neither of you should have to deal with it.’
Callie chuckles, ‘thanks, captain, for saying omegas being mistreated is bad. I, an omega, hadn’t thought about it until you, an alpha, told me.’
Jackie flicks a fry at her, ‘shut up.’
It isn’t until Jackie walks Callie to the parking lot that the final piece locks into place.
Because Callie’s mom, who opens the door of her minivan and ushers Callie in, is Coach Shipman.
‘So she’s an omega?’ Lottie has a strange look on her face when she says it, staring at their coach across the field. The four of them are sitting on the bleachers, staring out at where Coach Shipman is drilling the JVs, Lottie on the end, Nat beside her, Jackie and Tai sprawled on the row behind them.
Nat catches Lottie's tone immediately, hitting Lottie’s leg through her shin guards, ‘and married.’
‘And the mother of our teammate,’ Tai adds, matching Nat’s warning.
‘And hot,’ Lottie says.
None of them disagree.
‘I don’t know if I was meant to know that,’ Jackie tells them, and when all three of her teammates frown at her, she elaborates, ‘Callie just said her mom, and Mrs Sadecki. I don’t know if I was meant to link it up with Coach Shipman. Maybe they’re keeping it quiet for a reason.’
‘So no one thinks Callie’s a nepo baby?’ Nat suggests, then pats Lottie on the knee and tilts her head back so it taps against Jackie's, ‘not that there’s anything wrong with that.’
‘I mean maybe. They might be worried that we think there’s special treatment happening,’ Tai tilts her head thoughtfully at where Callie and the other JVs are running drills amid the shrill screech of Coach Shipman’s whistle.
Nat frowns at where Callie is red faced and panting, bent double like she’s trying not to puke, as Coach’s whistle screams at her. ‘If that’s special treatment, she can have it.’
‘She said her mom could be hard on her,’ Jackie says thoughtfully.
‘Oh, please,’ Tai snorts, ‘we have to run the exact same drills and I bet we looked just as shitty doing it in JV.’
‘I think we’re all overthinking it because our parents suck ass,’ Nat scoffs.
‘Excuse you,’ Tai says, ‘your parents suck ass. Mine are fine.’
‘Didn’t your mom tell you that it was fine to be gay so long as you married a man?’ Nat replies.
‘Because the bar for parents is so high around here,’ Tai returns.
‘Ladies,’ Jackie interrupts, ‘all our parents suck. At least Coach is supportive of Cal.’
‘And if we do think there’s favouritism going on, we have our fearless team captain to step in and talk to coach.’ Nat adds, brushing her hair against Jackie's knee again.
Jackie’s eyes flick around to the other three women, all staring at her, and her shoulders slump, ‘you all fucking suck.’
‘More importantly,’ Lottie says, ‘our hot coach is an omega.’
‘A married omega,’ Tai replies.
‘Which makes it hotter,’ Lottie says.
‘She’s not marked,’ Nat comments.
‘She’s got a pup,’ Tai points out.
‘So a beta knocked her up,’ Lottie mutters.
‘And didn’t mark her,’ Jackie finishes.
‘Bet she’s never been mated,’ Nat murmurs.
‘How did she get through her heats without a knot?’ Tai frowns.
‘Callie said she’s on suppressants,’ Jackie adds.
‘God, she’s never had a proper heat,’ Tai says.
‘A proper mating,’ Nat adds.
‘A proper knot.’ Lottie finishes.
‘So we’re just a bunch of alphas sitting around talking about an omega like it’s a guys locker room,’ Jackie scoffs, ‘come on, seriously, we’re not a bunch of knotheads.’
Tai winces, ‘fuck, we’re gross.’
‘We’re talking like my dad,’ Nat frowns.
Lottie sounds far less chastised than the others, but she agrees, ‘yeah, that was a bit much.’
‘So,’ Jackie says, ‘recap. We’re gonna keep an eye on Callie, watch out for coach, and not be horny little freaks over her status.’
‘You’re right, you’re right,’ Nat sighs, ‘sorry, it was just… a lot of information. And I think my rut is coming.’
‘All of our ruts are coming, dumbass,’ Tai nudges Nat's ass with her foot, ‘we’ve been in sync since high school.’
‘How are we pairing it this time?’ Jackie asks.
‘Same as last time?’
‘Dude, no,’ Tai says immediately.
‘You don’t wanna spend your rut with me again, Tai?’ Nat pouts and bats her lashes, fighting off a smirk.
‘You fucking bit me on the dick,’ Tai aims a soft kick at Nat's ass, a reminder.
‘You wouldn’t shut up about being in control,’ Nat retorts.
‘Okay, I’ll take Nat,’ Jackie offers.
Nat rolls her eyes, ‘you want my knot so bad it makes you look stupid.’
‘No, I’m gonna spank the fuck out of you for biting Tai,’ Jackie replies.
‘Already did,’ Tai says.
Jackie and Tai meet in a high five over Nat’s head as she drops her face into her hands.
‘Your ass is mine, then, Turner.’
‘Not if yours is mine first, Matthews.’
‘I’m gonna put you through the mattress.’
‘I’m gonna break your headboard.’
‘I’m gonna reshape your asshole around my knot.’
‘Not if I reshape yours first.’
‘Jesus,’ Jackie scoffs, ‘I just told you to stop acting like knotheads.’
‘I’m just saying we have reason to be knotheads,’ Lottie adds. ‘Particularly when a gorgeous unmated omega is bossing us around.’
Jackie snorts, ‘reason, not excuse, and you want her to boss us around so bad.’
‘God, yeah,’ Lottie sighs, offering a small pout as she glances at her friends, ‘just let me have a crush on the hot new omega coach.’
‘Who has a husband and kid,’ Tai reminds her.
‘Let me have my fantasy,’ Lottie pleads, and looks over at Coach Shipman again, seeing her yell at the JVs and then glance their way, raising her whistle to her lips, ‘I bet I could put a whole litter in her.’
Lottie’s statement is punctuated by the trill of the whistle, and the rest of the main team file out of the locker room as Jackie, Lottie, Tai and Nat trickle down from the bleachers. Callie and the other JVs jog past them, red faced and drenched with sweat, and Jackie wrinkles her nose at their combined smell before asking, ‘you good, guys?’
Callie nods, head heavy and limbs weak, and gasps, ‘she’s in a good mood.’
Lottie offers to help collect the equipment after practice, which was technically Jackie’s job that she passed off to Misty, but Lottie felt a little bad for talking about her coach like a piece of meat.
And maybe she wanted to get closer to Coach Shipman.
She decides to play it cool, smooth and suave and effortlessly charming, but when she’s kneeling on the ground, picking up cones, Coach Shipman’s shadow falls over her, blocking the sun, and when Lottie looks up, she’s reminded of her high school girlfriend, Laura Lee, and her obsession with saints and apostles and martyrs, because the sun is filling the space behind Coach Shipman’s head, illuminating her like a halo, bringing out the red undertones of her hair so she looks like she’s on fire, casting Lottie into her. Lottie can catch a whiff of something beneath the aggressively neutral smell Coach usually carries, which she thinks is down to the sun itself and the heat of late May and the sweat that’s likely gathering on her coach, which makes her want to bury her nose in the woman before her and inhale. It’s sweet and rich, like burnt sugar, and there’s something floral in there, too, but she can’t quite grasp it.
‘Thanks, Matthews, I’ve got it from here,’ Coach Shipman says.
Lottie licks her lips and offers up the cones without argument, calculating the best way to tell the omega in front of her that her mate, her alpha, is right here, and Lottie is going to mate her and claim her and knot her and breed her and hold her at night and take care of her for the rest of her life. What she says is, ‘do you eat?’
Coach Shipman blinks at her, and asks, ‘what was that, Matthews?’
Lottie blinks back, rapid and fumbling, and then says, ‘just… hi. How are you… sleeping?’
Coach Shipman frowns, and reaches out and takes Lottie’s arm, squeezing her upper arm gently. Her hand feels cool against Lottie’s sweaty skin, and Lottie leans into the touch. Coach Shipman’s other hand settles on Lottie’s reddened forehead, and Lottie closes her eyes and sighs softly. Coach Shipman’s words are slow and kind, ‘Matthews, how much water have you had today? Did you eat breakfast? Get enough sleep?’
‘I’m fine,’ Lottie says, inhaling to see if she can catch what that flower is from the press of Coach’s palms.
‘With me,’ Coach says, and then Lottie’s being bustled towards the empty locker room, and sat on a bench, and Coach Shipman is placing a cool water bottle into her hands.
Lottie isn’t thirsty, or hungry, or tired. She’s making a move on an omega who might be married but she’s unmated and gorgeous which Lottie considers the same as her being available, and her tongue feels huge in her mouth, pressing against all of her teeth, as she tries to tell the older brunette crouching in front of her that she’s going to fill her with pups and be the best sire and alpha the world has ever seen, if only she can find the words to say it. What she says is, ‘I’m single.’
‘Charlotte,’ Coach Shipman’s brown eyes look worried, and she pushes Lottie’s damp hair back from her forehead, ‘drink that for me, and then tell me what day it is.’
Lottie doesn’t think it’s meant to go like this. Alphas don’t submit to omegas. But Coach is concerned and Lottie is flush with the overwhelming need to be good for her, so she chugs from the bottle until the plastic cracks from emptiness, and then reaches behind her for her actual water bottle and chugs that, too, and then hands them to Coach and opens her mouth to show she’s finished both, before baring her best smile, ‘I’m fine,’ Lottie says, then adds, ‘I’m Lottie,’ because Coach called her Charlotte and she usually hates that, but Coach doesn’t seem to realise that because her frown deepens, ‘I just wanted to know if you…’ Lottie pauses as she decides how best to phrase her next sentence, because Coach looks fucking incredible when she frowns, her forehead pinched together and her lips bordering a pout, making them look full and soft, far different from the typical scowl she wears around the team.
‘Lottie, sweetie, what day is it?’ Coach asks, and Lottie thinks she might die, because Coach’s voice is gliding over her name, speaking it into the air between them, so gentle it hurts, and her hand is on Lottie’s shoulder, and her eyes have flecks of gold in them even under the shitty locker room fluorescence.
Lottie wants to submit.
Lottie, who had worked so hard, put so much effort into being a big strong tough alpha, wants to drop to her knees and bare her neck and beg for the omega in front of her to bite her until she bleeds. She wants to give herself completely to the older woman. She wants to be owned, and claimed, and kept.
She’d die for it.
She’d kill for it.
She’d live for it.
And this woman, this omega, whose first name she doesn’t even know, looks so worried about her that it jolts Lottie’s alpha into action, and Lottie says, ‘sorry, it’s Tuesday. I’m fine, Coach, honestly, just… the heat, you know?’
Coach frowns again, and sniffs the air, and says, ‘sweetie, are you going into heat?’
‘No!’ Lottie’s response is a little too quick and a little too loud, and Coach looks like she doesn’t believe her, so Lottie says, ‘no, no, I’m… I’m all alpha. I’m a good alpha. I’m protective, and caring, and tall, and rich, and pretty. I’m a great alpha. I’d be a good sire. Lots of pups.’
Coach isn’t frowning any more, her expression harder, like it normally is, but her tone is at least a little amused, so she says, ‘okay, if you’ve not got heatstroke, then get your shit together and get out of my fucking locker room.’
Lottie jumps to her feet, and is relieved that she doesn’t stumble, ‘yes, coach!’
‘Now, Matthews,’ Coach orders, turning away, and that’s when Lottie picks up the other scent, the one hiding under the sweet richness.
Lavender.
Lottie feels something shift, and awkwardly pulls her shirt down to cover the growing tent in her shorts.
Nat has to double take when a new patron enters the bar.
Because Coach Shipman is hot out of uniform.
She’s hot in uniform, too, but now she’s wearing a fucking dress instead of the usual baggy black shorts and polo and cap, and it’s red and it’s crushed velvet and she’s got a denim jacket over the top and her hair has a soft curl and her makeup is light and her perfume is sweet. She’s with another woman, taller and black haired and muttering something to her when she catches sight of Nat, even as the same sight makes Coach Shipman visibly pale. The strange woman makes her way to the bar, pulling a suddenly reluctant Coach behind her.
‘Hello,’ the older woman’s tone drips with honey, and Nat feels herself starting to stick to her, ‘and who might you be, cutie?’
‘Natalie,’ she says, looking past the woman to her Coach, who looks like she wants to die.
‘I’m Mari,’ the woman beams, offering a hand, and Nat finds herself smiling back, taking Mari’s hand softly, letting Mari guide her into a squeeze of fingers more than a handshake. ‘You’ve got a great smile, Natalie.’
‘Jesus, Mar,’ Coach mutters behind the woman.
Mari laughs, high and airy, ‘oh, come on, Shauna, I’m behaving, and Natty’s fine with it.’
Coach Shipman’s name is Shauna. Shauna. It suits her. Nat really thinks she looks like a Shauna, though she doesn't know what a Shauna should look like. She decides to test it out, and says, ‘I’m fine, Shauna.’
Coach Shipman - Shauna - approaches the bar now, her glare vicious and warning, and she says, ‘good to know, Scattorcio.’
No first names, then. ‘Anytime, Coach.’
Mari grins wider, ‘coach? So are you on the team?’
‘Right winger, ma’am,’ Nat replies.
‘Call me Mari, even though Shauna doesn’t like it,’ Mari replies, ignoring Shauna’s retaliatory glare. ‘Don’t worry, Nat, it’s not you, she’s been a bitch since high school.’
‘You’re still friends with me,’ Shauna grumbles, taking the seat next to Mari, defeated. ‘And you’re a bigger bitch than I am.’
‘Is she just as cruel to you as she is to me?’ Mari asks with fake offence.
Nat answers slowly, ‘I think she’s a great coach.’
‘That’s a yes,’ Mari snorts.
‘Can I get you anything?’ Nat asks, looking pleadingly at Shauna, because even though Mari seems fun, she also appears to be actively working to get Nat and Shauna in trouble.
‘Wine,’ Shauna says, ‘whatever’s open, so long as it’s red.’
‘I think we can do better than that, Sadecki,’ Mari replies, leaning conspiratorially across the counter and asking, ‘what passes for expensive in a college bar?’
Nat glances around, noting the wonky wooden tables, the dim lighting, the five other patrons total, and the shitty bottles of cheap booze on the shelf behind her, before replying, ‘literally nothing. It’s all shitty, it’s about how fast you wanna get drunk and how you wanna get there.’
Shauna snorts, and Nat preens, because she made her coach laugh, and it’s a nice noise. Nice enough that she wants to hear it more. ‘So we’re back to whatever’s open,’ Shauna says. ‘Two of those, please, Natalie. Big ones.’
‘Those can be just for her,’ Mari says, ‘I’ll take a vodka cran, light on the cran.’
Nat doubles the vodka and pours Shauna double the wine, sliding them over with a grin and, ‘on the house,’ even though she’ll have to take it out of her tips later.
Shauna squints at her, then reaches into her jacket pocket, and shoves a few large bills into the tip jar.
Mari doesn’t notice, instead fluttering her lashes at Nat and smirking, nodding to Shauna, ‘we trying for extra credit?’
‘Shut the fuck up, Mari,’ Shauna replies, grimacing apologetically at Nat.
‘Just saying I would if she was my teacher,’ Mari offers, and Nat really does not like where this conversation is going, particularly when she wants to leap over the bar and take as many pictures as she can get away with of Shauna in that dress, because she needs the sweep of Shauna’s toned legs and the strain of her breasts against her neckline committed to as many records as possible.
‘God, you never got over that crush on me,’ Shauna snorts, sipping her wine with only a slight grimace. ‘Don’t torment my students over it.’
‘Please, professor, I’ll do anything for an A,’ Mari snickers, as Nat is rescued by another customer arriving.
When she returns to the women, both of their glasses are empty, and Mari is clearly already feeling it, because she pouts and asks, ‘pretty please,’ for a refill.
Shauna leans over the bar, giving Nat a terrific view of her tits, and whispers, wine on her breath and staining her lips, ‘give her juice, she won’t notice,’ and winking at Nat as she leans back on her stool, making Nat clutch the box of cranberry juice until it dents beneath her fingers.
Nat obliges, sliding a glass that’s mostly cranberry juice and a little water over to Mari, who sips it and hums, ‘this is the best vodka cran I’ve ever had in my entire life.’
Shauna pretends to scratch her nose to hide the chuckle she lets out, and winks at Nat again. Nat shuts her eyes and tries to commit every inch of the image to memory.
Mari is still talking, and Nat tunes back in to catch, ‘Shauna, isn’t she so cute?’ and blushes to the tips of her ears.
‘Not answering that,’ Shauna says gruffly, which, Nat notes, isn’t a no.
‘Back in high school,’ Mari continues, ignoring Shauna, ‘you would have been her exact type. And we can't be that much older than you.’
Nat is positive this conversation is happening entirely in her head. She’s hit her head on something, and rendered herself unconscious, and she’s dreaming or hallucinating or doing whatever people in comas do when they imagine themselves with amazing lives and want to die when they wake up. She’s going to kick Travis’ ass for leaving ice on the floor again where she was able to slip on it and bust her head open and end up in a coma as soon as she wakes up.
‘She goes batshit fucking crazy for like… hot femmes. Bonus if you’re a little mean to her. Maybe because she’s so mean so it’s like…’
Mari is stopped, mercifully, by Shauna’s hand over her mouth. ‘God, Natalie, I am so sorry about her, she’s drunk and stupid, you can just ignore her.’
Shauna yanks her hand back suddenly, and glares at Mari, who has clearly either licked or bitten Shauna, and Nat’s money is on biting because Shauna’s palm is visibly slick and only a little red, which suggests that the licking didn’t affect her. ‘I am not stupid when I’m drunk!’ Mari snaps.
‘No, you’re stupid all the time,’ Shauna returns, ‘finish your drink.’ Mari returns to sipping at her watered down juice, and Shauna turns back to Nat, ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you worked here, and I obviously didn’t know she’d be a total nightmare,’ Shauna pauses and adds, ‘more than usual. If you could do me a favour and-’
‘Already forgotten,’ Nat says.
Shauna sighs in relief, and offers Nat a small smile, ‘thanks, Scattorcio.’
‘But,’ Nat begins, and Shauna’s eyes narrow.
‘What?’
‘I want to call you by your first name one time.’
Shauna tilts her head, and glares, and pushes back a small smile, and sighs, ‘once, but only because Mari’s an annoying drunk.’
Nat looks at Shauna, blue eyes as pathetic and devoted as she can make them, and she says the words slowly, savouring them on her tongue, ‘thank you, Shauna.’
Shauna blinks at her, then says, ‘never again.’
‘Gotcha.’
‘Shauna,’ Jackie says, letting the syllables drip from her lips.
‘Shauna,’ Tai says it as more of a statement, then bites her lip, ‘it feels like we’re not meant to know that.’
‘We aren’t,’ Lottie replies, and then whispers, reverent, ‘Shauna.’
‘We all need to be careful with it,’ Nat says, ‘just like the pup and the status. We can’t just randomly call her Shauna.’
‘It’s a really nice name, though,’ Jackie says.
‘Suits her,’ Tai agrees.
‘I wanna make her scream it,’ Lottie adds.
Nat frowns, ‘you want to make her scream her own first name?’
Taissa Turner was not going to give in as easily as her friends.
Lottie was a pathetic little knothead who talked a big game and completely fucked it when it came to actually talking to women.
Jackie couldn’t even look their coach in the eye since finding out she was an omega, and since finding out her first name, she couldn’t even speak about her.
Nat could at least talk to her, but she and Tai were determined to stand firm and not do anything dumb to try and impress a married omega.
All of her friends were all bark and no bite.
Taissa was determined to not even bark.
Which is why her own encounter with Shauna Shipman felt particularly pathetic.
Jackie is talking through the strategy with the main team, compromised of Juniors and Seniors. She and Tai had been up late planning it, and they were determined to get it right. They would not lose to a group of goddamn children.
Said children were on the other side of the pitch, the Freshmen and Sophomores working on their own strategies while Coach Shipman walked towards the centre, a blonde braided Sophomore that reeked of alpha following her, chattering animatedly. She was holding a faded pink baseball cap in her hand that Tai was debating stamping into the dirt beneath their cleats.
Shauna nodded to Tai and gestured her over. Tai wasted no time in jogging towards the centre of the pitch.
Tai hadn't realised how short her coach was.
She was probably a completely average height, and Tai just happened to be a little taller than average, but it was enough that Tai could see the top of her head, where the sun beat down on Shauna's own black baseball cap. Tai thought that she could put her arm around Shauna, and have Shauna fit perfectly into the space between her arm and her torso, melding to it like she was made to be there.
The chattering blonde was still going, talking about nothing much of anything, fiddling with the hat in her hands anxiously, looking up at Shauna with wide hopeful sparkling blue eyes, and Tai sees the body language for what it is.
The Sophomore is fucking flirting with the coach.
Shauna either doesn't notice or doesn't want to notice, because she's pointedly refusing to flirt back, or engage much at all.
'You're the backup captains, so heads or tails?' Shauna asks, and looks at Tai expectantly.
'I want head,' Tai blurts, then blushes, 'heads.'
Shauna raises an eyebrow and flips the coin. It lands in the dirt between them all.
'Yay!' Melissa cheers on seeing the shiny tails gleaming up. She beams at Shauna, 'thanks, Coach!' Then she bends to pick up the coin, offering it back to Shauna, and when she hands it over, her fingers brush Shauna's palm, and Tai does something none of them expect.
Tai growls.
Low and harsh and rumbling through her stomach and chest and throat. It makes Melissa flinch, which makes Tai preen. Her teeth are bared and she feels so impossibly powerful, holding back this other alpha against an omega.
But it makes Shauna stagger, and gasp, and then spit, 'Turner, off the field. Now.'
Tai's growl dies, and she looks to Shauna, confused, 'coach, I'm-'
'Off!'
Tai scrambles back towards the locker room, her cleats thudding beneath her, vomit rising in her throat.
Shauna finds Taissa on her knees beside the toilet, retching into the bowl.
'What the fuck was that, Turner? You know goddamn well that's enough for a suspension. You do not use your status as a weapon.'
'Sorry,' Tai slurs, retching again, 'I've never… god I don't… I'm not… I'm not one of those alphas.'
'No, Turner,' Shauna says, and then Tai feels a hesitant hand between her shoulderblades, rubbing small circles, 'you're not one of those alphas. So what the hell was that?'
'I… I don't know.'
'Is it your rut?'
Tai shakes her head, 'it's… it's coming up, but it's not here, and that's not an excuse.'
'No, it isn't, but it might explain it,' Shauna says, and her voice is as soothing as her touch.
Tai shakes her head again.
'So what was it, then?' Shauna asks.
Tai tenses, and then mutters something.
'What was that, Turner?'
'Nothing.'
'If it's nothing then it's a suspension. If it's something, I can let it go.'
Tai feels a cold sweat on her forehead, and she turns around to look up at Shauna, pathetic and pleading, 'please, coach. I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Look at me. I'm not some fucking knothead who pushes people around. I feel so fucking shitty for what I did.'
'I believe you,' Shauna says, offering Tai a few squares of toilet paper to wipe her face. Her fingers brush Shauna's and it makes Tai shudder. Shauna catches it. 'So what happened?'
Tai drops her head against the stall wall, panting, and mutters, 'didn't like her touching you.'
Shauna's brows shoot up and her brown eyes widen, and she lets out a hollow laugh, 'Jesus, Turner.'
'Sorry,' Taissa mumbles, pressing her forehead into the wall until she can't see Shauna any more.
'As your coach, I'm technically not allowed to swear at you, but you are a fucking knothead.'
'I know.'
Tai feels miserable. The heat of her forehead is muffled by the cool of the wall, but her cheeks are still bright red beneath Shauna's gaze. She hears footsteps walking away, and assumes that coach has left her to her humiliation, and then she hears them return, and something cold is pressed against Tai's thigh, and she realises it's a water bottle.
'Drink,' coach orders, and Tai does, letting the cool water soothe her throat and her pride.
'Sorry, coach,' Tai says when the bottle is halfway empty.
Shauna is staring at her strangely, and she says, eerily calm, 'Turner, just so we're clear, if you ever pull that shit on me again, you won't just be suspended, you'll be completely kicked off the team.'
Tai blinks up at her, the cold sweat returning, 'yes, coach.'
'I can handle an alpha with a crush. I don't need one getting territorial. Now get up, and get back on the field, and don't ever pull that shit again. Got it, Turner?'
'Yes, coach.'
'Good girl,' Shauna says, patting her shoulder, and stepping back towards the field.
Tai pulls her knees up to her chin, hiding the growing bulge in her shorts, and says, 'I'll be right out.'
'So you've all had a moment with Coach except me?' Jackie asks, a pout on her face as she sits across the other three alphas on their shared couch, her head in Nat's lap, her feet in Lottie's, her torso slung over Tai as she crosses her arms pathetically.
'I was puking from alpha guilt and had a hard on, it's not exactly a rom-com,' Tai returns.
'She thought I had heat stroke, and I also had a hard on,' Lottie adds.
'I didn't get a hard on,' Nat says, 'but that was mostly thanks to all the ice near me.'
'I think we could have a real moment,' Jackie says, 'I just need to make it happen.'
'Can you make a moment happen?' Tai asks.
'I'm gonna have to find out.'