“Great job tonight, guys!” Coach Tanner clapped as my teammate, Landon, and I clung to the side of the pool, still trying to catch our breath. “That was a tough set, and I loved seeing the effort you put into it. For that, I’m ending practice early tonight.” 

I shot a glance at the clock across the pool deck. It was almost a quarter after eight. “Letting us out a whole fifteen minutes early, eh Coach? How generous,” I grumbled. 

“Plenty of time for another set if you’re not careful.” He tried to sound serious, but he was struggling to hold back a smile. 

“I’m good.” I shook my head and pulled myself out of the water. 

He started laughing. “That’s what I thought.” He turned his back to us and started erasing the workout he had written on his marker board.

Coach Tanner was one of the best coaches American Swimming had to offer, and I was damn lucky to have him in my life. He whipped me into the best shape I’ve ever been in, and I owed a lot of the success in my career to him. As a professional athlete, I truly believed I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I had if it weren’t for my teammates and my coach. Swimming may be an individual sport, but it takes a village to make it very far.

Not only was Coach Tanner an excellent coach, but he had become like family to me. I was 20 when I met him, and had just started living on my own. He took me under his wing right away, and helped keep me out of trouble. I had turned into a bit of hellion towards the end of high school, so it was good I had someone like him around to keep my head on straight.

“Brody, is it okay if I stay at your place tonight?” Landon asked after he had gotten out of the pool. “My dad is having people over, and you know how he gets. I don’t want to be anywhere near there.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine—”

The side door of the pool swung open and stole my attention as I watched two figures walk into the building.

“Tanner, I was afraid I was going to miss you,” a tall, dark haired man yelled across the room. He was followed by a petite, blonde woman whose heels clicked along the pool deck as she walked. 

“Roman, it’s great to see you.” Coach Tanner shook the man’s hand when he reached him. “Camila, it’s lovely to see you as well.” He gave her a slight head nod.

Roman Howard was the CEO and founder of Howard Enterprises, a cybersecurity powerhouse that provided services for nearly 75% of the healthcare industry in the United States. He was also one of American Swimming’s highest valued sponsors, and he insisted on making frequent visits to various teams to ensure his money was being put to good use. His assistant, Camila Hale, would usually accompany him, as she did tonight.

“You wouldn’t believe the day we’ve had at the office,” Roman chuckled. “And then, to top it off, Camila here scheduled a late suit fitting, which took much longer than I anticipated.” He took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wiped his brow.

“I was just trying to help you, dear.” Camila wrapped her arms around him and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

“I know, I know. I do appreciate it.” He kissed her back.

Making a face, I made my way past them to grab my towel out of my duffel bag.

I didn’t particularly enjoy Roman’s visits, and that was only one example why. Roman, who was pushing 50, was dating his 29-year-old assistant, and they flaunted it for everyone to see. They’ve been together about six months now, and it still clearly made Coach uncomfortable.

Coach Tanner cleared his throat. “I can see where that would be stressful for you, Roman.”

A chuckle escaped my lips, but Coach shot me a look, and I tried coughing to cover it up.     

“You alright, Brody?” Roman turned to me.

“Yes, sorry.” I nodded. “Just a tickle.” I had to turn away as another chuckle threatened to escape.

“Anyway,” Roman continued. “I just had to make sure I got over here today to talk swimming logistics.”

Shaking my head, I wrapped my towel around my neck, and started putting my kickboard, paddles, and fins back into my bag.

I couldn’t deny that I was thankful for Roman’s sponsorship. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to compete as much as I did. But it annoyed me how much he insisted on getting involved, especially since he seemed to know very little about our sport. I was still convinced that when he was advised to sponsor an organization, he picked the first one he found. And now, after three years of sponsoring us, he still didn’t seem to have a firm grasp on everything we did.  

“Sounds great, let’s chat for a bit,” Coach Tanner said. He turned his attention to Landon and me. “Boys, I’ll be out of town tomorrow, so no official practice. I still expect you to work out on your own. Let me know what you end up doing. Enjoy your weekend, and stay out of trouble.” He winked at us, and then turned and walked away with Roman by his side. 

“Hey Brody, long time no see,” Camila purred as she walked up to Landon and me.

“And still too soon if you ask me.” I rolled my eyes and continued packing my bag.

The fact that Roman and Camila flaunted their relationship in front of everyone wouldn’t annoy me nearly as much if Camila wasn’t my ex-girlfriend. It was clear she ramped up the PDA whenever I was around, as a way of trying to get to me.    

Her mouth dropped open in mock surprise. “Why so bitter? Are you still not over the fact I’m dating Roman?”

“I’ve been over it, Camila. We broke up a long time ago. I don’t want to be with someone who’s only after my money, anyway.”

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “That was not why I was with you, Brody. God, when are you going to get over that?”

“You keep telling yourself that,” I chuckled. “Maybe you actually liked me in the beginning, but it didn’t take long for that to change. Pretty soon, it was ‘buy me this, I need money for that, and let’s go on a really expensive vacation!’ It wasn’t hard to figure out you liked my paycheck a lot more than me. Roman will see it eventually as well.”

“That is simply not true, Brody,” she pouted. “I’m so sorry that I made you feel that way. You were always saying how you wished you could have all these experiences with your parents before they died. Does it make me a bad person for wanting to give that to you?”

I’ll admit that she wasn’t entirely wrong in that statement. My parents passed away five years ago in a car crash, and there were lots of things I wished I could have experienced with them. But none of those experiences involved expensive shopping trips or monthly visits to the Hamptons.

“Oh, don’t even pretend those trips were for my parents. You and I both know the trips were for you.” I could feel my face flushing with anger. “None of those expensive items you wanted had anything to do with them, either. Don’t you dare try to make it sound like you were doing something nice for me.”

“You know what?” she barked. “If that’s going to be your attitude about it, then fine. I’m glad we broke up. You treat everyone who gets close to you like shit. Your parents probably even went and got themselves killed on purpose just to avoid spending time with their ungrateful son.”

Something in me snapped and I lunged for her. Luckily – for Camila – Landon was still standing beside me, and he grabbed me by the arms to stop me.

“Brody, come on. Don’t let her get to you,” he said. “She’s trying to piss you off. It’s not worth giving her any more attention over it.”

Taking a step back, I felt his grip fall from my arms. He was only seventeen – eight years my junior – but he was much calmer than I was in these kinds of situations. He knew about my history with Camila, and he also knew I often didn’t speak or react before thinking about it. As much as it annoyed me sometimes, it was good to have him around in situations such as this.

“Now, Camila,” Landon said pointedly. “Was there anything work related you wanted to discuss with us? Otherwise, Brody and I will be going.”

She shot me one last icy stare before she spoke. “Actually, there is something I wanted to tell you. I thought you would like to know that you’re getting a new teammate. She’s starting on Monday. That’s what Roman and Tanner are off talking about now.” She said this as if it were ground-breaking news we’d never heard before.

“We know,” Landon said, unaffected. “Coach Tanner told us about her last week. It’s some girl from Minnesota.” He threw his bag and a towel over his shoulder to take to the locker room.

“Yes, a very pretty girl from Minnesota. Her name is Charlie. I came across her profile the other day while I was organizing some of Roman’s paperwork. Would you like to know more about her? I have access to this information, you know. You could be the first to hear all the juicy news – well, first after Roman and myself of course.”

I stifled a groan. The only reason they had access to any information regarding American Swimming was because Roman insisted on having a say in every decision that was made. Money really could buy power in this organization.

“Like I said earlier, Camila,” Landon said, interrupting my thoughts. “We already knew we had a new teammate coming. And I’m sure Roman wouldn’t be too thrilled about you throwing out company information.” 

She held a hand to her chest and snickered. “That’s so cute that you’re concerned. But don’t worry what Roman thinks. I can pretty much do what I want. I do hold the same amount of power in American Swimming that he does, after all.”

“Which isn’t much, if we’re being honest,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Excuse me?” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “You have something else you’d like to say to me, Brody?”

I shook my head and started walking away from her towards the locker room.

“That’s what I thought,” she shouted after me. “Roman’s going to be hearing about this, just so you know. So, I would watch what you say from now on. I’d hate to have to fire you.”

Stopping in my tracks, I whipped around to face her once more. “You can’t fire me,” I said through gritted teeth. “You have no real power in this organization. Roman doesn’t even have any real power in this organization. The only reason he has any at all is because we want his money.”

“Brody, come on.” Landon put his hand on my shoulder and attempted to pull me away again. “She’s not worth it. Let’s just go.”

I shrugged out of his hold, and stood my ground. I was prepared to start another argument, but Landon was right: it wasn’t worth it.

“You’re right,” I spat. “This is a waste of time. Let’s go.”

Spinning on my heel, I followed Landon towards the men’s locker room.

“Like I said, Brody, Roman will be hearing about this!” Camila called after us.

Ignoring her, I kept walking away. I was one of American Swimming’s most decorated athletes. I’d like to see Roman try to get rid of me for hurting his girlfriend’s feelings. She had nothing over me, and it was time she realized it.

******

“Oh, yes! Homerun!” I jumped up and yelled as the Miami Marlins took the lead. In my excitement, I accidentally knocked over the can of beer I had been drinking. “Shit, my drink!” I scrambled to pick it up before all of the liquid seeped out. Once it was back in my hand, I finished it off, and threw the can across the room to dispose of it.

“Holy shit, dude.” Landon grimaced from the couch. “You’re a pig. You should at least wipe up what you spilled.”

“Look, Landon,” I slurred, getting up to grab another drink. “I don’t care if you stay at my house, but you’re not going to tell me how to live. I’ll clean it all up eventually.”

“You said that last time.” Landon rolled his eyes.

After grabbing what was going to be my fifth beer, I stood at the entrance to the living room and took a look around. The place was kind of messy. Beer and soda cans littered the floor, dirty dishes were piled high on the end tables, and the carpet was so stained, I couldn’t remember what the original color was.

Shrugging, I sat back down on the couch. “Well, I’m not cleaning right now. I’m trying to loosen up, and if you were just planning to nag the whole night, you could have stayed home.”

“If I wanted to be around a drunk idiot, then maybe I should have stayed home,” Landon grumbled, referring to his father.

Landon’s dad, Mr. Davis, was having a party tonight with some of his friends. Most of the time, things got pretty shady at these parties, and Landon didn’t feel safe staying at his own house – hence the reason he was staying with me.

To be honest, Landon stayed with me more nights than he stayed at home, party or no party. Mr. Davis wasn’t a gentle man, and he was easily set off if things didn’t go his way. To add salt to the wound, Landon’s mother passed away when he was little, and there was no one to look out for him. I told him he could stay with me whenever he wanted, no questions asked.

“I’m not drunk,” I scoffed. I turned in my seat so I couldn’t see him and continued to watch the final inning of the game.

I really didn’t drink that often, but every now and again I liked to unwind and enjoy a few cold ones. Especially with how pissed off I was after the whole situation with Camila earlier this evening. When she said it was a good thing my parents were dead, I wanted to beat her senseless. If Landon hadn’t been there to stop me, I’m sure I would have. A few hours had passed since then, but I was still pretty upset.

My parents had been my whole world. I was an only child, and growing up, we did everything together. They always made sure I had everything I needed, and they sacrificed a lot of time and money to help me get where I am today. They knew how badly I wanted to make a career out of swimming, and they knew I had the potential to make that happen.

I wouldn’t have made it this far without them. No matter what, they always made sure to get me to all of my meets, and that I always had the best training possible. They were my biggest supporters.

Unfortunately, they never got to see my dream come true. They died right before I went pro, and it wrecked me. It didn’t seem fair. I came pretty close to giving up on swimming after the accident, but I couldn’t disappoint my parents like that. Whether they were still here or not, a lot of hard work went into making this dream a reality. I couldn’t give it up.

So, I kept swimming, focusing on little else. A few months later, Coach Tanner made me an offer, and the rest was history.

I downed the rest of my drink and smashed the can when it was empty. Suddenly, I didn’t feel like sitting at home anymore. I needed to take my mind off my parents and what had happened earlier with Camila. It was time to get out and do something. I flipped off the TV – I was pretty confident the Marlins were going to win at this point anyway – and stood up to go to the kitchen where I had left my wallet and my keys.

“Let’s get out of here for a bit,” I said to Landon.

He groaned and pulled out his phone to check the time. “It’s almost eleven o’clock, Brody.”

“So? We don’t have practice tomorrow morning, remember?”

“I’m seventeen, where can I go that would still be open right now?”

“I keep telling you, you should just get a fake ID.”

He rolled his eyes and shot me a look. “Yeah, and risk ruining my swimming career? I don’t think so.”

“Fine, I’ll call Chase. He’s always down for a good time.”

“Ugh, if Chase is involved, you can definitely count me out.” Landon got up from the couch and made his way to the stairs. “I’m going to bed.”

“You’re gonna miss out!” I called after him as I dialed up Chase’s number.

Chase Thompson was one of my oldest friends, and arguably the single person who’s had the worst influence on my life. We met freshman year of high school, and every time I found myself in hot water, it usually involved Chase in some way or another.  

For instance, right before graduation, we decided it would be a good idea to set fireworks off the roof of our school. Nothing bad happened, but we did get in quite a bit of trouble for trespassing. More recently, we tried to pick up a few ladies at a club, who we later found out, were actually hookers. It was one big misunderstanding, but it didn’t go over very well when the media caught wind that Brody Hayes, professional swimmer, was picking up prostitutes.

Coach Tanner kept warning me to stop hanging out with Chase, and I knew for the sake of my career, something had to change. However, Chase and I went way back, and ditching him now just didn’t feel right.

About twenty minutes later, Chase texted me that he was sitting in my driveway. Grabbing my keys and my wallet, I turned off all the lights downstairs and walked outside. It was late, and even though the humidity from earlier had gone down significantly, it was still warm enough that it didn’t take long for my skin to feel sticky with sweat.

That was Florida in July for you.

“What’s up, man? I’m glad you called,” Chase said when I plopped down in the passenger’s seat. His long, brown hair was pulled into a “man bun” on the top of his head. I never understood the fashion trend, but at least it looked clean this time.

“Nothing’s up,” I shook my head. “That’s why I called. I got a lot on my mind, and I needed a distraction. What are you wearing?”

He looked down as if he forgot what he had put on. “Oh, these?” He stuck his thumbs in the straps of the pair of suspenders he was wearing. He was also wearing a plain white dress shirt tucked into a pair of dark skinny jeans. “Ladies love hipsters, and I’m planning to get laid tonight.”

“You look like my grandpa if he was like, 60 years younger.”

“Dude, don’t hate,” he laughed as he put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway. “It cool if we go to that club over on Kings Street, again?”

“Hell no,” I said. “That’s where the hookers were. I just wanted to go to a Sport’s Bar or something.”

“Really? A Sport’s Bar?” He shot me a sideways glance. “Come on, man, it’s Friday night—”

“I said no, Chase. I have my career to worry about.”

“Alright, fine. No club.” He held is hands up briefly to signify surrender. “I know just the place, I’ll take a shortcut.” He turned on the next street. “Anyway, what’s been on your mind?”