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searching for the right words but all I could think of was an asshole .
    Coach cut me off. “I get it. I meet guys like him all the time.” He crossed his arms and pushed off the wall to stand in front of me like a brick wall. “Listen, Hart. I treat my players like adults. I have no interest in being your daddy, but you need to keep on the straight and narrow. Don’t make this harder on yourself by giving him reason to interfere. I don’t have time for it and neither do you. Prove him wrong.”
    Nodding, I turned to head to the locker room, and Coach slapped me on the back. Prove him wrong. I’d spent most of my life trying to show my old man I wasn’t a fuckup.
    ***
    The double doors to the Acroletes gym were swung wide open, but through the windows I could already see bodies flipping through the air. No wonder they needed such high ceilings.
    I entered the lobby and my pulse kicked up a notch as I stared at the surrounding activity. A guy right in front of me was spinning around a high bar like he was going to rip it right off its supports. The rest of the gym was a gymnastic free-for-all. Orderly chaos was the only way to describe it. I wanted to try it all.
    “I knew you’d come.” Caz jogged up to me, a self-satisfied grin on his face. “Come check out the trampolines.”
    Off to the left, and what I hadn’t been able to see through the front window earlier, was another huge room filled with five trampolines.
    My eyes widened, and energy surged through me like a raging tsunami. “Fuck yeah. Where can I put my stuff?”
    “Over there.” Caz motioned to a wall of lockers against the wall. “Oh, and keep your eyes open. Double mini trampoline and vault do their runs over there by the carpet. People get pissed if you get in their way.” He pointed to the other side where people were running, jumping, and spinning into the air. “Plus, it sucks to take a donkey kick to the face if someone flips on top of you.”
    “Got it.”
    Caz slapped me on the back. “Let me know if you need anything.” He headed for the room of trampolines and yelled something that sounded like, “Move over bitches, my turn!”
    As I was tossing my stuff into one of the free lockers, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find Amanda standing behind me in tight, tiny shorts and an even smaller sports bra. I grinned to myself. Two minutes into Acroletes’ practice, and it was already more interesting than weight training.
    “Did you come to play?” Amanda tilted her head. I couldn’t help but notice that her words weren’t so much a question as they were an offer—and not just about the gym. The kiss and promise she’d made at the ropes course were still fresh in my mind.
    “Yeah, Caz invited me. I’m gonna check out the trampolines.” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder, but Amanda reached out to grab my free hand.
    “No, you have to come balance with me.” She pulled me toward the carpeted floor on the other side of the gym. “It’d be a shame to waste all this muscle. I’ve been looking for a new partner since my old one graduated last year.”
    I allowed her to pull me along. I didn’t know what the hell balancing was, but with Amanda’s hands on me, it wasn’t something I was going to turn down. “I’m not planning to join,” I warned her. “I’m just here for today.”
    She shrugged. “That’s okay. We can just play around. You never know, you might change your mind.”
    I chuckled. “Caz seems to think so, too. He doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”
    We reached the carpeted area, and she turned to face me. “Funny. People say the same thing about me.” A wicked gleam danced in her eye and...goddamn, she was hot.
    A thousand inappropriate things battled to come out of my mouth. I rubbed my palms together, looking at the people around us. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
    Amanda reached up to tighten her ponytail, putting her sleek body on display and drawing my gaze