All Chapters of Rejected by my team, Claimed by the Rival: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

ATHENALater that evening, the heavy atmosphere of the film room is thick with the smell of stale coffee and whiteboard markers. The paused footage of a Westmore game glows brightly on the large screen mounted to the wall.Leaning heavily over the cluttered conference table, I uncap a yellow marker and aggressively highlight a specific play on the printed roster sheet."If we put Jax on the left circle during the power play, he can one-timer it past Luca's weak side," I explain, tracing the exact passing route across the paper. "Luca always leaves that lane entirely open when he covers the point."Leaning over my shoulder to look at the paper, Jeremiah taps the very center of the page with his black pen, shaking his head dismissively."No," Jeremiah says flatly. "That’s a terrible call."Snapping my head to the side, I glare at him. "Excuse me?""Jax is garbage on his left edge." Jeremiah doesn't back down, tapping the pen against the table now. "He’s entirely too heavy on his right s

JEREMIAHThe next afternoon, the stifling Los Angeles heat was baking the asphalt outside, but inside Talia’s cramped, messy manager’s office, the air conditioning was blasting at full capacity.Sitting casually on the edge of Talia's cluttered wooden desk, I idly spun a black hockey puck on the worn surface. Talia ignored me entirely, aggressively typing on her silver laptop. A half-empty iced matcha latte was sweating heavily right next to her keyboard, leaving a pool of condensation on some printed invoices."I'm telling you, the charter bus company is actively scamming us," I argued, stopping the puck and spinning it again. "Two grand for a single round trip to Anaheim? I could literally walk down the 5 freeway faster than LA traffic moves on a Friday anyway."Not bothering to look up from her glowing screen, Talia typed even faster."Don't be dramatic, J," Talia shot back. "Gas prices are absolutely criminal right now. Besides, if I put twenty massive hockey players in cheap rent

ATHENAThe second I slammed the heavy office door shut, the quiet of the room instantly suffocated me. The heavy thrum of the facility’s massive AC unit vibrating through the floorboards was the only sound left in the building. Tessa had taken her car and left to cool off, leaving Jeremiah and me alone in the cramped space.Dropping my canvas gym bag onto the linoleum, my hands were visibly trembling. I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, digging my fingers hard into my own biceps, and started pacing the narrow stretch of carpet in front of the desk. My breathing was shallow, jagged, and out of my control.Jeremiah leaned solidly against the closed door, watching my erratic movements. He didn't crowd me. He just stood there, a massive, silent anchor in the turbulent room."You're burning a hole in the floor, Cole," Jeremiah pointed out, his voice low, scraping the air like rough sandpaper.Spinning around, my jaw locked tightly. "I'm fine. Just... adrenaline. He always does this. H

ATHENASitting heavily at the cramped metal desk in the coaches' office on Friday afternoon, I aggressively reviewed the starting lineup for tomorrow’s game on my iPad.The door swung open, hitting the rubber stop with a dull thud. Tessa walked in, carrying two enormous iced lattes and looking too energized for the afternoon slump.Setting one of the sweating plastic cups down directly next to my tablet, she leaned her hip casually against the dented grey filing cabinet."So," Tessa started, crossing her arms. "How’s the new regime actually going? Are we successfully turning these frat boys into actual athletes, or are they still crying in the corner over your suicide sprints?""A little bit of both," I admitted, taking a long sip of the iced coffee and leaning back in my chair. "But they’re definitely getting faster. Honestly, thanks for checking in. It’s been... a lot to manage."Tessa’s casual, joking demeanor vanished. The sudden, drastic shift in her posture made my stomach tight

AUTHOR’S POV.Sienna walked quietly into the dark, expansive bedroom of Luca's luxury off-campus apartment. She held two delicate glasses of red wine, her manicured fingers gripping the thin crystal stems. She paused silently in the open doorway. The massive room was swallowed by shadows, lit only by the harsh, bluish glow of a laptop screen resting on a designer duvet.Luca sat rigidly on the very edge of the mattress. He wore expensive silk track pants, his posture tense and absorbed in the glowing monitor. He repeatedly tapped the left arrow key, aggressively rewinding a specific, grainy video clip.Sienna narrowed her eyes, squinting through the dim light to make out the pixels. She quickly realized it was amateur, fan-recorded footage of the Ashford Falcons’ opening game against UCLA. Luca was watching the exact moment the Ashford defense executed a flawless, highly aggressive trap maneuver."Are we seriously doing film review at eleven on a Tuesday?" Sienna asked, her tone fla