Zeke's Game

By Susan Garod

Take one ex international rugby player, Zeke Carter, one ex school teacher coach, Asia Fonseca, and one school boy team with potential and attitude. And what do you get? Trouble. Zeke was supposed to be spending his recovery time coaching the rugby team. But he thought their teacher, Asia Fonseca, was on a power trip. She took over his training sessions, barged in and gave team talks and was generally a pain. Asia had put her job on the line for the boys she'd coached, but she thought the poster boy coach the school board had drafted in didn't understand the team he'd taken on, or the grade they played in. So not surprisingly Asia and Zeke didn't hit it off initially. But as the season progressed Zeke and Asia had to reassess their opinions. Zeke wanted a change in his personal relationship with Asia. Unfortunately, Asia was either deliberately not picking up on his signals or just plain blind! Luckily for him, help with his game plan to court Asia came from unexpected quarters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Garod
• Release date: Nov 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215022283

Susan Garod

reviewsI don't know about other readers but for me it's not just the happy ending. The journey has to be fraught with obstacles and difficulties to make the happy ending worth it. The thing I love best about any of your work is that no matter the obstacle you always find a way for the couple to overcome it and it's not some unrealistic magic fix. Love takes work and you show that. Your characters are also not perfect, they have their strengths and weaknesses clearly on display for readers to really get into the characters heads. At least thats how it is for me. (sweet_candy89, 21/1/2018)If you love reading about strong women and the real men that love them, then Susan Garod never disappoints! The characters are complex with intriguing, interconnected story arcs, which continue in each series with their multiple characters and side stories and makes them such a pleasure to read. Joshua's Grace is the perfect starting point if you haven't read any of Susan's books, and follow the Carvalho sisters into the Moonlight series, Spice Sisters and the Heartbeat series. You See Me elicited the same response as all the preceding books by Susan Garod - I loved it!(Karen, June, 10, 2017)I absolutely LOVE Susan Garod's books, think I have every one of them, so when I seen this was available for my kindle I was ecstatic. Now it is a little different than her other writings, but it is just as good if not better. Laura has found out she has a grandmother, goes to see her but runs into her neighbor who thinks that Laura is there just to get something from the grandmother. There are many trials and tribulations going back and forth between the 2. I really did enjoy this book and if you have read any of Susan's other books you will love this one as well (Lori Costa, July, 28, 2016)

Book preview

Zeke’s Game

Susan Garod

Copyright 2023 Susan Garod

Smashwords Edition

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Chapter 1

The man was supposed to be a legend. He was supposed to be good. Not just good, but one of the best.

Once again Asia wondered how someone who was supposed to be wonderful could get it so horribly wrong. She concentrated hard, doing her best to stop her jet black eyebrows from reaching her jet black hairline, as she stood on the sidelines and observed the spiral toward comprehensive anarchy. This was turning out to be a complete disaster. It shouldn’t be.

Asia barely contained her grimace as she watched the chaos escalate. This wasn’t what she had expected. She, along with a sizeable crowd had turned up today to watch the dawn of a new era, a new regime.

The new coach was supposed to be a professional. He knew what it took to train, what it took to be the best, what it took to win, what it took, period!

That’s why the Board had replaced her with him. She understood that. And once she’d got over the fact that they hadn’t re-elected her, she banked her demoralizing and overwhelming disappointment, and started to look forward to his arrival.

They were lucky to have him. Or so she’d thought. Watching the chaos she wondered if they’d accidentally brought the wrong guy to town. Somewhere in Wellington lurked the man they needed.

He was expected to take the boys forward, to greater things. She had such high hopes for the boys. And she knew they had the talent to make it. After all, she’d been coaching them for just over eighteen months. Despite the fact that she didn’t have any playing experience, let along coaching experience, last year they had won practically everything in sight. She was pragmatic enough to realize that if they could do all that with her as an excuse for a coach, they would fly with a real coach. Or so she’d conceded when the school board had replaced her.

What the boys needed was someone with connections, and someone who played. Some one who had made it to the very top in the rugby world was just going to be the icing on the cake. So when they’d told Asia they had passed her over to appoint him as manager for the season, she had buried her unhappiness and her distress and with Steve’s help had come to anticipate great things. The new coach could be good for the boys. Her boys. For the new coach had played, nationally, so he was definitely icing.

But from where Asia stood, there was no icing in evidence. Things were not going to plan. From the shambles she had seen so far, there was little evidence of either his experience or their skill. He’d started off well enough, but really the gathering chaos was scandalous. And completely unexpected.

What was the matter with the man? Hadn’t he heard of planning? Preparation? How was he going to take these boys to the Nationals if he couldn’t even manage a training session?

For several seconds Asia debated whether she should take over, simply take back control and in doing so buy him some time to think things over. Clearly what he’d planned to do was not going to plan. That’s assuming he had a plan. No evidence of that, from where she stood. Confusion reigned. It was getting close to pandemonium out on the paddock. And if someone didn’t do something soon, then, one of two things was going to happen.

Either one of the boys would get hurt, or they would get fed up. And that would result in trouble. She knew these boys, knew their pedigree, their background, their tolerance levels. When they got bored, they found other ways to entertain themselves, and that usually brought trouble. More than your average, run of the mill trouble. These boys could be dangerous.

In an effort to stop herself from interfering Asia took her eyes off the bedlam on the pitch and looked at the crowded sideline. Her scowl was replaced with a rueful smile. There was quite a turn out. Men, of various ages, stood along the opposite edge of the paddock. What had surprised Asia initially, was the fact that even though today was not a match day, there were significant numbers of young women also on the sideline. But with a accepting shrug she realised that was not really surprising, given that they had an ex-national rugby team player coaching the local college first fifteen rugby team. And he was more than your average male specimen. Of course he was toned and in shape. To be expected.

Asia smothered her smile as she took in the way the women focused on the coach and not the game on the paddock. Who could blame them? He was a good-looking guy. Extreme muscle toned physique. Well worth watching.

Well, at least if they were watching him they wouldn’t notice the bedlam on the paddock. Asia glanced from face to face and wondered if she was the only one who saw the chaos. No one seemed particularly concerned by the fact that none of the boys knew what they were doing.

And she was sure none of the women would be disappointed with what they saw. Even if his coaching was falling apart at this very moment, most of the women would probably walk away happy, having just spent 40 minutes looking at him. The man was gorgeous.

He was above six foot, she guessed, fairly solid, she imagined it was all muscle, given the way the tshirt clung. His dark blonde hair was cropped very short, showing ears that looked remarkably unscathed. She knew he had blue eyes the colour of violets, wasted on a man, she’d thought when she had first met him. From this distance she couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew they were stunning against his slightly olive skinned complexion. And his voice, even when he was barking out instructions, had a mellowness that made her pulse race. Shaking her head in disgust with herself for allowing her thoughts to wander, Asia listened to his instructions as he tried to stop the boys, tried to call them to him in order to provide some advice.

It wasn’t until Reuben, one of her potential future rugby stars, noticed that Carter was trying to get their attention that the boys stopped. She could see that Reuben told them to stop. He had that sort of presence on the field, which was one of the reasons Asia thought he had a future in rugby. Not only could he could play, but he was also a brilliant tactician, and he had the respect of the team. The fact was, even now, he was the one who was just about keeping the rest of the squad in check. It was Reuben, rather than Carter, who was ensuring that there was just the tiniest glimmer of control on the paddock.

Carter waited for the boys. Asia grimaced. Obviously his action was intended to bring them back under control, but more importantly he needed them back on the sideline, close to him. The boys sauntered toward him, listening more intently to what Reuben had to say. They didn’t seem that keen to get to the sideline.

Asia did her best to hide the frown, but as she looked across at the group of young men, who until recently she had coached, she felt her frown lines deepen. The boys reached the new coach and they looked vaguely interested in what he was saying. But they were beginning to shuffle, as if the endless round of instructions and waiting for him to tell them what to do, were beginning to get on their nerves.

Not a good sign. Not with this group of boys. She’d learnt that early on, and the hard way. It wasn’t long before several of the young guys seemed more interested in the people on the sideline or in having a quiet aside with their mates. Asia would never have let them get away with that. The new coach did.

Asia tried to lip-read, to focus on what the new coach was telling them, but she became distracted by the boys’ antics. She could see that the boys were fidgeting more and more. Nearly half of them weren’t even pretending to listen to him any longer. At this rate they would loose all their confidence in the man before he even had a chance to get started. He needed to get control of this situation, quickly. He was here for the duration of their season. A short season unless he got a grip on the deteriorating scene.

What he hadn’t realised was that these boys were not your normal run of the mill schoolboys. They weren’t going to stay calm for long, they expected respect to be earned and they abided by very few rules. They came, mainly from the rough side of town, and they tolerated very little. Gaining their respect and trust was a huge challenge, and what she saw happening on the paddock was not an auspicious start.

Asia had spent two years gaining their confidence, helping them to see that they could trust her. That was a huge accomplishment, for most of these boys trusted no one. They had cause. Few people had given them the time of the day. Most of the young boys, until they had started playing rugby, were probably heading for an early death through crime and street violence, or were heading for jail, for the same reasons.

The fact was that she had taken a risk, though at the time she hadn’t seen it as that. It had simply happened.

Initially, a couple of them had turned up at her office and asked for a rugby ball to use during lunchtime. As the Physical education teacher she was the one they approached to borrow gear. And though she had some misgivings, about whether the ball would come back, she had given them a ball and asked for it to be returned ten minutes before the afternoon lessons started. Reuben had returned with the ball, on time. The same thing happened the next day. And the next. Reuben asked for and returned the ball. He didn’t say much, usually a token Kia Ora sufficed. But that didn’t bother her. As far as she was concerned if this particular group spent their lunchtime playing rugby that meant they were unlikely to be causing trouble in the playground. The small band of guys seemed close.

For several weeks they repeated the pattern every lunchtime. Then one day Reuben had brought the ball back early, and with another 15 boys behind him, had asked if they could try out for the first fifteen rugby team. She told them to put their names on the list and show up for team trials the following week. She wasn’t the first fifteen coach, but she’d seen them play and she thought they had a fair shot at getting into the school side.

Unfortunately, none of them were selected.

They didn’t take instruction too well, spent most of the time arguing with other players, and the coach, and did what they thought was best. And to add to that, the coach knew of their reputations. So not surprisingly, they hadn’t been selected.

A week later, Reuben was back at her door, asking her if she would coach them. As second fifteen. She’d explained that she had no experience of playing rugby but told them she would ask some of the other staff. So she had put a notice up on the school notice board in the staff room, spoken during one of the morning briefing sessions, and asked people to sign up if they were interested in coaching a second fifteen. But as soon as they heard who comprised the second fifteen, none of her colleagues were willing to take them on. Most of her peers knew the boys as rough, arrogant, argumentative, surly students.

She had told Reuben that she hadn’t been able to get them a coach. But that hadn’t deterred him. And there was something endearing about the way Reuben went from staff member to staff member to try to persuade them to take on the role of coach. But none of her peers thought it was worth the risk. These boys were trouble. Period.

For over a week he had tried to persuade someone to take them on. And in the end Asia agreed to take on the task, because she felt for them. In reality all she did was simply help them play rugby, by putting her name to a bit of paper. Coach. Asia Fonseca. That gave them legitimacy.

The first game had been a disaster as they had showboated and done little more than start on the pitch fights. So Asia had called a meeting with them the following Monday, and in her quiet way had read them the riot act. Most of them towered over her, but she had simply stood her ground and told them that if she was going to have her name on that bit of paper then she got a say about their behaviour. Reuben had stood off to one side but watched her closely. There was something naively gutsy about the way she was taking them on. He hadn’t expected that. He’d simply thought she would put her name to bits of paper and leave them to muddle along. He knew she didn’t play rugby, she’d told him. But the fact that she was taking responsibility for them, reading them the riot act, knowing what she knew about their temperament, told him that she had guts.

Asia noticed that the boys kept glancing at Reuben, taking their cue from him, waiting to see what he said in response to her verbal onslaught. But he’d stood quietly and listened, and his face had remained impassive. When she had finished her tirade she told them that they would train with her once a week, on fitness work. Not that they accepted that without a challenge.

A challenge she had won.

So she had sorted them out, with some basic fitness training. She wasn’t a rugby expert, so she knew little more than the basics. A week in she got some drills organised, and in the evenings she watched video after video, to learn more about the game.

But she was lucky, they had skill. A lot of skill. All in all, they were a talented bunch of guys. Add to that, she had Reuben.

It had taken several months, with several games, and several off the pitch actions to get them to the point where they trusted her. And she trusted them.

A year ago, things changed and they went from being a team of hoodlums to the team to beat in their division. What she’d given them was faith and a little bit of self-esteem. What she got in return was a loyal team of boys who were winning game after game, and doing it in style. They were starting to draw crowds, as people came to hear of their skill and record. Asia knew these boys were going to make history. Well, she had thought that before Carter took over as coach. Now she wasn’t quite so sure.

Asia’s focus returned to the pitch. She watched as the boys began to look fed up. She hesitated, debating once again whether to interfere. The onlookers had huddled close to the coach. Hanging onto his every word. His every gesture seemed to be of paramount importance to them. Pity it was having such a limited effect on the boys he was supposed to be coaching.

He finished telling the boys something and gave them an instruction that had them filing out across the paddock in a straggly line. She watched as several of the older boys got together. She saw that they were looking across at their leader, Reuben, for some answer. He just shrugged and trotted off up the paddock in part of the line. Asia wondered how long they would do this routine drill.

Asia’s fingers itched as she reached for her whistle.

The hour session had started well. He’d got them doing some fitness drills, then some close ball skills. It was only later, when he began working them across the paddock that he’d lost control. And that was because he couldn’t move to keep up with them. Shouting his instructions didn’t seem to work. So he had resorted to simple basic ball passing drills that did little more than move them across the paddock.