Mistaking the Poison for the Cure

The night before the West Coast League Championship, Logan's childhood sweetheart Maddie tried to dump a packet of cold medicine into his water bottle.

I snatched it away and warned her it contained a banned substance. He was a pro player heading into the draft. One positive test, and it's a lifetime ban.

She just smiled, sweet as sugar, and said I was only jealous of what she and Logan had.

She wouldn't listen, so I smashed the bottle on the floor. When Logan found out, he slapped me across the face in front of the entire team.

After the game, his fever wouldn't break. Maddie went live immediately, siccing her followers on me and releasing edited clips of my "torture-camp" training sessions. Overnight, I became the most hated agent in the country.

No one believed a word I said. In the end, one of Logan's rabid fans put a knife in me in a narrow alley.

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing at the supply table.

And Maddie's fingers were pinching that same damned packet.

 Chapter 1

"What did you put in there?"

Maddie Reed's hand froze mid-air. Then, with deliberate slowness, she tucked the little white packet into her palm. She turned around and gave me a smile of perfect innocence.

"Just some cold medicine. Logan was coughing all night. I was worried about him."

"He's inside the league's testing window this week." I stayed where I was, on my side of the supply table, eyes fixed on the navy-blue sports bottle. My voice was flat, without a single rise or fall. "That formula contains pseudoephedrine. One test and he's positive. One. His entire season gets vacated, and he's banned for life."

I didn't lunge for it the way I had in my last life. I simply stood there and stated a fact.

Maddie clutched the bottle to her chest, and the corners of her eyes went red on cue.

"Ava, what are you saying? Are you accusing me of trying to hurt him?"

"Put the bottle down."

"I asked a doctor!" Her voice went shrill all at once, tears falling with pitiful precision. "You're just jealous! You're jealous that Logan listens to me! And if he plays sick tomorrow and underperforms, I will never forgive you!"

Her shriek cut through the gym. At the far end of the court, the dribbling stopped.

Tyler Nguyen dropped his ball first and came striding over, squaring his shoulders to put himself fully between me and Maddie. The look he gave me was pure disgust.

"Director. You run us into the ground every day, fine, whatever. But now you're bullying a girl?"

The other two drifted over as well. Chris rolled his eyes and smirked. Jordan just folded his arms, settling in for the show.

Ten years. I held an agent's license and did a babysitter's job. I pulled them out of the worst rec gym in Los Angeles and pushed them all the way into a league final. I paid out of my own pocket to cover the strength and conditioning they couldn't afford.

And this was what I got: all four of them shielding an influencer they'd known for less than two months, looking at me like I was the enemy.

I didn't say another word. I reached over, grabbed the bottle off the table, and hurled it at the floor.

The cap burst with a crack. Pale brown liquid splattered across the hardwood.

"What the hell is going on?"

Logan Carter came out of the locker room tunnel, hair still dripping. He glanced at the mess on the floor, then his eyes settled on my face. Cold. Supremely impatient.

"Ava. What are you losing your mind about now?"

"Do you have any idea what she was about to give you to drink?" My fingertips trembled slightly. I forced my voice level.

Logan didn't want to hear a syllable of it. Maddie threw herself into his arms with impeccable timing, sobbing until her whole body shook.

"I was just worried about you... I really did ask a doctor about that medicine. He said athletes can take it."

Logan's arms tightened around her protectively, and he stared at me the way you'd stare at some poisonous, jealous shrew.

"You think Maddie would hurt me? You think everyone in the world is as ugly on the inside as you are?"

Then he leaned down, picked up the second bottle already mixed and waiting on the table, twisted off the cap, tipped his head back, and drained it right in front of me.

The gym went utterly silent.

Last life, I'd thrown myself at him to stop it. What I got was a backhand across the face, no questions asked, and the end of ten years of my dignity.

This time, I watched his throat work as he swallowed, my face perfectly blank.

I'd decided to stop stopping him.

The West Coast Championship paid out seven hundred fifty thousand dollars to the winners. Logan's underage sister, the one with leukemia, was lying in a sterile unit waiting on that money to keep her alive.

I picked up my bag, turned, and walked out without looking back.

The moment I got to my apartment, I went straight into the shower and ran the water cold. My hair was still wet when the phone started ringing like a death knell.

"Ava! You cut off my sister's medical payments?"

I listened to Logan's voice straining around his rage, lifted my glass, and took a calm sip of warm water.

"You've gone way too far this time!" He was spitting the words through his teeth now. "This is about tonight, isn't it? You're sulking. I already apologized! Reinstate the payments right now, or don't blame me when I end this for good."

I laughed, because there was nothing else left to do. Last life, I'd scrimped on my own meals to cover his sister's hospital bills. The first thing she did after being discharged was help Maddie pile on the harassment campaign against me.

"You don't have to wait, Logan." I looked at my own bloodless face in the mirror and said it one word at a time. "Starting today, whether I live or die has nothing to do with you."

I hung up before he could start shouting.

You were in such a hurry to drink it, weren't you?

Let's see you take the floor tomorrow.