Begrudgingly, we acquiesce and exit the office.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Coach calls. “At the end of the month, there will be a ball.”
“A what?” I ask.
“A football?—?”
Hammer chuckles. “Something like that.” He takes a phone call, dismissing us at last.
In the hallway, we convene and complain.
Rocking back on my heels, I cross my arms in front of my chest. “Listen, you know what this team means to me. We’re going to follow orders.”
“Good luck keeping Wolf away from women,” Declan says.
Quickly coming up with a plan, I say, “You heard him. If one of us screws up, we’re all off the team. We’re going to approach this like we would a game. We need a playbook...of rules.”
While Declan and Chase move closer, Wolf shifts away, never a fan of rules.
Chase tugs him back to our huddle. “This is serious. I’ll repeat what Hammer said. If one of us screws up. We’re all out.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re waiting to get married.”
Wearing a half smile, Chase shrugs like it’s no big deal. It may not be a common lifestyle choice among the players on theteam, but he honors his faith. I’ve made mistakes in my past but received the grace of God’s forgiveness and am, or was, a changed man. These last few months broke me.
Declan tugs at the chain on his neck that holds a cross. “It’s just a month.”
Splaying my fingers, I count off, “The playbook rules: No kissing, eyes up, hands off, no dating...”
“Unless you fall in love,” Declan adds.
“And ask her to marry you,” Chase says.
Wolf groans.
“Got it?” I eye him.
Slowly, one by one, we stack our hands in the center of the circle. Ironic, because the last time we did this was just before we got in trouble.
All at once, we chorus, “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’.”
My phone pings with a message. It’s from my lawyer, Ted, asking me to call him right away. I had it inDo Not Disturbmode while in Hammer’s office. This can’t be good.
As we start to walk down the hall, Wolf says, “You have to admit I have a good butt.”
“I’m not saying anything about your butt other than that I’m going to kick it if you so much as breathe in the same room as a woman during this month,” Declan says.
“You can thank yourself for getting us into this situation,” Wolf retorts.
“The mooning prank was all your idea.”
“No, if I remember...” They start bickering.
“Guys, it doesn’t matter now. What does matter is that we’re going to camp and have to—” Chase starts.
My attention is halfway between here and wondering about what Ted has to say, so I interrupt. “Hammer said reform school.”
“Classes.”
