“Then let’s begin.”
Chapter 29: Jett
I watched the ball as it sailed through the air, bouncing off the padding at the end of the stadium.
“Santo!”
“Jesus,” I muttered as I turned to Coach. “Yeah?”
“What in hell’s name was that?” he barked as he marched toward me. When he was alongside me, his finger jabbed me in the chest. “Your head is here, but your dick is in there?”
Licking my lips, I took my helmet off. “My head’s in there too,” I admitted as I stared down the tunnel.
“Boy, that girl is innocent. Open, honest, genuine,” Coach said to me. “I hate to tell you, I think you’re going to find she’s fallen foul of the same as you.” He rubbed his forehead. “What’s worse, she’s never going to know if she was.”
“I know.” I tapped my helmet off my thigh. “I was so sure she was in on it until . . .”
“You got to know her,” he said gruffly. “I can see that.”
I frowned as I looked back toward the tunnel until Coach reached up and knocked the back of my head. “She’s there, you’re here, practice. You throw another ball like that and Kowoski’s back starting against Texas.”
Slipping my helmet back on, I looked at him with a scowl. “No need for threats,” I muttered as I picked up the next ball.
“Game head only on my field,” he told me as he walked off.
I threw balls for another hour until my arm ached. Then we ran routes, passing to Gray or Ash as Jamie made it his personal mission in life to take me down on the field.
By the time practice was finished, I ached everywhere. I still had afternoon classes to go to, and as I lay on the turf after being flattened by our defensive end, I stared up at the cloudless sky.
Two shadows stood over me, and I looked up at Ash and Gray. “Still miss practice?” Gray asked as he extended his arm and helped me up to my feet.
“What the fuck’s up Woods’s ass?” I grumbled as we headed to the showers.
Ash grinned as he pulled his jersey off. “He didn’t even touch you,” he said as we stripped.
“Not for the lack of trying,” I told him gruffly.
“He took Ben down six times last Thursday in practice. Seriously started to think it was personal,” Ash told me.
“He wants to win the conference, we all do,” Gray grumbled as he turned the shower on. “Let’s hope he brings this all week and still has enough for Spence next Saturday.”
I nodded as I stepped under the hot spray.
Pulling on clothes after I was washed and dried, I already felt my muscles stiffening in protest. “Fuck, is this what time off means?”
Jamie was lacing up his sneakers when he heard me. “Sore, Santo?”
“Fucking aching,” I told him as I pulled my T-shirt over my head.
“You want the defense to go easy on you?” he asked as he stood, his broad frame filling the space.
“Fuck no, I want to win.”
Jamie nodded in respect, and then he and his fellow henchmen,defense, left the locker room.
“Santo!”
All three of us turned to see Coach at the door. “Office.”
