“Your brother, a loose cannon, but you keep him in line. That boy can run and catch a ball with the best of them. He’s a goddamn powerhouse for a running back, which means he has the wow factor. I like the wow factor.”
“Gray’s good,” I agreed. Where the hell was this going?
“Your cousin, best goddamn tight end this team has had in years. Ash is a coach’s dream, with his ability to defend when needed, and add on to that he canrunlike he can, one of the best damn catchers on this team. Him and Gray, gifts from the football gods.”
I nodded in agreement. It was true, we were all talented. We worked hard, and we deserved the praise.
“And you, the quarterback for the Cardinal Saints.”
“Is there a problem, Coach?” I asked as I straightened my spine, standing at my full six-three height.
Coach’s lip curled, and I felt uneasy as he watched me, his face giving nothing away. “Do you think that I don’t know your nicknames? The Devils?” He looked me over derisively.
“We don’t hide it,” I answered equally as coolly. “Given that our last name means saint.” I met his cold stare with my own. “We’re anything but saints.”
“Oh, I know.” Coach stood, his hands flat on the desk as he leaned on it and glared at me. “You’re not saints. The three of you are a goddamn handful, but I didn’t think you were entitled little shits who think they are invincible because of whose name’s on the college walls.”
I bristled. “That’s bullshit. We worked hard to get in here. All three of us deserve to be here.” It was true, we had worked hard, and we each had good grades. We hadn’t coasted into this college because we werelegacies. We had asked for no favors and received none. “What’s the problem?”
“The problem?Thisis my problem,” he barked at me as he tossed a clipboard down onto the desk, with a chart on it, and as I looked at it, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Snatching the clipboard up, I read the result again. “What the fuck is this?” I asked him as I looked up.
“Watch your language,” Coach warned me. “That is a drug test result.”
“I know that,” I answered him as I clenched my jaw. “Why does it have my name on it?”
“You’re smart, figure it out.” Coach grunted as he sat back down.
“This is bullshit.” Tossing the clipboard back on the desk, I looked at him. “This isn’t mine.”
“We don’t make these kinds of mistakes.”
“Newsflash, you just did.” I met his hard, angry stare with my own. “I’m telling you, there’s no way in hell that’s mine.”
“It was taken from you on Saturday morning. Only eight players were tested.Thisis yours.”
Saturday morning, I remembered, I had pissed in the cup as easily as I would in the bathroom. They’d handed me the cup as soon as I walked into the locker room, and the assistant coach had been on hand to supervise mydeposit. I vaguely remembered him labeling it as I left to get ready for the game.Fuck, I’d been a little fuzzy from the booze the night before and had been too busy hiding my hangover from the coach.
I realized that if this result were right, it wasn’t a hangover I should have been hiding.
“Coach,” I began as my mind raced. “I don’t take drugs. All we do, allIdo is train for the game; youknowthis.”
“I thought I did.” Coach Bowers shook his head as he looked at the wall with his prized accomplishments on it. “I thought wrong.”
“You didn’t,” I corrected him quickly as I pulled a chair out and sat down, without his permission, but I wasn’t thinking straight. This could mess up my entire year, hell, my entirecareer. “I was at a party on Friday night. I don’t remember much about it,” I admitted as he glared at me in anger. “I thought I’d had one beer, but on Saturday morning, I woke up beside a girl.” I ignored his look of disgust. “Ash came to get me for practice. I’mneverlate, but I almost was on Saturday. He asked me about her, and I told him I didn’t remember.” My hand ran through my hair. “I swear to God, Coach, I thought I’d drunk too much, but I wouldn’t.” My anger was mounting rapidly. “Ididn’t.”
“You shouldn’t have been out before a game,” Coach reprimanded me automatically as he sat on his chair and considered me. “You’re saying that your drink was spiked?”
Was I?I nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t pull this shit; this is all I want. The game, the NFL, I wouldn’t riskanythingfor my chance, Coach.”
His small dark eyes watched me longer than I was comfortable with. “You need to prove it,” he said eventually.
My eyes closed briefly. How the hell would I do that? I had no idea who she was, and even if I did, how would I know if she was the one who spiked my drink? “I will.”
“You have two weeks.”
“You’re not reporting it?” I asked him with incredulous hope.
