“Absolutely.” I disconnect the call, and I head to bed with a warm feeling in my chest.
I sleep well, and I feel ready for game day when I wake.
I stretch a little to get my muscles warm with my pregame list blasting in my ears, and I head to the team breakfast. I eat light, allowing myself one piece of bacon along with an omelet, and I sit with Cole and a few of the wide receivers as we run through game scenarios together.
Coach Matthews gathers the tight ends to review our game plan, give us his extensive list of final reminders, and discuss our matchups.
Kickoff isn’t until four thirty, so we hold a walkthrough in one of the hotel’s ballrooms before we’re released for a team lunch while we each hydrate with our electrolyte drink of preference, mine being Gatorade, and then some guys meetwith trainers for treatment while others move onto their own pregame routines.
I listen to my playlist as I pace my hotel room.
I try to block everything out and focus.
But I keep coming back to that picture of Tatum’s tits sitting on my phone. It’s distracting me.
I let myself look anyway.
I blow out a breath. We’re leaving for the stadium in twenty minutes. Now isn’t the time for an erection.
I force it away and head down to meet my teammates, and we board a bus to the stadium. As the team bus pulls away, I spot Tatum standing near the hotel entrance. She’s waving, and I wonder how I missed her as I walked through the lobby to get to the bus.
I wave, but the windows are tinted. There’s no way she can see me.
But she looks fine as hell wearing my number.
We arrive at the stadium, and I strategically lay out my gear the same way I always do. It’s a superstition for me, I guess. We head to the field for warm-ups, and I glance around at the crowd starting to gather.
This is it. I’m ready. We’ve practiced this hundreds of times. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.
We get dressed. We gather in a circle around Coach Wilder, and he’s fired up. “We’re here to win. Let’s show these Lions what kind of Beasts we are!”
He turns it over to the captains, who give similar sentiments and lead us in prayer, and then Coach Wilder has a few more words for us.
“This is it, team. This is everything we’ve worked for this whole season. We got here because of hard work, so let’s show them what we’re made of. Let’s focus on today, this game, this win. Next week doesn’t matter. Next year doesn’t matter. All that matters is what’s in front of us today. Rightnow. We have sixty minutes to leave it all out there on the field. Get out there and execute. Do the job you’ve trained for. You’re prepared, you’re ready, and now it’s time to fight.” He holds his hand out, and we gather around in a team huddle. “Beasts on three. One, two, three—”
“BEASTS!” The roar is solid and loud, a unified team ready to take on this opponent.
We race out to the field as our team is announced, and I bounce up and down on the balls of my feet to keep my muscles warm as the pre-game events take place. I glance through the crowd for Tatum, and my eyes zero in on her about a third of the way up directly behind our sideline. I tap the side of my helmet twice, and she grins down at me and goes wild as she waves at me.
She’s beautiful there, her blonde hair somehow swaying despite the fact that we’re indoors and there’s no breeze in here. She’s watching me, waiting for some signal from me, and she’s thrilled that I gave her one. I find myself wanting to play to impress her. There’s an added fire to my reasons for wanting to win. It’s no longer just for me. It’s so we have something else we can celebrate together.
She showed up for me, and somehow, it means more to me than I ever realized it would.
She’s not just my friend anymore. She’s my wife, and I want to do whatever I can to make her as happy as she makes me.
We sing the national anthem.
Our captains head out for the coin flip, which we lose, and the Lions defer the first play to us.
We take the field.
We’re fucking ready.
It’s the first snap of the game, and our center hikes it to Reggie. It’s a little high for him, and he misses.
He fucking misses, and the ball drops to the field. He scrambles for it, but the Lions’ defenders are all over that fucking ball. Reggie’s too late. We all are.
The Lions recover the ball, and the stadium goes absolutely wild. It’s deafeningly loud in here, and Coach Wilder tells Reggie to shake it off.
