Page 220 of Tangled with the Tight End

Laughter rings through the concrete hallway near the locker room entrance.

Coach Clay doesn't miss a beat. “No, but you're all officially invited to my office Tuesday morning at six.”

Someone groans but most of us are still laughing.

I picture Winona laughing.

Did she watch the game? Or is she swearing off football?

“Hey, man?” Keller says, walking past me. “We won!”

“I know,” I say, patting him on the back.

“Inform your face,” he says, pointing at me.

We shower up and meet in the press room. After interviews, we load onto the team bus and head for the airport. Some guys are still chatty, buzzing from our win. Most of us are wiped out. We nurse protein shakes and chug electrolyte drinks with our headphones on—a clear sign we’re not looking for a conversation.

Delaney takes the seat next to mine.

Linc sits in front of us. Jaxon sits next to Linc.

I close my eyes, in case my invisible Do Not Disturb sign isn’t flashing loudly enough.

Delaney pokes me. “Hey, O’Connell?”

I pull one side of my headset off the ear closest to him. “Yeah?”

“This?” He points to himself, Linc and Pierce. “Is what you call a little intervention.”

I shake my head, placing the headphone back over my ear and shutting my eyes again.

Delaney pulls my headset off.

“Hey!” I say, grabbing for the headset.

He holds it overhead and passes it to Linc.

“You’ll get them back when we’re finished,” Linc says, setting the headset on his lap.

Treyvon is across the aisle. “Oh, are we talking to O’Connell?”

“No,” I say. “We’re not.”

Jaxon says, “Yeah. It’s time to address the elephant in the room.”

“You mean Winona?” Treyvon asks.

“No,” I say again.

“Yeah,” Linc says. “It’s time.”

“What happened?” Delaney asks me. “We know you broke up.”

“That’s what happened,” I say, extending my hand toward Linc.

He doesn’t put my headset back in my hands.

“You didn’t even get hit in the head,” Treyvon says. “But you’re making decisions like someone knocked the sense outta you.”