AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Interpersonal relationships with players and members of the team, in any capacity, aren’t allowed. It’s a stupid rule the league hasn’t budged on, and they’ve drawn a clear line in the sand about who they’d side with if even a whisper of something off-limits made its way up to those with power.
They’d protect the players. The guys bringing in billions of dollars in profit every year. No one gives a shit about words likeconsensualorlovewhen money is at stake.
We saw an example of that a couple years back when word got out that one of our assistant coaches was dating a player on another team.
Their relationship had been going on for years, and the news only came to light after a hotel video was leaked, showing them making out in a hallway. The assistant coach was fired, and her ten-year career went down the drain all because of some grainy footage from a shitty Hilton in Detroit even though Shawn fought hard to keep her onboard.
If Odell so much as joked about me looking at Maven, her ass would be gone faster than I can blink.
I could never do that to her. Not when I see the joy in her eyes when she’s behind the camera and how much happiness it brings her.
I need to keep my distance.
It’s better for everyone.
“You’re up, Lansfield,” Shawn says, and I give him a nod.
I’ve done this so many times, the second my cleats hit the field, I go into autopilot. It’s like I blackout, and all the sights and sounds around me blur away.
I stand behind the line of scrimmage and bend down to knock away a loose piece of grass. I lift my arm and stare at the goal post, my target straight ahead of me. The deep breath comes easily and calm washes over me as my teammates get in position.
Inhale confidence.
Exhale fear.
I repeat the mantra three times, grateful for the piece of advice from our team psychologist.
The whistle blows, and I roll my shoulders back. It’s a quick snap, done so the defense can’t call a timeout and try to ice me. I hate when teams do that shit. It only makes me want to beat them more.
Justin Rodgers, my holder, catches the ball easily like he always does.
I wind up and take three steps forward, my eyes focused only on the ball in front of me.
I punt it with everything I have as the time on the clock expires, leaning to the left as I watch it soar in the air.
I know the kick is good well before it goes straight through the goal posts with yards to spare, and I pump my fist. When the final whistle sounds and signals the end of the game, I’m swept into the arms of my teammates. Jett jumps on my back and nearly pulls us to the ground as he kisses my helmet.
“I’m so glad you’re on my team,” he yells over the cheers from the fans. “One and oh, baby!”
There’s a round of congratulations and consolation handshakes with the Renegades players. I stop for a quick postgame interview with the local news station, and I let Reid record me doing a few stupid dance moves for some video recap he’s putting together. I only get made fun of once, and I take that as a victory on top of the game win, too.
When the mayhem settles, I pull my helmet off. I flip back my hair and shake the sweat off the ends, and I see Maven watching me.
Our eyes meet, and a smile curls on her lips. She doesn’t come any closer, but she does give me a thumbs up and a wink, an invitation to head her way if I wanted to.
“I’ll be right back,” I say to Reid, and he follows my gaze.
“Yeah, right.” He laughs and pats my shoulder. “I’ll see you in the locker room.”
I jog toward her, accepting handshakes from other members of the team and the security guards tasked with keeping fans away from the field. She takes another picture of me as I approach her then moves the camera away from her face.
“Nice kick,” she says. “Pretty sure that will be my photo of the game.”
“It wasn’t too much of a snoozefest for you? There was a whole quarter where no one scored any points.”
“That’s why sports are so fun; everything can change in an instant.” Maven looks over my shoulder at the rest of my team. “Don’t you need to head to the locker room?”
“I will in a minute. Could you grab June from the nursery? I’ll meet y’all at the car after doing media stuff and we can head back to the apartment for pizza.”
