Twelve seconds and one timeout remained, this was when Piper shined.
They didn’t need much. Three plays got them into field goal range, and the kick split the uprights as time expired. Final score: L.A. 31, Seattle 28.
Both teams moved toward midfield for the handshake. Piper pulled his helmet off and crossed the field, looking for the usual fake bullshit formalities from the other side.
Noah met him at the hash marks. Walking with a swagger that did not read defeat.
Sixty minutes of football and Noah Reyes looked like nothing just happened. He held out his hand and Piper took it.
“Good game, Ashton.”
A pause, brief, but long enough to mean something. “I’ll see you around.”
Then a wink. Piper stood there while the players churned around him and the sidelines filled with coaches and the noise pressed in from every direction, and none of it mattered because something had shifted under his sternum in a way he couldn’t diagram or structure or account for.
Piper froze for a second.
That wink. It was the whole fucking problem.
***
Back in the locker room, Piper grabbed his phone. He could feel the vibration against his sore throwing hand. Three pulses.
It was Jayson Days: Atherton tonight. Wheels up at 8. Don’t be late.
He had three hours.
The wink still lingered.
Chapter Three: Los Angeles to Atherton
The private jet smelled like a new car, which was Piper’s favorite smell.
The jet hummed lightly as it flew to thirty thousand feet. No expense was spared for the design and every detail was perfect. This was all a given since Jayson was the purchaser, a micromanaging billionaire tech Karen.
Piper still hated flying after years of constant flights around the world. He valued getting from point A to point B, but did not appreciate the lack of control as he flew through the sky in a designer metal tube.
Across from him, Jayson Days held a crystal glass of scotch. Piper knew it was something expensive but he was tired of Jayson telling him things were expensive so he didn’t bother asking any longer.
“Nice job tonight, pretty tight score, but I knew you would pull through,” Jayson said.
“Thanks,” Piper replied, a little shocked he was getting a compliment. Usually Jayson would lay on the critiques after games even if he won.
“The final drive was particularly impressive,” Jayson continued as he stared deeply into Piper’s eyes.
“You trusted the coverage read and most quarterbacks these days panic at that moment. Nicely done, try to keep it up.”
“Well that’s my job.”
“Well keep winning, you know I do not like to be disappointed,” Jayson said as he drank his scotch.
To Piper it felt like ownership inside praise. He had learned to hear the difference, had spent years learning it without findinganything useful to do with the knowledge. He looked out the window. The Pacific stretched below them.
“You’ve become exactly what I expected,” Jayson said.
“What did you expect?”
“The best.”
