"I dunno." I started a slow jog around the field. Bam and Chase fell in on either side.
"So, you didn't tell us who she is," Chase said.
"I bet I know who it is." Bam sounded smug. "That chick you made the bet with. What's her name? Rachel? Raquel? Katie?"
I smirked. "None of those. Where the hell did you get Katie from? It doesn't even sound like the others."
"He's just taking a stab in the dark," Chase dismissed.
"I bet there was a lot of stabbing in the dark, huh, Hawk?" Bam asked.
"Remind me to give him hell the next time he hooks up with someone," I said to Chase.
"I'll be right there with you," Chase said. "He usually gives me hell too." As if he hadn't just been razzing me equally as hard.
"Bam gives everyone hell," Ollie Tucker said when he caught up to us. "Don't eventalkto his sister."
"Stay away from my sister," Bam growled. "She's off limits to all of you assholes."
"If you had your way, she'd be in a convent," I said.
"Damn right she would," he said. "Far from all your prowlin' asses."
I laughed. "You have to cut the apron strings some day, bro."
"No time soon."
We reached the end of the field. The coach waved for us to grab a drink of water.
I worked up a light sweat. A few gulps of water would be enough to replenish it. I learned a long time ago not to drink too much or too little. Even drinking water was down to a fine art for all of us. Sometimes I felt like a lab rat, but I was a well-paid one, with a lab I loved. I wouldn't be running around looking for the way out any time soon.
"Becca," Bam said as he sipped. "That journalist chick."
"What about her?" I asked, trying to pretend the sound of her name didn't make my pulse race a shit ton faster. That the memory of her skin, soft and warm under my hands, my mouth, didn’t rush back in, making me dizzy. The way she moaned when I touched her just right. Our bodies melding together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The kind where you could try to jam pieces in beside others, and they mightalmostwork, but only therightpiece would fit perfectly.
I swallowed a mouthful of water and told my cock to behave himself. I stood on a field full of guys. Here would be a bad place to get hard thinking about her.
"Maybe it is." I shrugged. "Maybe it's not."
"If it isn't, you shouldn't go and make a love bet with one woman and take another to bed," Bam said. He frowned at me like a disapproving bro. He was a player, like the rest of us, but when it came to romance, he was a one woman at a time kinda guy. No matter how short that time might be.
"If it'll get you off my back, yes, it's Becca," I said. Damn, why could I see a whole future laid out in front of us when I said her name?
"Bro," Bam drew out the word. "Looks like you've got it bad."
"If you're going to be distracted, maybe we need to think about replacing you," Quinn said as he walked past us.
I wasn't sure which 'you' he meant, but his gaze lingered on me the longest.
"Sorry, Coach," Chase said cheerfully. He elbowed Ollie, who actually was paying attention to the warm up. "Come on, Ollie, get it together." Chase grinned.
"Fuck off, man," Ollie growled.
I shook my head at them and trotted off to grab a ball from the pile.
For the next hour or so, we practiced throwing them back and forth, and worked on our techniques and angles. The quarterback coach watched me and made me adjust my shoulders, my feet and my hips about a million times. It didn't matter how many times I threw a ball, it could always be done better. A bit more power here, a bit more finesse there. I paid close attention; this was my life, my dream. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.
For an hour, I forgot Becca and how she felt and tasted. For the moment, it was all about work.
