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The corner of Christian’s mouth curled up in a smirk. “You what?”
“I want you to throw me a pass,” I insisted. “Pretend it’s a game. Show me how it’s done.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “Are you sure you can catch it?”
“I played softball for two years. I think I can catch a football, as long as you give me a nice, easy pass.” I tossed the ball underhand to him.
“Okay.” In his broad hands, the ball looked tiny. “Go long.”
“No! I want you to do it like this is a real game. From the snap. Pretend all those fans are booing you. Let it fuel you.” I grinned, and Christian grinned back at me.
“I can do that. The play starts when the Center hikes the ball.” He placed the ball on the ground. “Crouch over it, and place one hand on the ball.”
“You just want me to bend over,” I teased.
“You said you wanted to pretend this was a real game, from the snap. So you have to snap me the ball.”
I glared at him, then stood over the ball. I bent down into a crouch with my ass sticking out. “Now what?”
He stepped up behind me. Close enough that his arms were brushing against my ass. “I place my hands down here, open wide to receive the snap. When I say the word hike, grab the ball and throw it backwards into my waiting hands. And then go running forward like a receiver.”
“But you have to do all the gibberish, too.”
“Gibberish?”
“Before the ball is snapped, you always call out a bunch of random words,” I said. “It sounds like gibberish to someone like me.”
Christian chuckled. “I promise to do all the gibberish. After the ball is hiked, I want you to run anout route. Run forward for two seconds, then make a ninety-degree turn to the right so that you’re running straight toward the sideline. That’s when I’ll pass the ball. Ready?”
“Ready!”
I felt him crouch down with me. “Down, set, blue fourteen… hike!”
When I heard the magic word, I tossed the ball backwards between my legs, then sprinted forward.One Mississippi,I counted in my head.Two Mississippi…
I dug in my heel and turned right so that I was moving perpendicular to the field, directly toward the sideline where the cart of balls was. I twisted to look back at Christian, who was throwing the ball. It soared through the air, a perfect spiral, hanging in the empty space for an impossibly long time. I put up my hands to catch it…
…and the ball passed through my fingers and smashed into my face.
There was a flash of white, and then my head hit the ground with a thud.
26
Christian
I barely threw the ball!
It was the slowest I could possibly toss it while still maintaining my accuracy! Peewee football players put more strength behind their passes than this! Beth got her hands up to catch it, but she was a heartbeat too slow.
Like an assassin’s bullet taking out an Archduke, the ball struck Beth directly in the nose and knocked her out.
“Beth!” I cried out, sprinting to reach her limp body. She was groaning when I fell at her side, her blonde hair splayed out like a halo against the green turf.
“You promised… to give me… an easy pass…” she moaned. It sounded like her nose was clogged.
I helped her into a sitting position. “That was as easy as I could have thrown it. You’re supposed to use your hands to catch it.”
She gave me a hurt look. “I tried!”
