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“Wait until your little one arrives,” Damon chimes in, eyeing Miles.
“Enjoy the sex now, and from what I know of Ellery, which isn’t as much as you and Bryce know, she likes things slow. Doesn’t want to rush into anything.” Miles is so perceptive of people.
“Yeah, she does.” When she was deciding what to specialize in during medical school, she went from family to obstetrics to emergency. And when she got her apartment, she flip-flopped between two units, unable to make the decision because she’s always worried about making a mistake. Amazing how someone can have a job where they have to be so decisive but not when it comes to her personal life. “Okay. I’ll give it more time.”
“You’re the only man I know who would complain about too much pussy and not enough planning.” Damon shakes his head and finishes getting dressed.
Coach Stone comes out of his office, huddles us together for a pep talk, and sends us out to the field, ready to win.
We run out, and Damon pisses off Coach Stone by jumping into the stands with Adeline and Clover, who is here today, along with Adeline’s parents.
Bryce is waving to Miles, wearing her usual plethora of things with his number on them.
My gaze shifts to the only person I care about. Ellery smiles and gives me a wave as if she can keep what’s between us hidden. I blow her a kiss, and her smile widens until her vision shifts to my side.
“Funny, if you would’ve just been honest with me, I never would’ve gone after her.” Bradley stretches his arm across his chest. “And look at that smile now that she’s all snug back in your number.”
“I didn’t know what I felt then,” I say.
“Bullshit. But I’m glad you both opened up your eyes so you can stop screwing over others.”
I laugh and rock my head back. “Are you suggesting that she hurt you?”
“Not her, but your stunt in the nightclub got me suspended for a game. What you’re missing, Golden Boy, is that I’m not you. I never won the Player of the Year award, I didn’t have a daddy who paved the road for me, and I don’t have your record. So, me being suspended makes me look like I’m a problem. And teams don’t like problems. All that bullshit because you guys were too afraid to lose each other may have cost me a position with another team.”
“You’re looking to leave Chicago?” I ask before he can jog away from me.
“You barely throw to me; everything goes to Damon. Doesn’t sound like my quarterback has my best interests at heart. And a captain who allows his personal shit to interfere with what happens on that field isn’t the kind of captain I want.” He turns away to head toward the other offensive guys. “Oh, and good luck. I really hope you don’t play shitty today, and I say that as a teammate because I want us to win.”
He disappears into the crowd of offensive players, and I clench my jaw and start my practice throws. The sad part is he’s right. I was so pissed when he was dating Ellery that I always looked for Damon more. It was a shit move, and I’m glad he called me out on it.
“Rice!” a woman’s voice screams, and I turn to the stands to see my package being delivered to Ellery.
Bryce gives me a thumbs-up. I watch as Ellery opens up the box and pulls out the necklace that says “I love” with my number. She smiles, and Bryce helps her put it on.
Elle mouths “Thank you, and I love you,” and I mouth, “Ditto.”
“All this romance shit. What happened to football? Get your head in the game, Rice!” Coach Stone yells as he walks by, having witnessed the scene.
I wink at Ellery and throw the ball again to warm up my arm.
We’re down by one, and we have less than a minute on the clock in the fourth quarter. But we have to get the ball down the field. Although I haven’t played shitty, things just haven’t been going our way in this game. Too many errors by all of us combined. Plus, the Vipers came out like a fucking all-star team today.
I get the play Coach wants and get into the huddle. I tell everyone the play we’re making, and Bradley sighs, mumbling, “Could’ve predicted that one.”
I ignore him because we don’t have time to fight over this now.
The ball rests on the twenty-five-yard line. Morales hikes the ball to me, and I make a quick throw to Damon, and he runs out of bounds to stop the clock.
The fans go crazy, jumping up and down. We advance fifteen yards, but we need more.
I get the next call and the huddle comes together, Bradley again showing his displeasure that he’s not getting the ball.
I throw across the middle to Harris, our tight end, and we hurry up and line up again, the clock continuing to count down. Morales hikes me the ball, and I spike it to stop the clock.
Coach wants me to go to Damon for the next play, but the way the Vipers have been playing tonight, he’ll be double-teamed and will have no shot at catching the ball. There’s only one hope, and I suck up my ego and do what a good quarterback does.
We huddle together, and I look right at Bradley. “Get open, and this game win is yours.”
