“COME ON, BOYS! HOLD ’EM!”
Coach Sanders’s voice rang out over the roar of the crowd, almost thirty-thousand people in the stands — most of them wearing the other team’s colors. The Waterville University Bandits were the largest in the state, and they drowned out the NBU students who had dedicated themselves enough to make the drive from Boston to cheer us on.
It had been like that all four quarters.
Rain assaulted us yet again this game, only this time, it was cold enough to turn to sleet, a nasty mixture of rain and snow that made the playing conditions absolutely horrendous. I was already so sore and tired that I thought my body would revolt when I bent into position for the next play, training my mind on our one goal.
Stop the Bandits offense from getting the first down.
They were only up by three points, and with a little over a minute left to play, that was enough time for us to get the ball down the field far enough for Riley to kick and tie the game for overtime. But if they got even one more first down here, they’d be in field goal range — and that would put us down by a touchdown.
The ball was snapped, and I fired off the line, chasing after the wide receiver I was covering. I had him, no matter how he tried to juke and break away. The quarterback’s wild eyes as he frantically searched the backfield told me my teammates were doing their jobs well.
There was nowhere for him to throw, and the poor sucker ran out of time.
One of our defenders blasted through the line, wrapping the quarterback up and taking him down in a sack that made the stadium go quiet, save for the roaring little corner of it that was filled with NBU students.
We celebrated on our way back to the sideline, the loss so big we knew they wouldn’t dare a field goal. And as our special teams jogged out for the kick reception, I guzzled down water and tried to preserve what little energy I had left for what was still to come.
It took every ounce of effort I had to keep my mind on the game and off Giana.
That was new for me. Football had had my full attention since I was a kid. Even when I was with Maliyah, the girl I thought I’d end up marrying, she faded easily to the back of my mind when it was game time.
It was different with Giana.
She was on the sideline, too, fielding reporters and camera crew with a cool, steel reserve. It shouldn’t have made sense, how well she handled professionals at least five years older than her, some more than that. She also wrangled us as student athletes, which was akin to herding cats. But somehow over the last year and a half, she’d found her voice, her confidence. She spoke clearer and louder, knew what she was doing, and had the ability to look as cool as a cucumber while she did it.
It was hard not to watch, to admire — especially when I also knew how to unravel that well-put-together woman when it was just the two of us.
Zeke catching the ball down at the ten snapped me back to the present, and I watched him zoom almost thirty yards before he was taken down. I kept my focus on the field as Holden ran out with the offense next, leading them in a myriad of plays that got us well within field goal range.
But we didn’t need it.
Leo Hernandez took a snap that should have just been a short run, but he found an opening and bolted, juking every defender who caught up too slowly to do anything but watch him fly past them.
And just like that, we scored a touchdown with mere seconds left on the clock.
It was just enough time for Riley to kick the extra point, and for the Bandits to get one Hail Mary play in that resulted in nothing.
We won.
And I was convinced we were fucking unstoppable.
Even a long, piping hot shower couldn’t thaw my bones after a freezing cold game in the sleet, but I felt marginally better once I was dressed in my sweats. The team was jovial as we showered and dressed and got ready to get on the bus, one that would take us to our hotel for the night. I had no doubt the team would be going out to celebrate.
I, on the other hand, had much different plans.
“So, what shithole bar are we hitting tonight?” Leo asked, towel around his neck as he waggled his brows at me.
“I found one called The Looney Bin,” Riley answered, showing her phone with the reviews she’d been reading. “College bar. Apparently pretty strict on fakes, but that’s never stopped us before.”
“Look at Novo getting in the spirit,” Leo praised.
“After a win like that?” Riley threw a thumb over her shoulder. “We’re essentially guaranteed a bowl.”
“Not just a bowl game,” Zeke added, tossing his arm around her before he kissed her temple. “The bowl game.”
I started bobbing my head, drumming out a beat on the lockers as I did. “Ship. Ship. Ship. Ship.”
I chanted and danced until the rest of the team joined in, and before long, there were hollers and screams ringing out, guys standing on the benches or literally hanging from the rafters. It was absolute chaos in the most incredible way — the way only a team on the brink of greatness truly understood.
I was wrapped up in watching it all unfold when a pair of cool hands covered my eyes.
I smiled, ready to whip around and drag Giana into me for a kiss that I’d been dying to give her since the beginning of the game. But it wasn’t her voice that cooed, “Guess who?”
It was Maliyah’s.
I stiffened, peeling her fingers off me before I turned with a bored expression on my face.
She was freshly showered, her long blonde hair in a wet, messy bun on top of her head, and oversized cheer sweats covering her from neck to toe. Despite my non-enthusiastic greeting, she held a wide smile, bouncing on her toes a bit.
“Great game, babe.”
I grimaced at the nickname, but chose to ignore it as I turned back to my locker and began packing up my bag. “Thanks.”
“So, when do I get that date?” she asked, leaning between me and the locker to block me from grabbing my cleats. I frowned at first, confused before I remembered the stupid fucking team auction.
“You do realize it’s not a real date, right?”
“That’s what I paid for,” she argued as I politely scooted her to the side so I could finish getting my shit together. “Besides, we haven’t had any real time together since I got to NBU.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Her expression flattened, but she shook it off, forcing a smile. “I’ve missed you. It would be good for us to have some alone time. Time to talk.”
“I don’t have anything to talk to you about.”
“Clay—”
“Look, you can have the picnic voucher and take someone who actually gives a fuck about you,” I said, slamming my locker shut before I shrugged my bag over one shoulder. “Or you can take me and we can sit there in silence. Your choice.”
I didn’t know why anger was licking its way so fiercely up my spine. Maybe it was my father’s voice in my ear, how he pointed out the manipulative tactics I never realized she used against me. Or maybe it was Giana, how she made me promise to put myself first and not be shy about it.
Either way, I had zero interest in playing this game any longer with my ex.
“I highly doubt we’d sit there in silence,” Maliyah countered, still trying to laugh it off. I saw in her eyes that she was about to reach out and touch me, but before she could, I ducked away and headed for the door.