“Please.” My body turned hot in an instant at the voice. It was Zeke. “Just let me show her the proof, and if she wants me to leave, I won’t bother her again.”
Alec looked over his shoulder at me, and I nodded. Alec looked back out the door. “I still think you’re shady, so make it quick.”
Alec stood aside, and Zeke walked through the door. My gut reaction was to run over to him, but I stayed put. I wasn’t yet convinced that he wasn’t just saving face, either. He had a stack of papers in his hands and walked over and sat down on the couch next to me.
“Hi,” he said, and his voice was the saddest I’d ever heard. “I missed you.”
“Ah-ah.” Alec snapped his fingers. “Talk. You’re on a three-minute countdown.”
Zeke handed the papers over to me. The first of them was the official paperwork showing a string of texts. The responses I’d seen Zeke sending to Lila were listed, but the questions he was getting were totally different. The number he was responding to wasn’t Lila’s either. The documents were all on official letterheads from the company, proving that they weren’t fake. Zeke hadn’t sent Lila to Colorado.
I continued to flip through the papers, and the next few were applications for apartments in Montpelier, dated before the game against Colorado. In one of the applications, there was a string of emails between Zeke and the complex agent. He made a joke about hoping to convince his girlfriend to move in one day. She asked if a wedding was in the future, and he said he hoped so. The relationship was still new, but he just had a feeling.
The last of the papers were plays from Zeke’s playbooks with notes on how to be more synchronized as a team and combat the Widows’ power, Lila included. The papers were wrinkled with fading writing—at least as old as us starting our semi-pro bid. He didn’t plan on Lila being gone and was taking our rematch seriously.
“You…” I looked up at him, tears filling my eyes. “You didn’t set us up.”
He shook his head. “No, baby. I would never do that to you.”
I threw my arms around him, and he hugged me back, squeezing tightly. He pulled away, but only enough to take my head between his hands and pull me in for a kiss. I felt the stack of papers leave my hand but couldn’t be bothered.
I heard a sniffle and looked up, and Alec was crying. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
Alec was frowning. “It’s just so nice. He really loves you! I’m sorry, Zeke.”
Zeke chuckled. “It’s okay, buddy. Just don’t kill me, okay?”
Alec nodded. “Okay.”
I sat back. “God, I feel so dumb for letting him trick me again.”
“He got us both, twice,” Zeke said, rubbing the tears from my face. “As long as you forgive me, I don’t care.”
“Of course I forgive you, but Zeke, you can’t put your semi-pro status on the line. You could ruin your chances to go pro. I won’t let you give everything up like that.”
“I’m not giving everything up,” Zeke replied, his eyes settling into mine with a warm expression. “I’m just changing what everything means.”
Alec squealed. “Aw.”
I looked up at him. “Get out.”
His jaw dropped. “I brought you three different foods today.”
“And I’m grateful. We will eat it after,” I replied. “Get out.”
Alec complained but grabbed his phone and left. I stood up off the couch and pulled Zeke into my bedroom so we could get to making up, first and foremost.
27
Quinn
My heart was pounding in my chest as we filed into the official opponent’s locker room in Vipers Stadium. The concrete benches, rows of lockers, high-grade tile showers, and whiteboard for going over plays were just a few of the amenities a semi-pro facility boasted. The rest of the Widows seemed similarly amazed as everyone wandered around the space, Cal included.
“Holy crap,” Alec grumbled. “This is not MontRec.”
I shook my head. “No, it is not.”
I loved my community center. For my entire life, it was a place that meant football to me. It wasn’t just a job. It was a home. It was where I met my team, where I earned a living, and where my boss and the owner treated me like one of their own. It was a place that comforted me when I was sad, brought me joy when I was energized, and calmed me down when I was angry. Leaving it behind for a real stadium would be scary and sad, but it would be amazing, too. Maybe one day soon, I could go to MontRec as nothing more than a member of the community. Maybe I could finally lead my own class. The possibilities had electricity coursing through my blood.
“All right, enough gawking, ladies. Get yourselves comfortable. We have a lot to go over.”
Despite everyone wanting to continue walking around the impressive locker room to view everything it had to offer, we did, eventually, gather around Cal, sitting amongst the benches, no longer collecting grass stains on our pants during the huddle.
Cal took a deep breath before starting. “I know we’re all probably more than a little nervous after our last game, but the amount of work we put in this week wasn’t for nothing. The Vipers are taking this game as seriously as any other game, maybe even more so. We have to match that energy. No, we have to beat it.”
He pointed at Jansen. “You need to be more careful with your pacing. If you’re exhausted by the third like you were yesterday, we’re gonna lose. There’s nothing else to it.”
Jansen nodded. “I know, Coach.”
“Mala, Jazz. You guys killed it yesterday, threading the needle. I need more of that. If you can lure the Vipers away from Quinn, she can get the ball out, and as long as Jansen’s downfield, there’s nothing that can stop us.”
“Yes, Coach,” they resounded.
Cal looked over at me. “And you.”
I flicked a hand through the air. “Hi.”
“We can’t afford even a second slip up from you. I’m sorry to put it all on you, but well, it is. Don’t get starstruck, don’t get overly excited, don’t freak out, and don’t flirt with your boyfriend. You want this, don’t you?”
“More than anything.”
“Good, prove it.” He closed his playbook. “This is different from any of our previous games, Widows. Let Alec give you water during timeouts, and don’t be afraid to let me know if you’re struggling. We have contingency plans for a reason.” He looked over at me. “Anything to add?”
I stood up and looked at the Black Widows. They all smiled back at me, and a blazing fire of determination burned behind their eyes. I had a whole speech planned, but at that moment, anything I was planning to say didn’t need to be said. “Let’s go out there and give them a battle they won’t forget.”
Cal put one hand on my back and stuck the other out. “Bring it in.”
We hopped up and piled our hands on top of Cal’s. I tilted my head back and screamed, “Widows!”
“Widows!” They called back to me.
A security guard led us from our locker room out onto the Vipers field, and my jaw dropped. The thrum of thousands of fans found me before we stepped out into the afternoon sun, but when we did, I could see each and every seat in the stadium was packed. At least half of the spectators were wearing black and red and erupted when they saw us walking out.