Sacked (Gridiron #1) (23 page)

L
ooking
at myself in the mirror had never been a problem before. I had pretty simple goals—play hard enough to win games and influence scouts. I cared about my family and my team, and we were almost always on the same page.

This morning, I have a hard time meeting my own gaze in the bathroom mirror.

I don’t like what I see.

It’s not just the sour taste of losing, but the way I had lost. I should have cleared this thing with Ellie before the game. It’s my own damn guilt weighing on my head.

I splash cold water on my face as the door to my apartment opens and closes.

It’s not Ty. I drove him to the airport at four in the morning so he could make his six o’clock flight. “It’s only one loss,” Ty told me before he exited the car.

“It was a bad loss to a bad team.” I replied curtly.

“Then you need to dominate in your last four games. Don’t let all this other bullshit affect you.” He gave me a hard squeeze.

Easy to say; less easy to do. But Ty’s right. I have to put this game behind me. One thing that separates the greats from the wannabes is the ability to shake off a loss. To forget how bad you played and show up in the next game like you’re the motherfucking champion.

I waited twenty-one years to have sex because I had this ideal in my head, but I’d waited as long for a title. Ty and I had never won one in high school. Ironically, our high school team suffered much of the same problems the Warriors had—a weak offense. Ty chose to go to a school that featured a premiere quarterback. I came to Western. Ty’s fancy pants quarterback suffered a career ending injury last year, and his chances for a title went out the window.

This year looked like my year. Ace threw the ball well enough to provide a decent cushion on the scoreboard. The defense clicked like one machine with one brain and one heart.

And Ellie showed up. Long legs, hot body, loved football, sarcastic sense of humor, and fucking knew the difference between my brother and me in every picture I showed her.

It was my year…until it wasn’t. And the minute things didn’t go my way, I folded like a cheap lawn chair.

I don’t like that. I’ve got to make things right with my team and with Ellie. She’s scared about something. Last night I replayed every conversation I had with her and the one we’d had right before the dinner with Ty struck me as weird. All that talk about affecting my draft status? It didn’t add up for me.

I wipe a hand down my jaw and go out to see what the commotion is.

I find Matty in the kitchen. “Who was that at the door?”

“Jack,” he says. “He brought this over.”

He tosses my away jersey over the back of a chair. So that’s how it’ll be? She doesn’t even want to talk to me?

I don’t like that. Not a bit. I stomp back into the bedroom and pull the phone away from the charging cord. I pull up Ellie’s number and stab the call button.

A mechanical voice answers telling me Ellie’s number has been disconnected. I check the number and dial again, like the recording instructs. Same thing.

Disconnected.

The hell? She sends Jack over with my jersey. Disconnects her phone so I can’t fucking call her?

I squeeze the phone tightly in my hand.

“Why don’t you let me take the jersey to the trainers? I’ll get it cleaned up before the game next week,” Matty offers.

“Good idea, bro,” I pick up the jersey and almost throw it to Matty until I catch a whiff of it. It smells like Ellie. Smells like citrus and
girl
, and fuck if my fist doesn’t clench around the material and refuse to let go. “On second thought, I’ll send it over with the rest of my shit tomorrow.”

I have no idea if that’s a lie. I just know that right now I’m not ready to get rid of it.

Matty’s eyes show a measure of concern that I’ll need to address. I force my fingers to loosen around the polyester and toss it over the back of the sofa.

Apparently I’m not ready to eliminate Ellie from my life even though it’s easy for her to erase me from hers. What I can do is go about repairing my relationship with my team—starting with Matty.

“I’m sorry about yesterday’s game. My head wasn’t all there for the first couple quarters and that’s not right.”

Matty gives me a half smile and small shake of his head. “Masters, you played like a demon and I’ll always be proud that you were my teammate.” He slaps me on the back. “I’m making pancakes downstairs with the rest of the team. Let’s go down before it’s all gone.”

I make my way down to the first floor where most of the defensive starters have gathered around Hammer’s table eating breakfast. I stop near the foot of the table where an empty place waits for me.

“You okay, man?” Hammer asks.

“Other than the fact that I feel like shit for letting you guys down on the field yesterday, I’m okay.” The look of relief that passes across each and every one of their faces tells me I’m doing the right thing. I wait for Matty to come tromping down the stairs. He joins us at the table.

Once he takes his seat, I give all the guys an apology. “I’m sorry for last week.”

“No, man. That wasn’t you.” Jessie shakes his head vigorously, making his tight corn rows bounce. “You had that chick in your head. If it’s any one’s fault it’s—”

I cut him off before he says anything too stupid, because Jessie’s a good linebacker and his replacement…not so good.

“Was Ellie—” Fuck, it hurts to even say her name. “Was she on the field yesterday? Did she wear number fifty-five while my ass sat on a bench?” Jessie mouths no as I say it. “No. I stunk it up in the first quarter. I stumbled over my own feet like a newborn colt. That was me. I didn’t shed blocks. I let a weaker guy push me off the line. And I’m sorry for my play.” It’s important for my team to see me take responsibility, so when we go back to practice on Monday, they are as focused as ever.

“When we go out on the football field, everyone there has practiced as much as we have. We win because we want it more than they do. We care less about the pain in our shins, our swollen fingers, and our bruised bones than we do about victory. Yesterday I let the vision of our success slip away and the win went with it. So I’m sorry, and I’m here to tell you it won’t happen again. From now on, from the first whistle to the last, I will not take a play off. I’ll focus on nothing but winning. I make that pledge to you now.”

Hammer thuds his hand on the table, slowly, like a war drum.

“Nothing but football from here on out,” he concurs.

One by one each player makes their own pledges, and with each word and passing moment, we begin to reknit the spirit of the team. The heaviness that wore me down all last night and this morning begins to subside a little.

“Now you guys need to accept my apology so I don’t have to keep running down all the shit things I did yesterday. There’s no reason to blame the girl I—” Love. I clear my throat, but the word I can’t say hangs out there like my fly is open and my dick’s flopping in the wind.

Matty jumps in like a fucking superhero.

“How early is too early for a dick pic?” He waves his phone.

“No dick pics before ten.” Hammer scowls.

“Is that what the donut blowjob site says?” I ask, a reluctant smile curving across my face. I sense another epic Hammer and Matty disagreement coming on, and damn if we don’t need it.

Hammer nods. “I think I should write for that site. I read other articles and some of them are written by
dudes
.” He spits out the last word with disgust.

“Why’s that bad?”

“Because these guys aren’t using their power for good. They’re passing out advice to a bunch of horny women, but it’s all about sappy movies and what kind of noises girls should make in bed.”

“What’s your suggested topics?”

Hammer’s face lights up. “I’m thinking things like ‘Top ten reasons why swallowing is good for your health’ and ‘It’s okay to watch ESPN and have sex at the same time’
and ‘A threesome makes for better roommate relationships.’
Shit like that.”

Heads nod in agreement around the table. “You got scientific proof of that?” I ask with a full-fledged grin. We all know he doesn’t.

“Fuck, man, this site talks about using fruit and baked goods during oral. They don’t need scientific proof.”

I stifle a laugh.

“You’re not the hero we asked for, but the one we deserve,” Matty pronounces and the two exchange high fives.

The team will be all right. Now I have to fix Ellie and me.

Ace comes up to the apartment after I take a short run to work off the carbs and fat from breakfast.

“Hey, man. I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to apologize for busting your chops earlier in the season. Obviously I have no place to talk.” I get him a beer which he takes gratefully. Matty’s watching television in the living room.

“It’s no big deal. I shouldn’t sleep with Stella anyway.” He takes a couple long gulps of the beer.

“Hey, if she’s the one for you, then I’ve got no quarrel.” If anyone told me that Ellie and I were a bad fit, I’d punch them in the mouth.

He tilts his head back and I wait for him to spill whatever he’s here to talk about. We don’t mingle a lot—Ace and I—but he’s a decent guy, and I think he’ll make a good locker room leader when I’m gone. Matty will helm the defense and Ace the offense.

“I’m here about Ellie.”

His bald statement catches me off guard. I pause in the middle of reaching for a bottle of Gatorade. “What about her?”

The door of the refrigerator swings shut. Ace rubs the back of his neck. “I’m not supposed to talk about this, but we both know I do a hell of a lot of shit I’m not supposed to do. Coach put a ban on her. Said if he saw her with any member of the Warriors team, her brother would get kicked off. He made some noise about kicking us off too, but I doubt he’s serious about that.”

We’re five games away from possibly getting to the playoffs. No, he’s not benching either Ace or me. I rub my chin. “This is about Jack, isn’t it?”

Jack didn’t play yesterday. Coach said he was inactive at the beginning of the game, and nothing more.

“You know?” Ace leans against the sink. The sounds of the game come from the living room, punctuated by cheers or groans from Matty.

“I suspected he had problems academically. I should've talked to him about it. I meant to, but Ellie asked me not to. So what happened, and how do you know about it, but I don’t?” I ask impatiently.

“Jack and Ellie showed up on Tuesday. I was getting my arm iced.” Ace had taken a hard hit a week ago. “Ellie cheated for him. Using his access code to sign in and do some worksheets and midterm answers. The only good thing about it is that none of the work was graded.”

“For that goddamn poli sci class,” I curse. Ellie had always acted evasive about Jack’s progress, and I chalked it up to protectiveness. She didn’t want me to know he struggled. As if I cared about that. But why freeze me out? “Why did Coach question you? He saw me put Jack on my list.”

“Maybe he didn't see what name we'd traded. He only knew we had traded a name. Or, I think he wanted to see if I’d take responsibility for the team.”

Ace had stepped up big time.

“Holy shit.” I let loose a bitter laugh and squeeze my neck tight in one hand, hoping to relieve the tension that took root there. “Ellie and I talked last week about me declaring early. I fucking bragged to her that I didn't have anything to worry about because I didn't have any skeletons in my closet.”

He presses his lips together. “She broke up with you so your statement would stay accurate.”

“And I wouldn’t let it go. I hounded her, so she had to prove it to me. That’s what the business with Ty meant.” It’s a good thing the glass bottle is in Ace’s hand and not mine, because I would’ve have thrown it at the wall in frustration. Getting angry won’t solve anything. Information will. “What else did Coach say?” I demand. “I want to know everything.”

Ace outlines Coach’s ban, word for word.

“He said immediate family is outside the ban?”

“Yes.”

“In front of you and Brian Newsome?”

“What are you thinking?” he asks suspiciously.

I tell him exactly what I'm thinking.

His eyes go wide in shock. “That's crazy, man.”

I jut my chin out. "If someone said you could play ten years as an elite NFL quarterback if you would only jump across a cliff as wide as your wing span, would you take that chance even if you could fall and get broken from the attempt?"

"Of course.” He scowls.

"Then what I propose to do is the least crazy thing in the world."

He leaves, shaking his head in skepticism. He must not love Stella, because if he did, he’d get it. Completely.

My first target is Matty. If I get him on board, the rest of the defense will follow. Ace will work on the offense. He doesn’t understand, but he wants to win.

Matty shoves away from the brick wall of Carter Hall. We’ve watched Ellie walk to all her classes today in between practice and our own classes. She’s got a lighter load now that she’s not taking two extra courses for her brother. How’d I miss that before?

Matty digs his hands deeper into the pockets of his winter coat. I can tell by the tenseness of his shoulders he’s unhappy. “I don't like seeing you like this, man. You're like a fucking boomerang. She tosses you away, but you keep running back to her.”

A captain’s relationship with his teammates is an emotional bond. I'd sawed a notch in it by letting my emotions affect my mental sharpness. We'd repaired it, but I have to step lightly or run the risk of damaging it again. Like Ellie said the day we first met, winning is about the head and the heart. Not so much the body.

So I’m careful with my response. “When have I ever gotten discouraged by a setback? If you don’t sack the quarterback the first time, do you give up?” He shakes his head slowly. “Right, you keep going. It doesn’t matter if the guy on the line weighs a hundred pounds more than you and plays like the second coming of Gene Upshaw, that quarterback is yours. You dictate the play at the line of scrimmage even if it takes you the entire game. The whistle hasn’t blown for me. This thing between Ellie and me isn’t over.”