“This is a bad idea.”
I rolled my eyes at Zeke’s tenth attempt to get me to change my mind as I stretched and did some tuck jumps to get my hamstrings ready. Other than working drills or conditioning with Coach, sprints off the line weren’t exactly my forte.
Still, I wasn’t worried.
Confidence buzzed through me like I’d just taken a shot of it, like it was warming me the way a bottle of whiskey would.
“I’ve got more game than you give me credit for,” I said.
“He’s a tight end. He’s twice your size.”
“Well, if he wins, then I’ll get a little stress relief.” I turned on him then. “Which is what you said I need, right? Sounds like a win-win to me.”
I smiled with the joke, but Zeke’s face was anything but humorous. In fact, I was pretty sure I could fry an egg on his neck, or use the steam rolling out of his nose to cook noodles.
“We need to make this quick,” Holden said, gripping the ball in his hands as we all gathered around him. “No foul play. Anything that could be called a P.I. in a game will be called one here. That means no holding onto clothing, no wrapping each other up, no shoving the other down or off the ball. Play clean.”
He aimed that warning mostly at Kyle, who had a vicious smirk on his face as he swung his arms back and forth.
“You’ll both run routes — starting on either side of me. I’ll throw it in a neutral zone where you’ll both have to work for it. I’ll call the points when the ball is on the way down. Got it?”
Kyle and I nodded, and then we lined up on opposite sides of Holden in lunge positions, chest lowered, legs bent and ready to explode.
Zeke stood off to my left, elbow balanced on his opposite forearm as he all but chewed his thumbnail off.
I caught his gaze and gave him a wink, just like he did to me that first game.
And then, Holden clapped the side of the ball and yelled, “Hike!”
I took off straight down the field, cutting left and turning back toward Holden just in time to see him throw the ball high in the air.
“One hundred!” he called out, and it was right in the middle of where Kyle and I had ended up.
We both sprinted toward it, and I extended my hands for the catch just as Kyle jumped up high in front of me and snagged the ball before it had the chance to reach me.
Some of the guys cheered, others booed, and Kyle turned to me with that damn grin of his as he tucked the ball under his arm and we both jogged back to repeat.
“I can’t wait to find out if your pussy is as tight as the rest of that little bod,” he murmured under his breath, eyes roaming down the length of me.
Fire burned my throat, along with the urge to knee him right in the balls, but I knew he was just trying to get under my skin.
So, I shot back, “And I can’t wait for all of Instagram to see your baby pencil dick.”
I smiled sweetly, lining up on the other side of Holden without so much as a glance at Zeke while Kyle scoffed and waved me off.
A minute to catch our breath, and then we were off again.
This time, I swung out wide, turning back in after I heard the number called and hoping I could beat Kyle to the end of the arc.
“Two-fifty!” Holden called, and Kyle and I were both mid-sprint, our eyes on the ball.
It was short, and I dove, hoping like hell I’d catch it before it hit the ground.
But again, I didn’t get the chance.
Kyle was so tall, so explosive that he somehow managed to get underneath it well before it was even close to the ground.
He caught it effortlessly.
“Woo! Let’s go, baby!” He beat on his chest, tossing the ball back to Holden before helping me up off the ground without me wanting him to. He smacked my ass, jogging backward out of the way before I could smack him across the face for doing it. “That’s three-fifty, Novo. In case you lost count.”
I cracked my neck, breathing through the frustration threatening to take hold of me. When I lined up again, Holden caught the crook of my arm.
“We can stop this now. We’ll all have your back if you want to pull out.”
I shrugged him off. “I’ve got this.”
He swallowed, jaw tight like he wanted to argue with me, but thankfully he stepped back in line and trusted me.
That, or he gave up.
Either way was better for my focus.
Holden gave me a sideways glance, one laced with the same concern Zeke had shown. I just gave him a determined look of my own before I set my eyes down the field, fingers tingling at my sides as I crouched down.
Holden’s voice was a little weaker when he said, “Hike!”
I changed up my strategy, following right on Kyle’s heels. I was faster than he was, though he towered over me, and I stuck on him like a safety as we ran.
We both turned just in time for Holden to yell, “One-fifty!”
“Here, baby,” I husked, rubbing my ass against Kyle’s crotch as I slightly pushed into him. “A little taste of what you could have.”
I rolled my hips then, eliciting a groan from him as his hands came to frame my waist. Then, with his guard down, I nudged him back with my ass, launched up, and picked the ball before he had the chance to recover.
Cheers erupted.
“Fuck yeah, Novo!”
“Atta girl!”
“We got a game now!”
I smiled, heart racing as we jogged back, and Kyle glared at me when we made it back to the line.
“You think you’re cute? That’s the last time that trick will work, trust me,” he warned.
I just shrugged innocently, throwing the ball back to Holden as both he and Zeke looked at me with a million questions in their eyes.
“Let’s go,” I said, ignoring both of them.
Holden shook his head, clearly still not liking his involvement, but after a long breath, he clapped the ball, and off we went.
One catch was all it took for me to get my mojo. I caught the next one for fifty points, and then the next two balls were drops. Kyle caught another for one hundred, and then I caught one for three hundred.
And we were tied.
And exhausted.
And both determined to win.
“Alright, last ball,” Holden told us before we’d even left the line. “It’ll be fifty points. Keep it clean,” he warned again.
A breath.
A shiver.
And then a distant, “Hike!”
I sprinted as hard as I could, straight forward, not bothering with running a full route. Kyle did the same, and we lined up a few feet away from each other, not sure where the ball would go.
When Holden launched it, the wind caught the ball, and it sailed up and left. I sprinted after it, and I knew before I even reached out for it that it was mine. I was on target, I was going to make it right under, it was mine.
I sprinted with my heart pounding in my ears, kicking hard off the turf and reaching out.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was hit.
I lost my breath, lost my balance, lost everything as the hit shocked me and sent me to the ground in a crushing sound of bones against the hard earth.
Distantly, I recognized the collective oohhh that came from the guys watching, but everything went black for a second, and by the time I came to…
It was a brawl.
Kyle held the ball victoriously, claiming he’d won, while Holden, Leo, and Clay threatened him within an inch of his life and called him out for a dirty pass interference.
“I barely touched her!”
“You shoved her so hard she hit the ground, you fucking douche,” Clay argued, snatching the ball out of Kyle’s hands. “She’s not wearing pads. You could have really hurt her.”
It was then that I realized I was warm and cradled, and my eyelids fluttered as I looked up at who was holding me.
Zeke.
His jaw was set, neck thick with emotion as his nostrils flared.
There was so much in his gaze… too much. It set fire to my belly, the raw protectiveness rolling off him in plumes.
And something else.
Something I couldn’t quite grasp.
I swallowed, leaning up and fighting against the urge to wince. I knew if I did, the game would be done.
“I’m fine,” I said, starting to stand.
Zeke stopped me, holding me tighter. “You hit the ground hard. You went lights out.” He shook his head. “We’re done with this shit.”
“No,” I said, wriggling out of his hold and climbing to my feet. “No, it’s not over.”
I looked at Holden next, who was still glaring at Kyle like he was a bug that needed smashing.
“Again,” I said.
Every pair of eyes flicked to me, jaws dropping in unison as I jogged back to the line.
Holden and Zeke were on my tail in the next minute.
“You shouldn’t do anything after that,” Holden warned. “You might have a con—”
“I didn’t hit my head,” I shot back. “It hurt like hell, yes, but I’m fine. Look,” I said, doing a little dance to illustrate. “You have all taken harder hits and got right back on the line.”
“With pads on,” Zeke reminded me.
I shrugged. “The game isn’t over. Come on. Again.”
I looked at Kyle then, who was just rejoining us. It seemed like slow motion as he winked at me, the corner of his mouth curling up when he took his spot on the line.
I swallowed, turning my attention down the field as I blew out a long, slow breath.
You’ve got this.
This is your ball.
This is your catch.
This is your win.
Holden gritted his teeth, clearly unhappy as he clapped the ball hard, not even bothering to add a verbal cue.
We sprinted down, and every rib and joint in my body ached from the fall as I tried to keep up with Kyle. He got down faster than me this time, and he didn’t have to foul me, didn’t have to even try to line up perfectly under the ball.
My breath caught in my throat, a gasp of a no soft on my lips.
But then…
The ball tipped his fingers, bouncing high into the air.
His eyes went wide, and he reached up to try to grab it, to try to correct the bobble, but it was too late.
I snagged it out of the air, cradling it to my chest as I somersaulted down to the ground.
There was a breath of silence.
And then everyone went ape shit.
I opened my eyes from where I’d squeezed them shut just in time to see Kyle beat his fist on the ground, cursing, while the guys behind him jumped up and down and sprinted down the field toward us.
Clay scooped me up so fast I dropped the ball, and then I was on his shoulders, laughing and throwing my fists up in victory as everyone chanted my name.
Novo! Novo! Novo!
Holden, bless him, was the only one to approach Kyle. He extended a hand and helped him up, clapping him on the shoulder with encouraging words. But Kyle shook him off, clearly pissed.
Zeke helped me down off Clay’s shoulders, and then I was in his arms, a crushing hug cutting off my oxygen as I laughed and held him just as tight.
“I told you I had it,” I teased when he released me. His hands stayed on my hips, though — palms warm where they wrapped fully around me.
He just shook his head. “If you didn’t, I would have gone to jail tonight.”
I frowned, unsure of what he meant, but before I could ask, Holden held up the ball and grabbed my wrist, hiking it up in the air, too.
“We have our champion!”
The guys all roared their approval — well, everyone except Kyle, who crossed his arms hard over his chest and fumed.
“So,” Leo asked, throwing his arm around my shoulder. “What will his Instagram Live punishment be? Streaking down the field? Scrubbing our cleats with his toothbrush?”
Chuckles rang out, all the while Kyle gritted his teeth, his eyes on the ground before they skirted up to meet mine.
I just shrugged. “You guys figure it out. I think my job here is done.”
I tossed the ball to a gaping wide receiver who just barely caught it.
“Wait! But… you won.”
“Exactly,” I said, and my eyes pinned Kyle then. “That’s reward enough for me.”
An understanding and appreciative smile washed over Holden’s face. “You heard her. We get the honors, boys. So… what will our punishment be?”
The guys all started hollering over each other, throwing out crazy ideas that ranged from shaving my name into Kyle’s head, to making him wear lipstick at the next game. I just laughed, turning to head for the locker room, but Zeke was right there beside me when I did.
“You’re really not going to make him pay for that shit?”
I laughed. “I think him losing was payment enough for me.” I shrugged. “Besides… it wasn’t about some dare for me. It was about respect.”
Zeke nodded, his shoulders relaxing only marginally.
“I… I think I need a beer after that,” I added with a shaky laugh.
Zeke smiled, throwing his arm around me and steering me toward the locker room. “Now that I can help with.”
