Chapter Six
Braden
“All right, girls,” I said, clapping my hands together as we all gathered in a huddle. “That last drive was good, but we can do better. Jasmine, make sure you’re looking for the ball as you run your route. Once you cut, eyes up and searching, yeah?”
The young girl nodded, her eyes fierce with determination.
“And Mack, you’ve got to call out loud and clear what the play is. Some of the O-Line was confused on that last drive. We want to make sure everyone is on the same page, and that starts with you as QB.”
Mackenzie looked around to her teammates with a nod of a promise, too.
“All right. Hands in. Let’s go get a tuddy!” I said, and then a pile of hands covered mine before we lifted them into the air on three, yelling “Her!”
I jogged off to the sideline then, folding my arms as I watched the first play of the drive unfold. Mackenzie called out the play loud and clear, and then the team perfectly executed a vertical that got us a first down and then some.
I smiled as the girls celebrated, the flags at their hips fluttering in the wind before they were lining up for the next play.
I understood why Zeke and Riley got into this — helping young girls see their potential role in the NFL, and in football as a whole. There was something so powerful about influencing the youth, about teaching them something and watching them light up when it all clicked into place.
It had been hard at first, accepting that our friends weren’t going to join us in the NFL.
Both of them would have been incredible — Riley maybe more than any of us.
But it was admirable that instead, they chose to work together to open the door for other women who wanted to work in football — no matter what capacity that might have been at.
Being at an event like this, I couldn’t help but think about my friends and how lucky I was to have them. I loved my family — God, did I love my mom, my dad, and my sister — but I was also robbed of what most would consider a normal childhood.
I grew up fast — faster than I should have — and sure, there were things I missed along the way. But I didn’t regret the way that experience shaped me, or the man it forced me to become.
Still, I was wound so tight I could barely walk when I first showed up to North Boston University.
And I wouldn’t claim to anyone that I suddenly lightened up and became a new person when I went to NBU to play college ball, but I would say that the teammates I found there and the family we made together…
well, they gave me something I never thought I’d have in my life.
Safety. Stability. A place to land when I was tired and scared.
I loved them, and presently found myself aching for the days when we saw each other every day in Boston.
I pulled my phone out in-between plays and texted the group chat.
Me: At the flag football event and there was a girl working on kicks who said she wants to be just like Riley Collins when she grows up.
Zeke: That’s my girl.
Riley: So sweet. How’s it going?
Me: It’s really fun. These girls are great.
Kyle: How are the cheerleaders? *smirk emoji*
Me: Wouldn’t know.
Kyle: Sure, bud. And I got eight hours of sleep last night.
Clay: Oh, there’s definitely a story here.
Me: No story.
Madelyn: There’s a new cheerleader who is, and I quote, “a pain in Braden’s ass.”
Mary: Ha! I remember when I said that about Leo…
Leo: And then you called me Daddy and we never looked back.
Kyle: We all know Mary is Daddy. Not sure how many times we have to tell you this for you to get it.
Madelyn: Braden also said that this cheerleader doesn’t follow the rules…
Julep: I like her already.
Giana: Wait! Opposites attract, instant banter, and am I sensing a little bit of a hate-to-love vibe, Braden?
Braden: There’s no vibe to sense, and you’re all making a bigger deal out of this than it is. I’ve met her once. There’s no story. And I haven’t even seen her today.
Kyle: The day is still young.
Braden: Don’t you have a baby to care for?
Madelyn sent a photo of their daughter sleeping on her chest, which blessedly moved the group chat in another direction — although Giana was still going off with her “tropes,” as she called them.
The woman was the definition of a bookworm and particularly loved romance novels, which meant any time one of the guys met someone, she started hypothesizing what our book would be like and how things would play out.
My stomach tightened a little when I realized she had yet to be wrong.
Well, this would be the first time. Because no way in hell was anything ever going to happen between me and Emily Huxley. It didn’t matter how gorgeous she was, or how my body betrayed my brain any time she was near.
She was a cheerleader and I was a football player for the same professional team that had a strict no fraternization rule.
And I wouldn’t risk my career for anyone.
I silenced the group chat before tucking my phone into my pocket, knowing if I didn’t it would continue to buzz all afternoon.
Then, I kept my focus on the field as the team I was coaching finished out their drive.
We didn’t get a touchdown, but we did get close enough for a field goal — one of our kickers scored with ease.
She reminded me so much of Riley I couldn’t fight the nostalgia.
It seemed like only yesterday that we were all freshmen at NBU, no clue what our futures held.
Now, five of us were in the NFL, and the other two ran the most well-known and talked about philanthropic organization in girls’ sports.
It was surreal, to see your friends grow up like that — watch them get married, have babies, excel in their careers like grown ass adults. Sometimes I still felt like the eighteen-year-old kid I was when I met them all.
Then again, I’d never had the true experience of a teenager or new adult.
Sure, we all had football. We all had to balance being a student athlete, bearing the weight of keeping up with our classes, as well as our training schedule and games.
But I also had to navigate being a caretaker for my family.
Had to was the wrong verbiage — got to was more accurate. I grew up faster than the rest of my friends, sure. And yeah, there were pieces of that time I’d never get back. But I didn’t carry resentment over it. If anything, I carried pride.
I was proud that I could help my family navigate something none of us expected.
I was proud of my parents for the sacrifices they’d made, for how they’d taught me the value in putting others before yourself.
And I was damn proud of my sister for not just surviving, but thriving, in the circumstances life had handed her.
My gut twisted at the thought, just like it always did on days like this. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and I longed to share it with Ginny.
It killed me, knowing I could go out and enjoy days like this, that I could walk and run and laugh and have a career and friends and whatever I wanted while she was bound to a chair, or bed, at home.
If my sister were able to climb into my head, she’d climb right back out at this moment and smack me so hard my ears would ring.
She’d remind me how much she loved her life, how she was grateful for every day she’d been given past what the doctors had all predicted.
She had a great group of friends in the gaming community, attended a virtual book club once a month, and spent most of her days with her two favorite people in the world — Mom and Dad.
If I were a walking rain cloud, then Ginny was the sun. She was always beaming, even when I wasn’t there to soak up her light.
But it still killed me inside, thinking about how cruel life can be to those we love the most. I would give it all up — my career, my friends, my life — for her to experience just one day of perfect health.
I wished I could grant her the opportunity to know what it’s like to travel, to go to college, to pursue a career.
To fall in love.
Before the guilt could sink its claws too deep into my skin, my attention was called down the field to where a cheer broke out from our dancers.
The team playing against mine had just made a huge play down the field.
I was on offense, another player working with the defensive team, so I sat back and let him do his thing.
And because I didn’t have a whole lot to do at the moment… of course, I looked for Emily.
I found her in an instant. I could lie to myself and pretend I hadn’t clocked her the second I stepped foot on the field today, but it would be futile. I was drawn to her like a puppy dog to a tennis ball. No matter how I tried to focus elsewhere, my eyes always seemed to bound back to her.
Presently, she was rubbing the sparkly pompoms in her hands together, her smile wide and bright as she cheered on the girls.
When the excitement of the play settled down, she chatted with the male dancer next to her, the two of them giggling before they fell in line with the other dancers doing a synchronized cheer.
It was in the middle of that cheer that her eyes snapped to mine.
I looked away instantly, my neck fucking blazing, but I couldn’t help it.
I looked right back at her.
And she smirked, her eyes keeping mine locked as she twirled and danced.
Fuck, it was unnerving, the way she held my gaze like she owned me. She wasn’t the least bit shy, nor was she hiding the fact that she found me attractive. Then again, I supposed I was doing a pretty shit job of hiding my mutual feelings.
She was stunning, impossible not to watch.
And she watched me right back, like she’d eat me alive if I only gave her the chance.
When the dance ended, Emily waved her pompoms in the air before the dancers spread out — some of them taking a break while others ran off to join the various drills happening around the field.
Emily, however, swayed her hips in a direct line to me.
I cleared my throat, clapping as I brought my focus back to the field. My eyes flicked to where Emily was walking straight toward me, then back to the field, then back to her.
She smiled wider.