Chapter 6
Banter is part of the warm-up.
Gage
“W hat’s going on?” Tanner asks when I enter the conference room at the resort.
I nearly blurt out the secret Coach Knox just told me. But I bite my tongue. I promised not to gossip and I keep my promises.
“Is something wrong with Coach Cha-Cha?” Corbin asks.
Brock grunts. “He’s late.”
Nolan stands at the front of the conference room. “Coach Knox is meeting with the head honchos. He asked me to go ahead and play the footage from our playoff game.”
I cringe. The playoff game was a disaster. Everyone expected us to win. Including all the sports bookies. But we lost.
And it was partially my fault we did. I let Nolan get sacked at a crucial moment in the third quarter. There’s no way we’ll make it to the Super Bowl if I continue to make mistakes. And I won’t stop until I’m wearing a championship ring.
I’ve already watched the replay of the game several times to analyze what I did wrong. But I look forward to reviewing it with the rest of the team and Coach. Coach can give me tips to prevent me from screwing up in the same way again.
“Why is Coach meeting with management?” Tanner asks. “Are they going to sack him?”
If I didn’t know Coach wasn’t meeting with management, my heart would be in my throat.
I’d be lost without Coach Knox. When I was first drafted after college, everyone had high hopes for me.
And I dashed them all. I was on the brink of being cut from the team when Coach took me under his wing.
With his support, I saved my career and am now a first-string player.
Brock scowls. “They’re not going to fire him. They wouldn’t have brought him to training camp to fire him.”
Tanner waggles his eyebrows. “Maybe he got in trouble after the season ended and they didn’t find out about it until now.”
Corbin frowns at him. “I believe you’re the one who’s in trouble.”
Tanner gives him the finger. “We’re not discussing me.”
“Because you’re under a gag order?” I ask.
“There’s no gag order.”
I lift my eyebrows. “Your manager didn’t tell you to keep quiet or he’s dropping you as a client?”
“What’s going on with Coach?” he asks instead of answering. He doesn’t need to answer. Everyone knows he’s on the razor’s edge of losing everything.
He’s a fucking idiot. He has it all – a great career, good money, tons of endorsement deals – and yet he keeps risking it all. I would never risk my career the way he does .
“There’s nothing going on.” And it’s none of his business anyway. Tanner doesn’t gossip. He broadcasts secrets.
He snorts. “You know a secret. Tell.”
“I don’t tell secrets.”
“Oh, please. When you found out Corbin wears women’s panties, you couldn’t wait to tell everyone.”
“I do not wear women’s panties,” Corbin insists.
Tanner wags a finger at him. “I saw them. They were pink and lacy.”
“Men can wear pink underwear.”
“And lacy.”
Corbin growls. “They weren’t lacy.”
Tanner leans back in his chair. “I saw what I saw.”
“Maybe you need your eyes examined.”
“I have perfect vision!”
Nolan snorts. “Which is why you ran straight into the crowd instead of finding an open space at the playoff game.”
Tanner glares at him. “I did not.”
Nolan motions toward the screen where the footage of our last game is playing. “I have proof.”
“Don’t blame the interception on me.”
“It’s not blaming if it was your fault. And it was.”
The door opens and Coach Knox enters. He scowls at us before switching on the light and stopping the footage. “You’re supposed to be reviewing the game. Not gossiping like a bunch of teenage boys who just had their first hard-ons.”
“You were late.” Brock points to the clock. “This meeting can’t run over. I need to pick Jace up in an hour. ”
Coach purses his lips. “Which is why you should have been watching the game footage instead of gossiping.”
Brock glares at him. “I do not gossip.”
Knox sighs. “You couldn’t keep everyone in line?”
Brock shrugs. “Not my job.”
“His job is to be grumpy,” Tanner says. “He excels at it.”
Brock punches his shoulder.
“Ow. You hurt me. I think I need to visit the physical therapist. Have you seen her? Spicy.”
“The physical therapist has a boyfriend who will show you what hurt means,” Nolan says.
“How do you know?” Tanner snaps his fingers. “Oh, that’s right. You know all of the female workers at the resort.”
Nolan snaps his teeth at him but he doesn’t deny it. Huh. What has Nolan been up to? I’ve been too busy with Addy to pay attention. I’m paying attention now.
“What have you been up to, Nolan?”
He scowls at me. “Mind your own business. I didn’t tell everyone you got rejected by the cute redheaded singer.”
Tanner laughs. “Because you didn’t need to. We were there when she rejected his ass.”
“She didn’t reject me.”
“She rejected you,” Brock grumbles. “Even Corbin agrees.”
Corbin nods. “It’s true. She didn’t seem happy to see you.”
“Especially when she slammed the drinks tray on the counter next to you,” Tanner adds .
Wait a minute. I didn’t go to lunch with my teammates yesterday when Addy slammed the tray. “Did you assholes follow me to Five Fathoms yesterday?”
Brock grunts. “I was hungry.”
“Their burgers are amazing,” Corbin adds.
“The burgers were good but the entertainment was amazing,” Tanner says. “I especially enjoyed when you dropped a tray of beers on the floor.”
“You should work on your upper body strength more,” Corbin says. Unfortunately, he’s not joking. Corbin doesn’t joke.
“My arms were tired from yesterday morning’s workout.”
Coach crosses his arms over his chest. “I realize training camp hasn’t officially begun yet, but—”
“But we should maintain our goal weight and stay in top physical condition. Yada yada yada.” Tanner rolls his eyes.
“And you should stay out of trouble.”
Tanner bats his eyelashes. “Trouble? Me?”
“I’m serious, Long. You need to stay out of trouble. The news is going to publish the story eventually. Your manager can’t pay off every magazine.”
“I’m about done with everyone threatening me with the news breaking.”
Coach sighs. “No one’s threatening. We’re merely pointing out how it’s going to happen sooner or later. Getting into more trouble is not going to help the situation. ”
“Whatever.” Tanner flicks his hand as if the problem will disappear on its own. Someone needs to grow up before he loses his career. “I want to discuss Gage and Addy.”
“There’s nothing to discuss.” No matter how I might wish it otherwise.
“Because she rejected you.”
I swallow my anger. Tanner isn’t being deliberately cruel; he’s deflecting away from his own problems. “We’re friends. Nothing more.”
Not because I don’t want to be more. And I plan to have more. Addy needs time to realize how good we could be together. I’ll give her time but I’m not a quitter. I don’t give up on something when I know it’s what I want.
Brock squeezes my shoulder. “We should visit your friend. I’m hungry.”
“I thought you needed to pick up Jace.”
“Jace needs to eat, too.”
“It doesn’t matter. Addy isn’t working the lunch shift.”
“You know her shifts?” Nolan asks. “Are you stalking her?”
“I’m not stalking her. I would never.”
Enough of my fellow teammates and their partners have had stalking issues. I would never cross the line to harassing Addy until she felt unsafe in her home. Uncool.
“Shouldn’t we be reviewing the footage the way Coach asked us to?” I suggest.
“Bor-ing,” Tanner sings .
“It’s not boring. It’s important to learn from our mistakes. I don’t want to get knocked out after the first game in the playoffs again.”
We’ve had fun bantering, but it’s time to get down to business. Football isn’t merely a game. It’s serious business.
Football saved me. It got me out of my foster home when I was in high school. It got me a scholarship to college. I would have never been able to attend college otherwise.
“I’m with Gage,” Nolan says. “We shouldn’t have lost the playoff game. The Seals were the favorite to win by seven points.”
“Instead, we lost by seven.”
The loss still hurts. I thought last year was our year to make it to the Super Bowl. I want a Super Bowl ring more than anything in this world. It’s my goal. It’s what I’ve been working for since seventh grade, when the gym teacher said I’d make a good running back.
“Shall I restart the game footage?” Coach asks.
“Please. I want to watch the play in the third quarter when Nolan got sacked.”
Nolan cringes. “Thanks.”
“Maybe I could have blocked you better.”
“I like your thinking.”
Coach switches off the lights and rolls the footage. As much as I try to pay attention, my mind keeps drifting to a certain redheaded singer. I wonder what she’s doing today. Did she sleep well? Are her siblings driving her crazy?
I can’t wait to message her and find out.