Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Chase
"So, it ended well for Ashely." Ollie drew back his arm and launched the ball toward me.
I caught it and threw it back.
"Yeah, he came crawling back," I said. "And even warned her about me." Prick.
"You are kinda wild," Ollie said with a grin. He threw the ball harder.
I caught it and threw it harder still.
"Yeah, I'm a badass." I snorted. I was a country boy at heart, who happened to like motorbikes and occasionally jumping out of planes.
And surfing. And pranking. Speaking of that, I was still waiting for Bam's comeback from the last couple.
He looked at me like he planned something, but I hadn't seen anything.
It was only a matter of time before I did.
"She took him back?" Ollie looked more comfortable out on the field, practicing, than he did in a suit.
Fewer women gawked at him out here, although stadium staff often stopped to watch us. I couldn't blame them. We were all fit, strong and at the top of our game. Some of us weren't even bad looking.
"I don't know." We started to trot down the field, tossing the ball back and forth without losing pace. "I think she's going to take it slowly." For someone who got what they wanted, I wasn't sure she wanted what she got.
Kris was a decent guy, most of the time.
He and Ashley would have to work through what he did, but that was their business.
He'd be an idiot to cheat again, if she took him back.
He was an idiot to cheat in the first place, if you ask me.
Ashley was gorgeous, hot and creative. What more could a guy want in a woman?
Okay, Brandi was sexy as hell and the things she could do with her mouth…
The ball flew right past my hands and bounced on the turf a few times.
"Focus, McKinney," the coach shouted.
"Sorry, Coach." I trotted over, scooped up the ball and hurled it to Ollie, hoping to catch him off guard.
He neatly caught it and threw it back.
"You'll have to try harder than that." Ollie laughed.
I grinned. "I will." I put a spin on the ball and sent it back.
My smile faded. Was that what I needed to do with Brandi—try harder? By now she must have seen the photos of Ashley and me online. What did she think of them? Was she mad? Was she happy for me? She might think Ashley and I were really seeing each other, and that she'd missed her chance.
I remembered the look of relief on her face when I didn't fight the breakup. I was starting to think that was genuine. She said she'd cheated before, but I hadn't believed her. Until now.
Maybe I was the stupid one in all of this. She wanted out and she got it. The photos of Ashley and me might have given Brandi a good laugh, for all I know.
Look at the silly woman with Chase. Just wait until she finds out how boring he is.
I almost missed the ball a second time, but caught it just off the ground. I hurled it back with a grunt.
I was done with being the idiot. I was done with women.
If all they wanted was a fling, because of who I was, then they were shit out of luck from now on.
Bam was right, it was better to be single.
That way, no one can tear out your heart and stomp it into the grass.
Or try to use it to make a touchdown. Or… whatever.
Okay, I admit it. I was jealous of Kris and Ashley. Our plan worked for her. Clearly Kris had real feelings for her. No doubt he felt terrible for what he did, and so he should. He could spend the rest of his life making it up to her.
For some reason that made me madder than ever. Kris didn't deserve her. She should have a guy who appreciated her, and would never do anything to hurt her. Honestly if Kris did hurt her again, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep myself from punching him in the face.
I'm not usually the violent kind off the field, but he'd deserve what he got. The guy I was friends with for so long, I didn't know him at all. I didn't want to know him now. Seeing him with Ashley would remind me of Brandi and what they did. I didn't want to think about her now either.
No, I needed to put them all out of my mind and move on with my life. I was busy with work anyway. I'd lose myself in that. I should do that anyway.
The coach called for a break. I trotted toward the sidelines to grab my water bottle.
"Are you okay?" Ollie asked. He caught up to me as I slowed to a walk. "You seem distracted today. Is it the whole thing with Brandi?"
"I don't know anyone named Brandi," I growled.
Ollie looked taken aback, but nodded. "I hear you, bro. It's hard to find real people. They hear AGL and that's all. Sometimes I feel like they don't think we're real people. But—we're just ordinary, y' know?"
"Speak for yourself," I said, half-joking.
He grinned. "I'm ordinary. I'm just a guy who plays football, but I can't go anywhere without being stared at." His smile faded to a grimace.
"Sucks to be us," I said with a sigh. We had everything we ever wanted, but sometimes it wasn't what I thought it would be.
The football side of it was. That and more.
I never expected my personal life to be such a mess.
Sometimes I wondered what life would be like if I worked in a shop, selling tires or something.
Without football, Ollie would still get stared at wherever he went. With any luck, he'd appreciate what he had before he lost his hair and put on weight, or whatever.
On the other hand, it was his face. He could feel about it whatever he wanted to.
"Sometimes I think it sucks to be us," Bam said as he jogged past. "Then I check my bank account and think, hell yeah. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else."
"Do you have any other skills?" I teased.
He slowed to a walk. "I can change a tyre," he said. "I can rock the catwalk, according to Ashley."
"She said that?" Ollie asked. He looked sceptical.
"Well, not those exact words, but that was what she meant," Bam said, undeterred.
"Sure." Ollie drew out the word. "What did she really say?"
Bam gave him a sidelong look. "She said 'well done.' What's it to ya?"
"She said that to all of us," Ollie said.
"Yeah," Bam puffed out his chest. "But when she said it to me, she meant it."
"Keep telling yourself that," Ollie said. "She told me I should model professionally when I was done playing ball."
Bam sagged slightly. "She didn't say that to me." He brightened up a little. "I'm sure she was thinking it."
"Can we stop talking about Ashley?" I growled.
"You two broke up already?" Bam turned his face to frown at me. "That's a record, even for you."
"They weren't together," Ollie said, before I could respond. "Not really."
Bam's eyebrows shot up.
I explained in as few words as I could.
"So she got what she wanted and I'm officially done with women," I said. "If I even look at one, poke out my eyes or something."
"Naw. You need your eyes to catch the ball," Bam said. "Keep 'em in until you retire. Then you can do what you want."
"Thank you, that's very generous of you," I said sarcastically. I picked up my water bottle and took a sip before I realised Bam was staring at me.
A bitter taste hit my mouth. I twisted around and spat out the mouthful on the grass. "What the hell?"
Bam burst out laughing. "I figured you could use a little lemon juice to cleanse your insides. Hawk says it's good for you." He nodded toward the quarterback who was on the other side of the field.
I doubted he'd said anything like that, but from the grin I could make out from here, Hawk was in on the joke too.
"Assholes," I muttered. I tipped the rest out on the grass and picked up an unopened bottled water.
"That's us," Bam said proudly. "Don't you forget it."
"How could I?" I asked. "You remind me every chance you get." I cocked my head at Ollie, who sniffed his own drink bottle.
"You too, huh?"
"Yeah." He upturned his and got a fresh bottle. "This is the first time Bam has pulled a prank on me."
"It is?" Bam frowned. "That was quite the oversight."
"Please, don't feel the need to play catch up," Ollie said, eyes wide. Sometimes I forgot how young he was. The kid was barely out of high school. He had more talent in his little finger than most guys have in their whole bodies. Some people are just blessed I suppose.
And blessed people shouldn't miss out on being pranked.
"I wasn't, until you said that," Bam said. "Now I'm forced to look through my folder and pull out some of the classics."
"You have a folder?" I asked. "That's next level, bro."
"Ain't it though?" Bam said. "I take this shit seriously, bro. Besides, I wouldn't want to do the same thing twice to the same person."
"That's true." I wish that meant I'd never have to worry about lemon in my water again.
That was one of the simpler, classic pranks, so it turned up several times a season.
Sometimes it was prune juice, or dissolved laxatives.
Usually those happened in the pre-season.
No one wanted to put a game at risk for a few laughs.
They'd get fired and the whole team would hate their guts until the end of time, or the end of the season, depending how bad the diarrhoea got.
That was a risk no one would take. Of course, you didn't get where we were without taking it seriously. For every one of us, there were a hundred talented young men, just itching to take our place. Not like jock itch kind of itch, but ambition.
We were all replaceable. None of us was naive enough to think we weren't. We were awesome, maybe the awesomest, but some day we'd run out of steam and someone would need to step in, while we stepped out.
I dreaded that day more than anything. Right here, right now, this was my life. My whole life, now I decided not to let another woman in.
"I'm really fine not being pranked," Ollie said as we headed back out on the field. "It's a rite of passage I can live without. I know I belong."
I shrugged. "Sorry, buddy. If I could save you from Bam, I would."
"What about you?" Ollie asked.
"I can't even save myself," I said.
"No, I mean, who will save me from you?" He gave me the side eye.
I grinned. "No one. Don't worry, I'll go easy on you. At first."
He groaned.
I patted his shoulder. "Actually, how would you feel about being my apprentice?"
"I'd rather work with you than against you," he said slowly.
"Smart guy," I said. "We'll think up something for the end of the season. Something they'll talk about for years. With your help, it'll be epic." And with any luck, no one would blame me.
With even more luck, it might take my mind off Brandi and Ashley.