Aldrich
I WAS READY to go.
My body was ready. My mind was ready and my heart was at peace.
This energy felt good as hell and knowing that my mama, my girl and my baby were up in the box cheering for me.
The energy on our sideline was even higher when we watched Aphrodite make history last night.
Anthony had been on one all morning, the energy that he had from being named on the fifty-three man roster.
We had a unifying need to prove people wrong this year: his was to prove he actually deserved his spot and mine was that I still deserved to be here.
My off the field antics as they liked to call it had long since cooled down but now that the season was going on, they wanted to speak on my baby like she was a distraction and not a blessing.
How she got here was fucked up, but I wasn’t about to look at her life as a curse and love her any less.
I was going to do whatever I needed to prove them wrong.
Besides the people who tried to live in my head and get me off my game, I wanted to contribute.
Having another ring and knowing I’d been a part of making the organization that had given me a chance to live out my dreams wasn’t something I took lightly.
I was thankful that even with the additions I’d made to my life; I had a partner by my side who understood how important this was to me.
God really be looking out.
I glanced around as we trotted out to a mixture of boos and cheers. Desperados fans traveled well so we were never in a stadium that didn’t have a sizeable chunk of our people there. Ant came up beside me and I could tell he was looking nervous.
“You good?”
We were dressed in white jersey tops and royal blue bottoms with blue helmets for the game.
He nodded slowly but I knew he was probably nervous. Even though I’d played in plenty of professional games, I was still nervous at the start of each season.
“Yeah. Just wanna do good.”
I nodded because it was a realistic feeling to have.
“You’ve prepared for months for this shit.
It’s in you and you know you've got this. Ball out the way you know you can. Play like you did in camp. In practice. In preseason. Nobody is going to expect perfection but go out there and work. You got this shit.” I hit his shoulder pad with my fist to hype him up.
He nodded repeatedly and when he rolled his shoulder back I knew he had his head on right.
“‘Preciate it, bruh.”
“Always. Different sides of the ball, same hunger to win. Go make them have even more reason to speak your name come tomorrow.”
He grinned and dapped me up. “Make sure you're not slacking either, Money.”
“Got too much riding on this not to succeed. Sterling’s people aren’t gone ever accept me since I’m some new money nigga and I’m glad she doesn’t fuck with them like that. But I still want her to be proud of the man she’s with even if she don’t deal with them.”
He laughed and I knew he was thinking of Aphrodite’s hating ass daddy. “Trust, I understand. Let’s get this win, bruh.”
I nodded as he headed toward the defensive side of the field as they were on the field first. I went to the bike to keep my legs warm before Grant came over to speak.
“You ready?”
“Always. Trying to play in February next year. Nothing is going to stop us.”
He nodded before he flipped his long hair out of his face like Black Fabio. I didn’t even bother to ask why he didn’t pull his hair back because I knew firsthand that defenders would use it as an easy way to pull you down. Having it loose was dangerous but it was harder for them to grip.
“Their secondary is decent but their D-line hasn’t been improved since last year. Definitely going with the heavy run options at least at first. You can handle it?”
“Give me a hole and I’m running through it.”
He nodded as he grinned. “‘Preciate you and your girl hosting our people. Lyric been raving about your girl the last few weeks and I was shocked. You know her ass doesn’t like people like that but your girl won her over.”
I had to smile because Grant swore his wife didn’t like people but she’d always been cool as hell.
I loved her music and seeing Lyric was definitely different from seeing Finesse in concert.
The two of them didn’t make sense to the outside world but seeing them up close could make anyone understand just how well they fit together.
“It's just something about her that makes people love her.”
He looked surprised at how easily I’d said that and I’d even shocked myself. “You included?”
“Yeah…me included.”
Grant nodded and then grinned like only a man in love could grin at having a friend fall victim to Cupid’s arrow in the ass.
I shook my head and got up from the bike since my legs were warmed up. Danny, one of the equipment managers, was there to give me my helmet and had Grant’s too. Jacoby and the rest of the defense had done their jobs and got their offense off the field and now it was time for us to put in work.
I closed my eyes and asked God and my father to look out for me before I opened them to grin.
“Let’s get this win, G.”
“Jersey City, blue-six-two, hut!”
Grant shouted the play as I stood to the left of him behind the line.
The Sentinels were actually playing like they wanted to win but that was never something we were going to let happen.
I’d already racked up close to sixty yards putting us on their side of the field.
He called out the play six-two; it was a decoy for my jersey number of eight.
It let the line know they needed to give me room to run and Antwan, the rest of the wideouts and Marcel needed to be prepared to block downfield when I hit the hole and made it to the secondary.
As soon as the ball was snapped I faked as though I was getting ready to block for Grant before running to my right and he shoved the ball in my stomach.
The handoff was clean and my arms wrapped around the ball to secure it.
I pivoted as Runt blocked his man damn near to the secondary, giving me the hole I needed to break back inside and run free from the defense.
My legs felt fresh and I could only attribute it to my mental being lighter than it had been all year.
Even through spring workouts I felt sluggish, having this mental weight on my brain that became a physical weight on my body.
But Sterling had brought me peace. Taken away the burden of being a single parent by being someone that could exist in my space with me and not need anything from me beyond what I could give.
And because of the person she was, that meant she could have everything from me.
I evaded a tackle feeling the bottom of my jersey stretching as they tried to grasp on to any part of me to hold on.
I was just happy they weren’t trying to grab my arm; I kept churning my legs because even if I couldn’t shed the tackle I’d be able to gain a few more yards.
Somebody coming in from my right tried to dislodge the ball from me, but I tucked my head, kept my legs moving despite the noise and added weight, keeping the ball tight against my forearm and chest. I was grateful that the Sentinels had regular grass instead of turf despite the climate.
I was close to the finish line and kept moving because I wanted to score.
Some of the weight on me lifted up and I knew someone had come and blocked a defender off of me.
That gave me the strength I needed to lunge forward and stretch the ball out so that it broke the plane and I scored just before a defender knocked the ball out of my hands.
I hit the ground my chest taking the brunt of the weight because I couldn’t brace myself with my hands.
My lungs were burning from the number of yards I had run, my legs not feeling the full pain since I was buried at the bottom of the pile Bodies were being pulled off of me as Runt and the rest of the line came over and lifted me up off the ground.
“That’s how you run, nigga! Fast Money all day!” Runt was grinning as he put me back on my feet and I held up my palm before flipping imaginary dollar bills off of it. The cameras were moving around us as me and Grant crossed arms in the air before heading toward our sideline.
“You made that shit look easy. How many yards you going for this year?”
I laughed but I couldn’t do it too deeply because I’d run about forty yards and needed to catch my breath. “Keep feeding me the ball and we’ll find out.”
He grinned and nodded his head at my confidence. “That’s what I’m talking ‘bout, Money.”
The win was expected but it still felt good to get it out of the way.
We’d balled out on both sides of the ball and damn it felt good.
I almost threw out my damn back when Ant ran that pick back for a touchdown.
He was carrying that shit high and tight just like I’d shown him and I was probably screaming as loud as Antwan was cheering him on.
He and his girl were going to be all over the headlines this week and I was thankful they were both getting the recognition they’d deserved.
I did the media rounds as fast as I could, happy that they kept their questions brief because I wanted to see my baby, my girl and my mama.
Ling had advised me on the outfit that I should wear tonight after we’d done that shopping with Ant and his girl.
I kept it traditional for the first game with a dark suit and dress shoes.
I wanted to keep the wilder stuff for later in the season and show up today looking to handle business.
I’d done that so I could relax slightly.
Besides that initial touchdown, I’d run for a second and racked up 162 yards.
It was a good first game and I was grateful for a fast start.