Chapter 16
Notes
Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this chapter? Since the Scorpions played the Gladiators. That was weeks ago.
And for those who are asking for updates on my run-in with Liam Lowe, I haven’t seen him since the car dealership last week.
That was a chance encounter. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I do not have good luck so all those fantasies of becoming the next Scorpions WAG (gender neutral) will never come to fruition. Sad day.
Milo
“Good luck tonight,” I told Rowan as I laid back in my bed.
In Tucson.
Because I was not successful in getting anyone to listen to me about going to Vegas with the team.
I could walk normally. I would be back at practice next week.
There was no reason why I shouldn’t be able to cheer on the team from the sidelines.
Provide Rowan a little encouragement in person instead of the sexy picture that had him calling me before he went downstairs to join the team bus.
He thanked me and hung up the phone, and I was left there in my too quiet apartment.
I wanted to be in Vegas.
I wanted to be sitting on the sideline or in the stands, cheering on my team.
I wanted to cheer on Rowan, too. I wanted to see the look on the Gladiators’ faces after they lost to the Scorpions, something I was sure would happen because Rowan and I had managed to get each other off over the phone.
I was sure that counted toward the superstition.
But what if it didn’t and the football sex magic had to be done in person?
What if we lost because I couldn’t be there?
Ugh, being on the injured list sucked.
I sat pouting on my bed for about ten more minutes when it dawned on me.
Just because Coach Cal hadn’t let me fly with the team didn’t mean that I still couldn’t fly to Vegas.
Airports were public, and I could afford a last-minute flight from Tucson.
I pulled up flights and bought a ticket for a plane that left in an hour and a half.
I ordered a ride to the airport and started packing.
Forty minutes later, my ride share dropped me off in front of the airport.
I booked it through security, grateful for TSA precheck, and found my gate.
There were less than forty minutes left until my flight, forty minutes to wait.
And forty minutes to settle all the other things I needed to do for when I got to Vegas.
I’d need a ticket to the game.
I’d need a hotel room.
At least I knew where the team would be staying.
I pulled up the hotel’s website and booked a room on the unreliable airport Wi-Fi.
By the time it went through, the gate agent started calling out boarding groups.
Right. Commercial flights boarded a long time before takeoff.
I hadn’t flown on anything other than the team charter since I moved to Tucson.
I joined the line when my boarding group was called and filed onto the plane.
Due to the last-minute flight, I’d had to book economy.
I hadn’t realized how tiny the seats were.
I’d gotten too spoiled with the team charter.
The seats were bigger. They had more leg room.
I wasn’t smooshed up against some old man that smelled like onions on the plane, and something told me I’d have to sit still for this entire flight.
Luckily, the flight was short. It was only supposed to be an hour and a half or something like that.
Plus however long it took until we got in the air, which according to my phone would be another twenty minutes.
I groaned and leaned back in my seat, my fingers tapping on my knee.
I went over everything in my head. I’d land shortly before kickoff.
I would catch the airport shuttle to the hotel, check in, drop my bag, and catch a ride share to the stadium.
If everything went according to plan, I’d be there before the end of the first quarter.
Game tickets! I needed to buy tickets to the game.
Being a player on the team didn’t guarantee me a seat, not when no one knew I was going to be there.
I pulled out my phone again and started to search for tickets, only for the stupid announcement to come on telling us all to put our technology in airplane mode.
Great. I’d have to wait until we were in the air and hope that the plane’s internet would be strong enough for me to buy a ticket to the game.
It wasn’t. I wasn’t able to finish my search until the plane landed and we were making our way to the gate to deplane. For once, I was grateful that there was a lot of waiting on commercial flights. It gave me time to find and purchase a ticket. My plan was officially in action.
Once we deboarded, I took off toward the exit.
I followed the signs to airport shuttle pick up and joined the queue of people waiting to be taken away from the hotel.
It took almost fifteen minutes for the shuttle to arrive.
I used that time to check the score of the game.
The first quarter had just started, and the Scorpions had possession of the ball. Neither team had scored yet.
I pocketed my phone when the shuttle pulled up.
The shuttle took longer than I thought it would, too.
By the time I got to the hotel, the second quarter was about to start.
I checked in, went to my room, threw my bag on the bed, and ordered a ride from the hotel to the stadium.
I wasn’t going to make it in time for the second quarter, but I could probably make it before halftime began.
Maybe during halftime, if there was traffic between the strip and the stadium.
I waited outside for my ride. While I waited, it dawned on me that Rowan had no idea I was in Vegas.
I took a quick selfie with the strip behind me and texted it to him.
He’d see it at halftime. He was one of the few players on the team that always checked their phone in the locker room.
I couldn’t judge him because I was also one of those players.
I checked in case Aunt Ethel needed me. He checked because his niblings always sent him some kind of message during the first half of the game.
His eyes always lit up at whatever message they sent him: videos, pictures, or drawings they’d made to wish him good luck.
I loved watching the way his body language shifted when he got those messages.
I hoped the picture would give him the same jolt of happiness.
Either that or he’d be mad at me for flying to Vegas after Coach Cal told me no.
Oh well, sometimes it was better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.
My ride showed up, and I chatted with the driver about the best places to visit while in Vegas as we drove to the stadium.
I almost wished this was a regular vacation and not just an overnight trip to watch my team play football without me.
Some of the places he mentioned sounded cool.
Maybe one day I’d come back to Vegas and check out the shows he mentioned or the rooftop roller coasters, all the tourist spots he claimed couldn’t be missed.
As it was, I just wanted to get to the stadium.
He wished me luck as we pulled into the parking lot.
I gave him a cash tip and took off to the front entrance of the stadium.
A bored looking woman in a Gladiators polo scanned the ticket on my phone and let me in.
She instructed me where to go to find my seat.
I could hear the crowds already, and my heart began to race.
I’d only been a spectator at a football game three times in my life, and I was excited to watch my team from this vantage point.
Even though I would have much rather been on the field with them.
I found my seat and looked down at the field.
My teammates looked tiny from way up here, but the screens showed me everything I needed.
The defense was on the field, lined up against the Gladiators offense.
It was third down already, and judging by the clock, there was only time for a few more plays.
The Gladiators were up by thirteen. I leaned forward as the ball was snapped and watched the way our defense moved to stop the play.
I watched Ian Kirk, one of the edge rushers, charge the quarterback and knock his hand as he launched the ball toward my old college teammate.
The knock to the arm threw off the trajectory, and our safety, Tristan Barton, appeared out of nowhere to pull the ball into him.
He took off running down the field. Rowan was running alongside him, blocking offensive players.
A few other members of the defense joined in, making a safe path for Barton to charge the almost seventy yards toward the end zone.
The crowd was going wild. It was mostly Gladiators fans, and they were not happy about the change in momentum.
They were really not happy when Barton crossed into the end zone, scoring from his interception.
The Scorpions fans in the stadium went wild.
Our special teams filed onto the field and the kicker landed an easy extra point, bringing us within six points of the Gladiators as the half ended.
The second half of the game was just as exciting as the first. The lead changed several times, and as the clock ticked down to the end of the fourth quarter, the Gladiators trailed by three.
They kicked a field goal to tie up the game, and I felt so jealous.
We hadn’t gone into overtime once this season.
Of course, the team would go into overtime against one of the best teams in the league when I wasn’t playing.
At least I got to watch. I got to feel the energy of the crowd.
The Scorpions won in overtime.
I joined the crowd leaving the stadium. I got stopped a few times by fans in Scorpions jerseys asking for pictures or autographs.