Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
They had practice in the morning, followed by lunch in the cafeteria at the practice facility, followed by two hours in the weight room.
Once again, Amil needed a spotter. The only guys he was comfortable enough asking were Dante and Callahan, but Dante was already paired up with Pedro, and he wasn’t about to put arms day on Callahan, so what the hell was he supposed to do?
Callahan walked up to him, his hand resting on the shoulder of their starting tight end, Broderick Frazier. “Hey, Amil, Broderick needs a spotter. You interested?”
Broderick was fucking huge, but then again, most tight ends were. “Yeah, man, thanks.”
Broderick was also chatty. He talked about the weather, about their first game of the season, about rugby—he’d played on a club league in high school before the football coach convinced him to try out by pointing out that pro footballers made far more bank than rugby players.
“Pretty superficial reason to switch sports,” Broderick said with a laugh. “But I have no regrets. I love this game.”
Then he mentioned he was originally from out east.
“Me too,” Amil said between grunts. He was trying to keep up with Broderick, which was no easy feat.
“Yeah? Let me guess. Boston,” Broderick said.
“The accent?”
Broderick laughed. “Hard to hide that accent, bro.”
What he didn’t tell Broderick was how he’d never felt at home there, despite having lived there until he was recruited by the University of Maryland.
His parents had kept moving him to new schools every time he had a situation—usually a fight with a kid who was bullying him, despite his size.
Amil tended to be quiet, which somehow gave bullies permission to harass him.
So he’d never found his comfort zone. Even when he was on the football field. He did what he was supposed to do and he went home afterward. Never bonded with his teammates.
It got a little better in college. He made friends with a couple of guys on the team, discovered that girls liked him—his looks at least. Well, and the things he did when they were naked together.
It was in college that he learned he had a tendency to smother a girl if he really liked her, and that turned a lot of girls off after a while. So he recalibrated, learned how to be standoffish. Got quiet again.
Fast-forward almost ten years and Diana coming into his life, and his smothering tendencies were surfacing again.
He needed to check himself. Especially now that she’d told him about her fear of commitment. About her reasons for it.
They were legit. Her grandmother, her mother, her sister all having the same relationship woos—hell yeah, he could see why she’d be gun-shy.
Sucked for him, but he understood.
“Earth to Amil. You in there, dude?”
Amil shifted his focus to Broderick, who was standing over him. Amil had grasped the weights but hadn’t actually lifted them yet. He’d gotten lost in his own memories there for a minute.
“Sorry. Ready.” He did twenty reps and dropped the weights on the holders with a growl.
“Damn,” Broderick said. “We’ll make you a tight end yet.” He laughed. Broderick laughed a lot.
Amil wouldn’t mind laughing half as often as Broderick did. The guy sure seemed to enjoy life.
“You dating anyone?” Amil asked when they switched roles.
“Yeah, my wife.” Another laugh.
“Oh yeah? How long you been married?”
Broderick did his reps before answering. “Celebrated six years in April. She was my college sweetheart. But then when I got drafted, she broke up with me.”
“How come?”
“She was worried I’d be more interested in cleat chasers than her.
She sees herself as average, which is fucking crazy, because my wife is hot.
But anyway, took me two years to convince her that fame and fortune would not make me love her less.
Finally convinced her to marry me, and then I knocked her up two seconds later.
” He laughed. “And two more times, even though we weren’t really trying. But I guess I have super sperm.”
Another laugh. Also, this guy was not afraid to tell his personal business.
They finished their last set of reps and headed toward the showers. “Saw Diana added you to the humane society thing later this afternoon,” Broderick said as they parted ways. “See you there.”
Yeah, Amil was looking forward to it far more than was necessary for a fundraiser involving animals that needed homes. It wasn’t like he could adopt any of them. Hell, he was currently homeless too.
The humane society was, unsurprisingly, packed with fans. Diana was there, wearing a fitted jersey with her own last name on the back, directing traffic. Well, telling everyone where to go and what to do.
Dante was there, along with Callahan and Broderick and Pedro. And Jalen. They were all clustered together at the moment, tucked into an area that was apparently off-limits to fans while Diana worked to get the event going.
As soon as she spotted him, she waved. “Go over there with the other guys. You’re going to be called out one by one.
I’ll introduce each of you—probably spend a little more time on you, since you’re new to the team—and you’ll come out and be introduced to one of the dogs.
Once the dog is comfortable, we’ll let fans come over and meet him or her.
They’re going to be interested in you, but we’re hoping this will help a few of these guys find their forever home.
” She waved at a row of glass front stalls behind her, where dog after dog stood, wagging tails and doing the hopeful dance.
“No cats?” he asked, for no reason other than to talk with her for a few more seconds.
“Yes, there will be cats, too, but we’re starting with dogs. Now, go.” She was all business. Which he understood. This place was barely controlled chaos at the moment.
He headed toward his teammates, girding his loins for a potential confrontation with Jalen. Or worse, for the rest of the guys to shun him because Jalen was there first and therefore they were choosing him over Amil.
“You have one picked out yet?” Broderick asked as soon as Amil stepped into the roped off area.
“What picked out?” Amil asked.
“One of the dogs, man. This is the third time I’ve done this event, and I refused to let my wife come this time. We ended up adopting dogs at the first two. My house is so fucking loud as it is, I cannot take on one more animal.” And yet, the man was grinning.
“Oh, ah, I’m more of a cat person, actually.” He’d honestly never considered a pet before, but Diana’s cat was pretty cool. He could see himself with a pet like Lazlo.
Jalen glared at him, probably connecting his preference for cats to Diana.
“Plenty of those here, too, bro,” Broderick said enthusiastically.
“Yeah, I should probably find a place to live first.”
“You should talk to Diana,” Broderick said. Was the guy oblivious to the tension around Jalen that was so palpable, the air was actually shimmering?
“When I joined the team, she helped me find my house,” Broderick continued. “She helped a bunch of us.” He looked around, like he was looking for confirmation.
“Yeah, she helped me find my condo,” Callahan said. “She has good taste.”
“She helped me and Jillian find our house,” Pedro said.
Dante raised both hands. “I am not one of the lucky few. I had to go through that process without her guidance.”
“What about you, Jalen?” Broderick asked. Yep, seriously clueless about the animosity between them.
Jalen shoved his thumb in Callahan’s direction. “I moved into his building after he pointed out that one of the units had just come up for sale. So I guess you could say she helped me secondhand.”
Amil refused to read into the guy’s tone. Or the word secondhand.
Diana called Dante’s name, and he was paired with a Siberian husky shepherd mix with big ears and eyes that begged for pets. Dante lowered himself to one knee and scratched the dog’s neck, and the dog leaned into him until she was practically sitting on his lap.
The crowd laughed. Dante stood and led the dog along the row of onlookers who were waiting patiently for a turn with each of the players—and animals. A toddler squealed, and the dog wagged her tail, so Dante walked over to introduce them.
“We gotta get Royce out here next year,” Broderick commented. “He says he’s lousy at these things, but I think that was BM.”
“BM?” What the hell did Royce’s bowel movements have to do with volunteering at the humane society?
“Before Morgan,” Broderick said.
“Jesus, dude, did you really call her BM?” Callahan asked.
“Not her,” Broderick clarified. “Their relationship. Before he was serious with Morgan, he was kind of a dick. What? We all thought it. I’m just voicing our collective opinions.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Callahan advised. “Royce is a good guy. And he was even before he and Morgan got engaged,” he added with a glare for Broderick.
Broderick shrugged. Guess nothing bothered that guy.
Proven true when Diana called his name and paired him with a dog that slobbered all over him while simultaneously pissing on his shoe. Broderick laughed it off and told the dog he was a good boy.
Pedro was next, and Amil belatedly realized that left him and Jalen temporarily alone. Not really, considering the crowd was only twenty feet away—and Diana was closer than that.
But they were plenty alone enough to be able to converse without anyone overhearing.
It was worth a shot.
“Hey, man, listen. I just—”
“We are not friends,” Jalen said coolly. “And do not give me any bullshit about how you had no idea, blah, blah, blah, blah.”
“That was a lot of blahs.”
“Fuck off.”
“Right. Anyway, no bullshit here.”
“I see how you look at her. My advice? Stay the fuck away from her.” Jalen stared straight ahead. Tense as fuck. The tick in his cheek was a dead giveaway, if his stance hadn’t been already.
Diana called Jalen’s name. He plastered a smile on his face and jogged over to her side.
Well. That didn’t go well.
Also, seriously, what the fuck was the guy’s problem? According to Diana, they weren’t a thing, had never been a thing. If they hooked up, it had only been once—if Diana was telling the truth about her family curse.
Amil was confident she was. She wouldn’t lie about that sort of insecurity.
And while, sure, he was a little bit starry-eyed himself, he understood the lines that should not be crossed. If a row of her former lovers lined up across from him, he may give them all a once-over and probably try to work out exactly what her type was, but that would be the end of it.
She didn’t want anyone for more than a one-night thing, so why bother getting upset about it?
“All right, ladies and gentlemen, I see our new guy over there, waiting patiently for his chance to hang out with the animals,” Diana shouted at the crowd.
She worked right into his stats with the 49ers, even threw in a few of his more impressive wins from his college days.
She’d done her research. Would have been nice if she’d asked him personally, but whatever. She still made him sound good.
“Amil is going to join me in the cat area,” Diana continued. “If anyone wants to get to know the newest Mountain Lion—or better yet, wants to adopt a cat today, come with us!”
He should not. He absolutely should not. He was supposed to be trying to make friends, not antagonize anyone. He should be the bigger person.
He really should be.
Diana motioned at him, a cheery smile on her lips.
He glanced over at Jalen.
And grinned.