The Marriage Playbook (Vows and Veils #7)

1. Liam

LIAM

“Heads up!”

Liam Sims reached up just in time to catch the neat spiral pass that was heading right for him.

He grinned with pleasure at the familiar feel of the football as it connected with his hand, at the reassuring slap of palm on pigskin that signified a job well done.

He jogged over to Mark Lawrence, the quarterback, and held the ball out to him. “Nice pass.”

Mark grinned and took the ball back. “Just warming up,” he said. “It’s been a long off-season.”

“I’m sure you were in the gym every day,” Liam said.

“You weren’t,” Mark observed. “Coach noticed, you know. You might have some explaining to do on that front.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I was sitting on the couch,” he said. “You know me, I like to work out privately.” He had spent the off-season going for a lot of long runs and lifting in his home gym.”

“But you’re supposed to meet with the team trainers,” Mark pointed out.

“I know how to keep myself in shape,” Liam laughed. “I’ll prove it to them in practice today, and they won’t be able to say anything about how I spent my off-season.” He clapped his friend on the shoulder and jogged over toward the rest of the team.

He wasn’t going to be in any trouble and he knew it.

He’d been with the Miami Stingers for five years.

In that time, he had become one of the undisputed stars of the team.

He knew perfectly well that a major chunk of the ticket sales every game were people who specifically came to see his next miracle catch and run into the end zone.

His name was in the headlines more than any other member of the team.

The other Stingers were stretching near the home end zone.

Liam took a position in the center of the group and began his own stretches, knowing that there would be an intense workout to follow.

He’d prove himself by keeping up with the rest of the players—surpassing them, even.

He knew he could outrun anyone on this team, and as soon as they began, everyone else would know it too.

He sized up the few people he didn’t know, new drafts for this year, and smiled to himself at the thought of putting them through their paces.

When the stretching finished, Coach Reeves blew his whistle and the players began a basic jog up and down the field. After a few laps, Liam increased his pace. It was time to put his skill on display.

As he reached the 50-yard line, he noticed that someone was keeping up with him.

It was one of the new players. Liam had never seen him before, and glancing over, he thought the kid couldn’t be more than twenty-two years old. He must have been recruited right out of college.

Liam pushed himself to run a bit faster, wanting to leave the kid behind—to show him who was truly the fastest member of this team. Young kids always wanted to prove themselves. It wasn’t the first time Liam had dealt with this sort of thing.

But the kid continued to match Liam’s pace. That was new. Usually they realized quickly that they weren’t going to be able to keep up, but Liam had to concede that this one was faster than most.

He switched to high-knees. The kid switched along with him, even though the coach hadn’t called for it.

Liam waited for the sound of a whistle to return them to the drill they were supposed to be doing, and after a moment, it came, but he didn’t switch back.

The kid would do so. He was new, so he still needed to do exactly what the coaches told him.

His place on the team wasn’t secure the way Liam’s was.

He didn’t switch back to regular running. He kept going with the high-knees. Liam felt a dark cloud begin to form in his mind, anger at the kid for trying to compete like this. He must be aware of who the star of this team was. What did he mean by setting his sights on Liam on his very first day?

There was another whistle, long and loud, and this one even Liam couldn’t ignore.

The team was being summoned into a huddle.

He turned around and jogged back toward the bench, doing his best to ignore the kid.

He couldn’t help noticing, though, that the kid performed several showy tuck jumps on his way in.

What a clown. Doesn’t he understand that isn’t how we do things in the big leagues? Maybe that kind of showboating was appropriate on a college team, but here you have to earn the right to act like a big dog.

The team huddled up, and Coach Reeves began to hand out some drill assignments. Liam automatically moved toward Mark—as the team’s best receiver, it was standard for him to warm up Mark’s throwing arm.

But Coach Reeves held up a hand. “Sandusky, you go with Sims and Lawrence,” he said to the new kid. “Lawrence, throw Sandusky some long bombs. I want to try starting him in the first game of the season.”

The kid—Sandusky—preened and went over to Mark.

Liam walked over to the two of them more slowly.

If this kid was going to be starting, whose place was he going to take?

He thought about the other receivers—he needed all of them on the field.

He wouldn’t be at his best if they had to give a spot to someone this green.

“Garrett Sandusky,” the kid was saying to Mark. “I just graduated from FSU. Always knew that I’d be a Stinger someday, of course. Never really thought of ending up anywhere else, and I let Reeves know that when he started scouting me.”

“Took your spot on the team for granted, then?” Liam asked. “That’s always a mistake.”

Sandusky raised an eyebrow. “I know who you are,” he said. “You’re that old player—Leo Sims, right. My dad was a fan of yours when you were in your prime.”

Liam stared. This had to be a joke. And it wasn’t a very funny one. “I think you know my name,” he said. “It’s Liam Sims. And frankly, if you don’t know that, you can’t know that much about football.”

Sandusky chuckled. “I guess I don’t pay that much attention to the older generation of players. I mean, you heard Coach. He already thinks I’m ready to start. He’s probably thinking about retiring you soon.”

Liam gritted his teeth. He was only thirty-two years old. Sandusky might think he was some kind of hotshot, but he’d learn quickly. “Why don’t you step back and watch the first few passes,” he suggested. “I don’t want you to get in over your head on your first day.”

He turned and jogged off down the field before Sandusky had a chance to respond. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Mark drawing his arm back to pass.

Now Sandusky will see who he’s dealing with. I’ll put humility in him. Teach him to respect his elders.

The ball flew through the air. Liam followed it with his gaze, picking up his pace and positioning himself perfectly to make the catch—

Something slammed into him hard from the left, knocking him to the ground.

For a moment, Liam was too stunned to react or even to realize what had happened. He shouldn’t have been vulnerable to a tackle in a practice drill like this. He lay on his back, staring up at the sky.

Then the sound of whooping reached his ears.

He sprang to his feet. Sandusky was prancing around in high spirits, the ball held aloft in his hands. And Liam realized what had happened. The kid had gone for the catch on a pass meant for him and had knocked him to the ground in the process.

Fury swept through him. First the insults and the blatant disrespect, and now this?

He launched himself at Sandusky, knocking him to the ground. His hands balled into fists, but he managed to restrain himself from punching the younger man.

“Hey!” Mark shouted as Liam pinned Sandusky down.

Sandusky was so taken aback by the sudden tackle that he didn’t even fight back. If Liam had wanted to hit him, he could have done so. Sandusky was smaller than he was, too, and Liam was pleased to realize he wasn’t as strong. Liam’s off-season training regimen had obviously been the better one.

He lifted the kid by the shoulders and slammed him down again. “Watch where you’re going,” he growled. “That was my pass.”

“Is that the only reason you’ve caught so many passes?” Sandusky managed through gritted teeth. “Everyone else just gets out of your way and lets you make the catch?”

“During practice drills they do. This is what you did on your college team? Just ran around plowing into people? No wonder you think you’re such a hot shot.

People probably started running away the moment they saw you coming, right?

That’s not how it’s going to work here in the pros. You aren’t the star of this team.”

Sandusky just laughed. Liam saw red. If this kid wasn’t careful, he was going to get punched. That wasn’t something Liam wanted to do, but he was having trouble controlling himself in the face of such blatant disrespect.

There were hands on his arms, pulling him away.

He allowed it to happen without struggling.

He’d made his point, gotten his own back against Sandusky.

Even when he was up on his feet, Mark kept a firm grip on his arm as though afraid he was going to launch himself at the new kid again, but Liam had done what he’d wanted to do.

In fact, he was grateful for his friend’s intervention.

This had stopped things from going farther than they needed to go, and that was a good thing.

Sandusky struggled to his feet and backed away several paces. “He’s crazy,” he grumbled. “Old fool. He ought to be retired immediately if he can’t control himself better than that.”

Coach Reeves and a few of the other players had come running over and were now standing around them. The coach looked like steam was about to pour out of his ears. “What’s the meaning of this? You were supposed to be doing a simple passing drill.”

“The old man can’t handle a little competition,” Sandusky growled.

“Competition? You charged into me like a freight train for no reason,” Liam snarled. He looked over at the coach. “He’s completely out of control. He ought to be benched until he can manage himself a little better.”

“It’s football,” Sandusky spat. “Don’t tell me you’re too delicate to take a hit.”

That was enough to rile Liam up again, even though he’d sworn to himself that he was finished with this fight. He lunged toward Sandusky, but Mark held him back.

“Coach,” Mark said, “it might be best if these two warm up separately for the rest of the morning. Hot tempers, you know how it is.”

“I do know how it is, but I wouldn’t have expected it from a veteran member of this team,” the coach said with a frown. “Very well. Sandusky, you continue passing drills with Lawrence. Sims, go do some sprints.”

Liam’s jaw dropped. He was being sent to do sprints while Sandusky got to continue the drill the two of them had been working on? It was outrageous. It was as if he was the one who had been out of line, when it should have been clear to anyone that Sandusky was responsible for what had happened.

But the look in Coach Reeves’ eyes was sharp and dangerous, and Liam could see there was nothing to be gained by arguing. He turned and set off at a run.

Behind him, he could hear Sandusky laughing.