Page 83 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

Okay? Okay like he believed her? Or okay like he would decide how he felt after he saw the whole video?

“Okay,” she echoed. “I guess I should go.”

“Why’d you come down here, Lucia?”

“I wanted to see if you were okay. I was worried about you.”

He looked at her incredulously. “That’s the only reason?”

Lucia glanced at the trainer, who’d been standing awkwardly behind her the entire time. He took the hint, walking out of the room quickly.

“I wanted…I want to tell you that I’m sorry. About New Year’s Eve.” She let out a breath, her hand sliding down to clasp his. “I was scared. I had just been in Philadelphia watching my dad deal with another heartbreak, having to cook and clean for him because he’d hardly left the couch the whole time, and it scared me. Because I realized how much I care about you. How much of it wasn’t pretend for me.”

She wasn’t ready to tell him she loved him yet, but she was trying her best.

“I realized that it was more than I’ve ever cared about anyone, including Max. And that scared me. Because if Max was able to hurt me the way he did, then if anything ever happened between you and me, I knew it would be so much worse. And I don’t think I could handle that.”

She felt a tear slide down her cheek, her pulse jumping when Colton wiped it from her face gently. “I’m so scared of being my father, Colt. I don’t want to end up like that. It hurt me so much to say goodbye, and every single time I saw you afterward was like a punch right to the gut. When you came into the facility and started to say something to me, I knew if you spoke, I’d lose all my resolve. So I ran away like a coward and asked Tim to join our sessions.” She rested her right palm on his cheek, her thumb brushing over his cheekbone. “I’m done running now. If you still want me.”

The door opened and Lucia started to move her hand away, but Colton placed his hand over it, keeping her anchored to him. “Of course I still want you, Luc. I told you as much in my texts.”

Lucia dropped her eyes, embarrassed that she hadn’t responded to any of them. She hadn’t been able to swear on her fantasy football team, and she hadn’t wanted to lie to him. “I know, but after the news, I wasn’t sure.”

“One minute before you need to be on the field, Colton,” the trainer said. Lucia huffed out an annoyed breath, wanting nothing more than to keep talking.

He grimaced as he pulled himself up into a sitting position, Lucia helping him.

“I didn’t believe it until I saw the screenshot of you on the phone with him. Even that, I wasn’t sure about, but then I saw the necklace and I knew it was recent, and I didn’t know what to think.” Finally, he smiled softly. “But I trust you. We’ll recover from the game tonight and talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

Lucia contained the urge to throw her arms around him, especially since the look on his face as he lowered himself to the ground told her how much pain he was really in.

“Are you going to play?” She couldn’t help the worry that tinged her voice as she asked.

“Coach will have to wrestle me to the ground if he thinks I’m not gonna go out there and kick Max’s ass. We can win this game, I know we can. And I want to be the one who helps us do that.”

Lucia didn’t want to tell him what to do, even if she was worried about him. She nodded, happy to hear him talk like he was a part of the team, rather than the only person on the team.

“Be safe.” I love you, she thought.

Then Colton was being ushered out of the room, limping toward the tunnel that would take him out to the field. Lucia turned down the hallway in the other direction and headed to the analyst box. Isa had already gone out onto the field.

After she closed the door and sat down, she watched him limp onto the field, suited up and ready to start the second half. Her heart trampled over itself at the determination on his face, and she said a prayer to a god she’d forsaken a long time ago to keep him safe.

The second half was similar to the first, except that every time Colton went down, he took longer and longer to get back up. She was ready for Coach Turner to make the call to bench him and put Elijah in. She knew it would metaphorically kill Colton not to play to the end, but she was worried playing to the end would actually kill him.

By the end of the third quarter, the Vipers were up by a touchdown, and very few of Colton’s drives had looked like they would result in points. The fourth quarter was more of the same, and even Coach Turner looked torn, a green-looking Elijah beside him. As they neared the end, she watched Colton and Coach Turner exchange a few words before he patted Colton’s shoulder and sent Colton back in. It could’ve very well been their last drive, and once again, Lucia found herself standing beside her table, biting the top of her pen.

She could tell from their formation that he was going to try for a long pass. He moved his feet after the snap, just like they’d practiced, and let a beautiful ball sail toward Devin who caught it on his way out of bounds. Thirty yards. She let out a small sigh of relief, but they were far from being able to celebrate.

The Sabers tried running the ball on the first two downs, but then on third down, Colton let the ball fly as he took a hit, Cooper jumping over a defensive back to catch it in the end zone. Colton stayed on the ground, but he pumped his fist before one of the Vipers’ players helped him up.

She looked over at Coach to see if he’d try for two or go for the extra point. When their kicking unit didn’t move, she bit down on the pen harder. Coach was putting an enormous amount of pressure on Colton to get this win.

They were going for two points. Their last attempt to take the lead and leave the Vipers with forty-five seconds. She could practically hear the entire stadium inhale as Chris snapped the ball to Colton. The Vipers’ secondary was doing a good job of keeping Colton’s receivers covered, and Colton evaded one lineman and then another, limp-running laterally across the field until it seemed the attempt would end with a sack. Instead, Colton limped quickly through a hole in the defense toward the end zone and leaped into the air, arms extended and ball knocking over the pylon.

Lucia jumped to her feet, letting out a squeal that was drowned out by the rest of the analysts cheering. Her heart tried to go back to normal but sped up again when she saw the look on Colton’s face. His smile was wide, as the adoration of nearly 80,000 fans washed over him, his name chanted all around the stadium. Even Coach Turner was jumping up and down with the offensive coordinator, a huge smile on his face and his clipboard abandoned on the sidelines.

Colton had gotten what he wanted, what he needed, to convince himself he deserved to be where he was. All Lucia could do was smile.

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