Page 32 of Second Down Fake

“Wow, that’s a big party. Your head coach must really love entertaining.”

“Not even a little.” I shook my head. “I mean, the invitation says Coach Simmons, but his mentor throws it, really. Lionel Mack. He’s old school. The man’s a legend. He’s on the team as a consultant, but he mostly keeps Simmons in line.”

She raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. “He keeps the head coach in line? That sounds interesting.”

“Your sister didn’t tell you any of this?”

“You think Becca tells me NFL gossip? Not a chance. She doesn’t even talk about work after she dropped that some player got a hamstring injury before the Thanksgiving game and my uncle called his bookie. Give me all the gossip.” She bit her lower lip expectantly, eyes aflame.

“It’s not gossip. It’s known information.”

“You’re making me less excited about this.”

“Alright, Coach Simmons was kind of a football savant. Not a player, but an x’s and o’s guy. Coach Mack recognized this talent when Simmons was in high school and helped him learn to coach. He rose through the ranks pretty quick, becoming the youngest D1 coach and then the youngest NFL coach.”

“The Breakers?”

I shook my head. “Nope. That was years ago. Another team. He got fired mid-season. No one would ever confirm anything. The press release was pretty dry: Coach Simmons has parted ways with the program. We’re going in a new direction, blah blah blah.”

“But why mid-season? That seems sketchy.”

I laughed. “I heard from some players on that team that he was an asshole. He blamed everything on the players, would show up late to player meetings, treated them like servants and not professionals.”

“Isn’t that, like, half the guys on the field? What made him special?”

“Off the field,” I paused for dramatic effect. “There was a rumor he hooked up with a player’s girlfriend. The player found out, took a swing at Simmons, and Simmons booted him from the team without talking to the general manager. The player was a key player and also, allegedly, not in the wrong.”

Cassandra’s mouth dropped, eyes wide. “Oh, that’s spicy.”

“All rumors,” I reiterated.

“Good rumors, though. It’s got a real satisfying villain arc.”

“Yeah, the player was asked back, won MVP, and Simmons got shown the door.”

“But how’d he come back?”

“He disappeared for a year, went underground or traveled to Asia or hid out in a cave. No one’s really sure, but at the end of the year, he re-emerged with Coach Mack by his side. I’m not sure what strings his old mentor pulled, but he got a head coaching position at a JUCO — a junior college. Normally, it’s the players trying to earn their way into college ball, but Coach Simmons did the same thing. He spent a season coaching there, went back to D1, and when the expansion went through and Norwalk got an NFL team, he scooped up the head coach job.”

“And now?”

“Not sleeping with any player’s girlfriends. That’s for sure.”

“I’ll try to maintain that streak for him.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for that. I don’t think he’s your type, anyway. He’s pretty cold and distant.”

Cassandra grinned. “Oh, a challenge?”

I pulled up to the gate outside of Coach Simmons’s neighborhood. The security guard dutifully checked my license and my name off a list of visitors, raising the gate to let us enter.

“Wow,” Cassandra breathed as we pulled onto the estate. Giant Tuscan-styled villas peppered the rolling hills, all comically large for the one or two occupants inside.

“It’s obscene, isn’t it?”

“Honestly, I thought you’d live somewhere like this.”

“No. This neighborhood is practically a senior living facility and the houses cost in the tens of millions. It’s a stupid money neighborhood.”

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