Page 52 of Savage for You

The crowd’s going wild. After winning the coin toss, we’re on the field first. Talon catches the ball and runs like he’s being chased by Michael Meyers. We make it to the forty-five-yard line. After the snap, Dayton protects my blindside and I throw the ball to Xander, where he makes the touchdown. Alex, our kicker makes the field goal, and we get that extra point. We started with a bang and we’re ready for Nebraska.

I see my girl from where she’s sitting, and I wink at her. I know she doesn’t like attention. I grab the Gatorade from Rose and look up at the replay of the kick and then I see Monti and Autumn on the jumbotron.

My girl looks gorgeous, and so does my sister. They’re both smiling and laughing together, then I see red. Some fucker has spilled his drink on Monti, and as she’s cleaning it up, that fucker thinks he can ‘help’ her. I run over to the stands and I’m about to jump over when I see Monti punch him. Man, my girl has an amazing right hook.

Autumn’s looking at me and she says something, but I don’t hear it.

“Keep your hands off my girl,” I yell out, and point straight at him.

Montana turns around looking nervous, but she walks down toward me, and gives me a hug. She knows just what I need.

“Thank you, baby, but you need to go back out there and kick some ass. I took care of it,” she whispers in my ear.

“Yeah, you did, Killer,” I reply with a smile.

I jump down and head back to the sidelines but look up every so often to make sure she’s okay.

“Savage! Get your head back into the game!” Coach grunts.

“Yes, coach.”

“She’s stronger than you think, kid.” He slaps my shoulder and walks away.

It’s the fourth quarter. There’s five minutes left in the game and we’re down by three. I’m back on the field and the ball is snapped to me. I look around but the Nebraska defense has guys on Xander and Talon, so I run for it. I get a first down at the twenty-yard line before I’m tackled. I get back up and we run into a huddle.

In the huddle, the guys are looking tired waiting for me to call a play. “Alright, boys, we’re down by three but we’re not going to go out like that. We’re going to run the sweep pass play. We’re going to win this game! Just like we practiced. Let’s go, boys!”

The play starts and the ball is in my hands. I pretend to pass it over to Tyler, but then I throw it to Xander, who is to the left of me. He catches it and makes it to the ten-yard line before he’s tackled. Coach calls a time out.

“Alright, boys, we’re going to do a fumblerooski on them. Savage, do the play and Knox will get it,” Coach says with a smirk.

“Me, coach?” Knox looks nervous.

“Hell yeah, we have been practicing and what better team to do it to than the team who made it up?” Coach says, and everyone cheers.

Xander speaks up first. “Knox, you got this. Dayton will snap the ball to Rocky and then you scoop it up and run like hell.”

A collective “hell yeah” is shouted and we head back onto the field.

We line up and the ball is snapped to me. I put it on the ground, and it’s picked up by Knox, who runs like his life depends on it. He makes the touchdown, and everyone goes wild.

“Let’s fucking gooooooo!” I hear someone yelling as we all run into the end zone, and pile on top of Knox. Then, Alex comes onto the field and kicks the extra point.

I find Montana and my sister in the stands to see them giving me hand hearts, and Montana blows me a kiss. I smile at her.

When I walk back to the sideline, I see a man that I literally wouldn’t have minded never seeing in my life, standing next to my coach, chatting like they’re old friends. I roll my eyes.

No one knows I have a different father than Autumn. More like a sperm donor, if you ask me. He and my mom were together in their junior year of college. He got her pregnant but didn’t want me. I overheard my parents talking about it one night. You know the old song and dance. Boy meets girl. Girl gets pregnant. Boy walks away to go to the NFL.

After the game, I’m stopped by the local media for a game day interview. After that’s done, I'm heading to the locker room because the last thing I want is to be near him.

“Savage! Come here, please,” Coach yells at me, and I internally groan.

“Yes, coach?” I don't even pay him any mind.

“Rocky, I want you to meet Johnny Henry. Johnny, Rocky Savage,” he says, introducing us.

He holds his hand out, but I just look at him and say, “I would say it's nice to meet you, but it’s not.”

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