Page 28 of Summer Catch

Nelson Perez was the Condors’ starting quarterback and the guy that Jon had spent the last few months building his offense around.

This was a serious blow. And right after they were all beginning to feel like the Condors might defy expectations and be better this year than they had any right to be.

Kieran understood exactly why Jon looked so devastated.

“What are you gonna do? Start Charlie?” Kieran asked, referring to the backup quarterback, who was mid-thirties, a year older than Jonathan himself, and had been picked up more to coach Nelson than to actually take the field.

“We can’t,” Jon said, the confession wrenched from him. “Not for a whole season.”

“What else are you gonna do?” Kieran knew that money was tight—mostly because they were still paying some of the shit players they’d had to let go for character problems.

It was unfair, but that was the NFL for you.

“I don’t know.” Jon sighed. “Mr. G has some ideas. Unconventional ideas. But what else can we do? Charlie’s great, but he’s thirty-five and a better coach than he is a player. He’ll even be the first one to tell you that.”

“It’s not ideal.”

Kieran knew how upset Jon was, because he reached out for Kieran, putting a hand on his knee and squeezing.

They weren’t exactly hiding, but they were still being circumspect. Kieran tried to let Jon set the pace and the tone, but sometimes it was hard. Like this time, when he wanted nothing more than to grab his man and pull him into a big hug.

“You want a drink?”

“Am I still coming up blank?” Jon asked, trying to make a joke and cracking a weak smile.

“Yeah but I got you, baby.” Kieran slid off the barstool. “One sec.”

“Sorry.” Jon winced. “I know you guys are busy.”

“Not ever too busy for you,” Kieran promised. He looped around the back of the bar and grabbed some bottles, pouring them into a squat glass.

Set it in front of Jon.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Cherry old-fashioned,” Kieran said and dropped three—not one, not two, but three—cherries into the glass. Only the best for his lover.

He’d give him the whole fucking container of cherries if it would cheer Jon up.

Jon fished a cherry out of the glass and popped it in his mouth. Kieran might’ve normally made a joke, but he could tell this wasn’t the right moment for a quip about popping his gay cherry.

“So,” he said instead, “tell me about these unconventional ideas of Mr. G’s.”

“You know Aidan Flynn?”

Kieran tried to keep his jaw connected to his face. “Aidan Flynn? You mean the Aidan Flynn that’s the all-star, Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Toronto Thunder?”

“That’s the one. And no, we don’t magically have more room in the budget for a guy like him. But he has a younger brother. Riley. Smaller. Which is why he didn’t go in the first round of the draft. Which is why he’s playing in the XFL right now. But playing lights out. Mr. G thinks if we don’t scoop him up, someone else will.”

“And you don’t want him ’cause he’s what . . .small? How small is he?” Kieran had to wonder. If this little brother was that good and also had Aidan Flynn as his older brother . . .could he be too small?

“He’s not that small, just smaller than the norm, you know? Maybe 5’9”? But he’s built, too. As solid of a guy as I’ve ever seen, and elusive.”

“Sounds like you like him,” Kieran pointed out.

Jon shrugged. “I want to. But then I think of totally re-thinking the offense and I kinda want to cry.”

“Would it be that different?”

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