Page 93 of Look What You Made Me Do

Ignoring the media, Ella plonked herself between Rosie and Trish and grabbed their hands. Simon was on the other side of Rosie and they were all sporting a set of devil-horn headbands. Pete was standing off to one side watching the play while Jake prowled along the sideline, a bedeviled Cerberus at his heels.

“What’s happening?”

“Nothing yet,” Rosie said.

It didn’t take long for that to change. And it wasn’t a change for the better.

Chiswick wiped the field with the Demons in the first half with their superior ball skills, as though it was their God-given right to win. Ella, as per her usual position, spent half the time with her hands over her eyes, begging Rosie and Trish to tell her what was happening.

Tony Winchester spent the first half on the opposite side of the field, yelling at his team despite their exemplary play. A slight fumble, a misstep, and he was hurling insults that made even Rosie blush.

It was a shame really, because Ella had to admit that, objectively, he was still an impressive-looking man. He hadn’t gone to seed as a lot of ex-jocks did. Tony Winchester still had it and it was easy to see why Trish had fallen for him. But as far as she was concerned, his black heart and cruel tongue made him uglier than a hat full of assholes.

After a particularly awful tongue-lashing, Trish curled her fingers around Ella’s so hard she winced. “He’s such a tyrant.” She shuddered. “Where the hell was my head?”

Ella shrugged. “Time has a way of eroding facades.”

“And he’s just butt-ugly under his,” Rosie added.

Trish laughed. “Yes, he is, isn’t he?”

“He’s a fucking mad man,” Rosie said. “Aren’t there rules against this kind of behavior in kids’ sports?”

Not that any of Chiswick’s team looked like kids.

At half time, Chiswick led by sixteen points, with Deluca only managing to get six on the board from one touchdown. Jake followed his team back into the locker room. Ella, Simon, Rosie and Trish joined them, as did Cerberus, who found Cam immediately and collapsed on the floor at his feet.

Jake eyed the dejected players, struggling to find the right words to inspire and empower. He glanced at Ella, who gave him an encouraging nod. He opened his mouth, hoping to God the words that came out were the ones the Demons needed to hear. But before he said a single thing, a string of obscenities from the Chiswick camp next door echoed around the Deluca room.

Jake’s mouth shut automatically, stunned by the ferocity of Tony’s pep talk. He was ranting about the Deluca touchdown. How Chiswick’s strategy was to keep their opponents off the board altogether and how badly they’d fucked up. He was screaming failure, failure, failure. Calling them morons. Calling them girls.

“Why is he yelling at them?”

Jake tuned back in to his locker room and saw the stunned looks on his players’ faces as Ned, a skinny red-headed kicker, voiced the question that was obviously on all of their minds.

“They’re really good,” Ned said. “They’re all over us.”

Jake glanced at Ella standing by the door, her expression livid, then at Trish who looked deathly pale. “Yes.” Jake cleared his throat. “Yes, they are. Their coach, however, is a monumental asshole.”

A few of the guys laughed but Jake could see that most of them were still tuned into Tony Winchester’s continued verbal abuse of his team. He couldn’t blame them. It was ghoulishly, horrifyingly, compelling. Like hanging around a crash site watching the victims being cut out of their cars.

But he didn’t want Tony in their heads.

Jake belted on a nearby locker, the sound crashing into the morbid stillness and pulling everyone’s attention back to him.

“Don’t listen to him,” Jake said quietly. “Listen to me.”

He spoke to them then, about their struggle to get here. About their spirit, their heart, their triumphs – things that Ella usually talked about. He praised their individual strengths and applauded their teamwork. And gradually the next-door rant faded and he could see by the expressions on their faces that they were only listening to him.

“Whatever happens today, you boys have made me prouder than I’ve ever been. Prouder even than when I won my first Super Bowl ring. And you have one thing that they…”

Jake pointed next door to where the rant continued.

“Don’t have. Respect. For me. For Pete. For Ms. Lucas. For each other. And you have my respect too. I know how hard you’ve worked and it’s because of you I get out of bed each morning with a spring in my step. It’s because of you my life has a purpose again. After the way my career ended, I didn’t want to be back in the limelight, but you’ve shown me that just because things are hard, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them. Which is why, despite what that board says, we’re going to win this.”

Finishing up, Jake took a moment to look at each team member and shake their hand. “Pete?” He raised an eyebrow at Pete, indicating he could take the floor, but he declined. “Ella?”

She shook her head, tears shining in her eyes. “Nothing to add, Coach.”

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