Page 27 of Change Your Play

The moment he left the room, I could finally breathe again. I buried myself in the clipboard, pretending like I wasn’t affected by his presence.

Notes.Notes. I needednotes.

But the paper was completely empty. I hadn’t even brought up the fact that he pelted Sullender with footballs during practice. Shouldn’t I have thought through that?

“Bennight?”

I glanced up to see Coach Lawson looking at me, scratching his beard with a thoughtful expression. I swallowed. “Sir?”

“What do you think?”

Oh no.

“What did I…?” There were two other interns close to me, seven analysts, his assistant coaches and his assistants of the assistant coaches. Being the center of a meeting never bothered me before but I had to fight past the blush. “What did I think?”

“Yes. What do you think?”

The things I couldn’t stop thinking about weren’t things that Coach Lawson needed to hear.

When I thought about Miles, I couldn’t stop thinking about how honest to a fault he was. No schemes, no tricks, just…Miles. I thought about how lonely he was. And how much I wanted to fix it. But, most of all, how much I was afraid to.

“I thought he was great,” Ryan answered for me.

“Is that because of his stats?” I asked instantly, more out of habit than anything. “Or because the two of you don’t like small talk?”

Coach Lawson guffawed.

“He’s a fantastic player,” Ryan pointed out. “His numbers are some of the best we’ve seen. And—alright. That could’ve had a part to play in it. I still like him.”

“Bennight?”

I tapped my pen against the clipboard. Miles didn’t even want to play for Marrs. What was the harm in saying something that wasn’t true? I could see the cards I could play in front of me, the different moves to influence his position. But that wasn’t my job and Coach Lawson was Coach Lawson. I couldn’t lie to him.

“He’s one of the best, notthebest,” I said hesitantly. “He could be. That’s the problem. Take a look at the last three games. You can see in the final five minutes, he’s lost interest. Miles Locke couldbegreat. But he needs…structure.”

The murmurs started and everyone began our five-minute discussion before the next football player.

And I stared down at my clipboard. With only a few days left at KYU, I thought I would be happy to leave Oklahoma. But that didn’t seem to lift the cement block, weighing down my heart.

12

Miles

Nothing About This Is Casual

Even if I snuck into Cleo’s hotel room that night, I wasn’t satisfied. The concerns were right. I understood them. But I couldn’t help cursing under my breath when I left her room at four in the morning, all to pretend like I barely knew her during practice the next day.

How was I supposed to do it? Pretend like she didn’t affect me like she did?

After lunch, we had an hour, and I leaned against one of the columns outside of our training facility. Some of the Marrs team hurried out to take advantage of the break, but I wasn’t waiting for them. I counted down the seconds for the redhead vixen with her nose glued to her clipboard.

“Ms. Bennight,” I greeted.

She threw a glance over her shoulder and strode over to me. “Mr. Locke. How can I help you?”

Let me eat your pussy again.

“I have some questions about Marrs,” I said instead.

---