Page 58 of Play Maker

“Jade insisted on remote starters on all vehicles when we got offered a spot at the table. Said if we were all staying here and freezing for the rest of our lives, it was nonnegotiable.”

“Can’t say I blame her.” I chuckle.

“You need a new vehicle when you get your bonus.”

Bonus? I don’t even have a contract.

“It’s on the top of the list.”

“Good, ’cause it’s not just your battery. It’s your alternator, your serpentine belt—all that. My suggestion is not to waste your money on fixing it up. Give it to one of the locals who love to tinker.

“And don’t stress any of that. I’ve known Ava since she was born. Her bite is worse than her bark.She will rip someone to shreds—loves that shit. But more than that, she’s loyal, and she’s not going to do anything for someone unless they give consent.”

Yet she threatens no contract. No roster spot,Ithink.

“You have a decision to make.”

Fuck, here we go.

“Options. One being Vegas, and?—.”

“What?” I ask, shocked.

He nods. “They want you, so do a couple of others, but Vegas’s offer is apparently the biggest. Drew Daniels unofficially gave us a heads-up and told us we needed to go all-in or lose you. We planned to do just that on Saturday afternoon. Ava’s fired up because she doesn’t want those”—he pauses and clears his throat—“your wife and her family to have more money to fuck up good people’s lives. She wants your money to go into your pocket.”

I turn and look at him as he pulls to a stop and waits for the gate to lift.

“You mind if we make a few stops before we head to the Barn?”

“I don’t mind at all.”

“Good.” He pulls forward and hangs a left instead of a right.

“We studied every person’s tape we draft. We missed something with you.”

Missed something?

He continues, “Thankfully, so did everyone else, or you’d have gone in the first four rounds. You’re a five—position OL. That’s gold, we know it. On top of that you live this game. You’re quiet, observative, don’t start shit, you stepped forward last night to get the other fools to do the same and, by doing that, it came at a cost to you personally.”

He’s not wrong, they wouldn’t have.“Someone had to.”

“Nah, no onehad to. But you did it.” He shakes his head. “We know the worth in that. Off the field, you write your own play. Not one of us is going to question it.”

“But Ava.”

He chuckles. “I probably shouldn’t keep making canine references involving my daughter-in-law, but she’s like a dog with a bone. The bigger bone is who’s fucking with the team. And even though you haven’t asked, I’m telling you, this is not Knoxville fans, and if it involves them, it’s being puppeteered. Every one of us has a past. The boys not involved in the team on a daily, the ones in black, they have enemies. So do the rest of us. But I’m sure you’ve read all about that online.”

“I have a computer, but only because I had to for college. Only a handful of times I’ve opened it since, and I hate carrying a phone.”

“Shit,” he mumbles then sighs. “Hate gossip but will deal with truths.” And then he lets them fly.

“Then you have no idea that, in college, Logan ran his SUV through a bar that was being shot up because he knew that London was out with her friends, and she made sure they got out, but she couldn’t. She had to lay there, playing dead, in hopes the gunman would leave her there.”

I blink slowly.

“Or that Maddox Hines was born into a trafficking ring.”

Holy shit, I think but just shake my head.

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