Page 28 of Matched By My Rival
Johnston threw a beefy arm over Hinkel’s shoulder. “The kid is right. You’ve been off doing your own thing.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Or maybe doing yournewthing? Who is she, huh? Have we met her?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Uh-huh.” He couldn’t have sounded more skeptical.
I rolled my eyes, grumbling, “Whatever, guys. It’s too early for this shit.”
My bad mood didn’t linger. Not with memories of BiCuriousStud so fresh in my mind. Just calling up the pic he’d sent me of his cock, even with the crappy lighting and angle, was enough to make my mouth water. He hadn’t exactly been the Casanova of sexting, but there was something extra sweet about watching his inhibitions lower.
“Okay, guys, enough chit-chat.” Martinez clapped his hands. “Let’s get to work.”
Martinez supervised our workouts to ensure we pushed ourselves hard enough but not so hard we strained ourselves. It was a delicate balance.
He glanced up as I neared. “Pause squats today, Reed.”
Great. I fucking detested pause squats. He smiled evilly. The fucker knew it too. But you didn’t get to be the strength and training coach unless you were a bit of a sadist.
I gave him a lazy salute, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of a groan of dismay, and set to assembling the barbell and weights. A pause squat meant I’d be lifting weight over my shoulders, while also dropping into a squat, pausing in a full stop, then driving upward while maintaining control.
Martinez nodded approvingly and turned to Hinkel. “We need to push you a bit more if you want to step up next season. I want to see you on band-resisted vertical jumps today.”
Hinkel looked like an excited puppy. “Really? You think I might get more opportunities next season?”
Despite being a wide receiver, he was still young, and he didn’t get as many passes from the QB as better-positioned receivers with more experience.
For the next twenty minutes, we were all focused on our workouts. There were grunts and groans. Pause squats took damn near everything I had, but I did have a good view of the room. A few of the linebackers spotted for each other at the bench press, making casual conversation. And Hinkel was still speaking between jumps like a little Energizer bunny, excited by what Martinez had said about next season.
“If you really want to up your game, you need to learn from Reed,” Johnston said. He’d taken Hinkel under his wing, teaching him the ways of the jock: mostly how to drink without making himself sick, how to pick up girls at parties, and how to do just well enough academically to stay on the team. “With Cortez graduating, our boy is going to be top in the conference. Shit, we might actually get to see someone from Hayworth get drafted.”
Hinkel looked awed. “Really? He’s that good?”
I finished my rep set, taking a breather. “Not fucking likely.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Reed,” Johnston called. “You stepped up in a big way last season.”
I didn’t like the reminder. I’d stepped up because Simon was injured, then because he was gone—leaving a fucking void on the team. A void I still didn’t feel adequate to fill.
“Prentiss was better.”
Martinez had drifted closer at some point. “Prentiss was a damn good wide receiver,” he said. “But you and Prentiss are different players. You have a completely different approach. Prentiss was a workhorse, and you’re…”
“A lazy bastard?” I joked.
The guys laughed, and Martinez shook his head, lips quirking. “You’re raw talent, Reed. If you put in half the work Prentiss did, youwouldget a look from the NFL scouts.”
“Hayworth isn’t exactly known for pumping out NFL’ers, no offense.”
Martinez chuckled. “Maybe not. But Coach has a few contacts at regional teams. The Chiefs, the Cowboys.”
I grabbed my bottle of water and drank, knowing that my break would be short-lived. I had at least two more sets of pause squats to get through.
“Leavens got drafted six years ago,” Cruz pointed out.
“And Smith got signed to an undrafted agency,” Johnston said. “That was, what, only four years ago?”
Martinez nodded. “It’s a long shot. But hell, you’ve got as good a chance as anybody if you lead the conference, Reed. Why do you think Coach has been riding your ass so hard?”
“I thought he was pissed about us being hungover a few weeks back?”
