Page 24 of Hot Route
Mine.
She straightens and grabs a pair of headphone, putting them on and talking into the microphone.
“Check. Check.”
Satisfied, she moves to the side and away from my touch.
“Somebody must’ve kicked the main line down there. The connector was bent, so it wasn’t powering the board. You’re good now.” She smiles, handing the headset to Connor. “Anything else I can help you with?”
He laughs. “Yeah. How about you tell Brady here how to save his joke of a fantasy football team.” He’s being sarcastic because he doesn’t know her knowledge of every player in the league.
Brady rolls his eyes. “You’re just mad because I drafted the head coach from the Sharks.”
Mads scoffs.Get ‘em, baby.
I don’t have a fantasy team because, well, Iamthe fantasy team. But I know exactly what she’s thinking.
“What? He’s the best coach in the league,” he says, defensively.
She goes to stop herself, but if Mads knows anything, it’s football. You couldn’t pay me to enter a fantasy league that she was in.
“Well,” she says like she’s not about to embarrass him. “In a standard PPR league, a win gets a coach two points. Say the Sharks win every single game. That’s a total of thirty-four points. On the season. Carson Dash, the sleeper from San Diego is projected to put up an average of seventeen points per game. So, congrats. You just wasted a roster spot when you could’ve left the coach position empty, put Dash in your flex when he starts to ball out, and gotten that back in two weeks.”
“Marry me,” Connor says, looking at her with hearts in his eyes.
“Got him!” one of the younger guys in the corner shouts, face in his phone, no doubt securing Carson Dash and dropping a head coach from his team.
Brady is speechless as he watches Mads zip up her backpack. She smiles sheepishly at him before waving goodbye. “Nice to see you.” She turns to Connor next. “Watch your feet.”
We turn to walk up the stairs before Brady runs after us and yells “Madison! Wait.”
He closes the distance before speaking to her.
“Do you want to meet up Sunday night? We can grab a drink and catch up.”
We play the L.A. Stars away in the early game that day and I have a feeling he’s asking her because he knows that I won’t be around.
“Ummm, sure. Yeah,” she replies. She seems uncertain but she’s way too nice to decline. Or maybe she actually wants to go out with him.
Fuck that.
“Great. I’ll get your number from Jacob and we’ll figure out the details later this week.” He kisses her cheek before walking away.
TWENTY-ONE
MADS
MADS: Good game today! You got me 40 fantasy points.
BLAZE: I was thinking of slacking off today, but then I remembered that Cleats n Cleavage was counting on me. So, I decided to give it 100%. Just for you, Baby Doll.
MADS: Thank you for your service.
BLAZE: What’s your plan tonight? Bathing in the tears of your opponents?
MADS: I’m meeting Brady at Donatello’s for drinks.
BLAZE: Isn’t Donatello’s a little intimate for catching up with an old friend?
