Page 116 of Touchdown, Tennessee
And my heart felt like it grew too big for my chest.
Gray had gotten a TNU Tempests jersey. He was wearing it now with his dark green scarf around his neck, and I’d never been prouder to be a member of this team.
“He looks so fucking hot in my colors,” I muttered.
Jacob laughed nearby. “Keep it in your pants ‘til after we win, Peachel.”
All night, James Valen had been covering me. I saw him across the line now, already trained on me. He knew how to cover a receiver better than just about anyone else I’d played against.
And he’d been trying to make my life, and Luke’s, a living hell tonight.
I respected Valen’s skill.
But I still wanted himoutof my goddamn face when I needed a football in my hands.
We were in formation for what felt like forever.
Then finally, the whistle blew out.
I had to track multiple movements at once, with my eyes, my body, and my fuckingsoul, truthfully.
A long time ago, my varsity coach had told me something cheesy that had stuck with me ever since.
Pretend you and the football are one.
Together.
Like it wants to come to you, and you only.
Kind of woo-woo. But I thought about it all the time, to this day.
And right now, with Valen on my ass at every fucking second, I really needed that football to woo-woo its way right into my pretty little pocket.
I tried not to give away a goddamnedinchof my movement.
Not with my eyes, not with my body language.
But I must have let something slip for a moment, because as soon as I moved left, Valen was after me like I had a blinking sign above my head.
As I sprinted across the turf he was my constant companion.
“Keep trying, Peachel,” he uttered under his breath. “Hyenas are taking it tonight.”
“Like fuck you are.”
Just as the ball came in, I thought I could get an angle to catch it. But the closer it got, the more I realized that it was impossible.
Valen was going to intercept it if I didn’t stop him.
No.
Fuck no.
Instead of trying to catch the ball I reached out far, shoving it away the moment before it hit Valen.
Incomplete.
Thank the Lord above.
