Page 53 of Thoroughly Innocent Intent

“You’re funny this early.” Dante snorts, slapping my knee. “For real, I need to get my folks tickets.”

“For real, they aren’t available.” I grit, losing patience.

“Well can your friend go to another game? My folks are only here the one weekend.”

“Then you should’ve done something about that before now.” I lean back in my chair and close my eyes, shutting him out.

“Whoa, what’s with you man? You’re never this touchy, especially about passes you never use.”

He’s not wrong. I’m typically happy to give them to whoever wants them. Yet the way he expects me to hand them over on top of covering for him, not just this season with his injury, but every other time when he had family stuff and I stepped in to work with the new guys, takes me to my limit.

“Maybe I’m tired of you guys dumping your shit on me all the time,” I grunt.

“The hell you talking about?” Dante shoots me a furious glance.

“You heard me. You want tickets and assume you can take mine. You have stuff going on at home and leave me to stay late to run routes or watch film with the rookies. You both do.” I point at each of them in turn.

“That’s bullshit.” Dante clenches his fists. “I put in my time with the rookies.”

“As long as you don’t have something else going on that’s true. But you’ve given some pretty shit excuses over the years to get out of it. Dinner with your wife, a friend visiting from out of town, taking your daughter shopping for school pictures. And you.” I turn to Shane, who’s snickering next to me, “You had me fill in when Elliot won a bet and you had to do a yoga class. That wasn’t the only time you put shit on me, but it was the lamest.”

Shane stares at me, dumbfounded.

Dante glowers and shakes his head. “You sayin you work harder than I do? That you’re more committed?”

“If the shoe fits.” It’s a low blow, designed to sting, but now that I’ve said all this out loud, I realize there’s some truth to it.

Shane and Dante are as committed as they come, but even they make time for their personal life. I’m the only one who doesn’t, and as a result they’ve come to expect that I’ll be there to cover for them if they want time for themselves.

True, I played a role in this. Yet it kind of stings to realize how little regard they have for my time. Worse is that they aren’t even aware of it. So yeah, I’m feeling a little like I’m the only one sacrificing everything for the sake of my team.

“Unbelievable,” Dante mutters, shaking his head. “I can’t deal with this shit.” He reaches for his headphones and covers his ears before reclining and shutting his eyes.

“You’re not the only one,” I grumble, reaching for my own headphones.

I figure we just need the rest of the flight to cool off and everything will be fine once we land. It isn’t, and we lose our first game of the season.

Samantha

“Stopfidgeting.”Delaneyswatsmy hand as we ride the escalator to the suite. “I don’t understand why you’re so nervous. This is going to be amazing!”

“I’m nervous because Colt’s been sort of distant all week, and I don’t know what that means. Does he regret inviting me? Plus, shouldn’t Colt’s guests know at least something about football?”

“I know about football.” She flings her blonde hair over her shoulder.

“Yes, but you aren’t dating him. What if he’s embarrassed the person he’s dating doesn’t know anything beyond what the line of scrimmage is? I only know that because he explained it to me when I didn’t know what film was for.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Delaney says as we step off the escalator. “You aren’t the first person to date someone without understanding what they do for a living. I once went out with an arborist, but as far as I’m concerned a tree is a tree is a tree.”

“And you went out with that guy how long?” I ask as we reach the suite.

“It’s not important.” Delaney waves her hand dismissively, which means they probably didn’t get to the second date. “The point is you’re not here to impress anyone with your knowledge of the game, you’re here to support Colt. Pretend this is one of your fundraisers and walk in there like you belong.”

“I do belong at the fundraisers,” I grunt.

“And you belong here too since Colt invited you, so stop acting like you’re breaking a rule or something.”

“You’re right.” I exhale, grateful for the reality check. “Okay, here goes nothing.”

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