“Yes, sir!”
“If you’ve been dinged up, I expect you to see the trainers and get treatment. Take the rest of the day and Sunday off, and I’ll see you back here on Monday,” Coach Merritt said. “Oh, I almost forgot. The three-deep depth charts will be posted Sunday night.”
◊◊◊
David got cleaned up and went to his townhouse, where his family was gathered. The little ones and Duke were chasing each other downstairs, so he was ignored when he came in. The new childcare girl seemed to have the rowdy bunch in hand, so David went up to the roof, where he found the rest of his family.
He found Alex and Crystal sitting on one of the couches, so he flopped down between them.
“Alex was just regaling me with his skill at kicking a ball,” Crystal shared.
“I swear he gets a nerd boner when the topic comes up,” David said with a smirk.
“I was fated to be a field goal kicker,” Alex bragged.
“People call it fate, and others think it’s luck,” Crystal said. “Me? I think some things just happen, and it’s not like there has to be a reason for everything.”
“How did you get out of working out with Cassidy?” David asked.
“Just blind luck,” Alex said as he winked at Crystal, who rolled her eyes. “I don’t have to do any of that stuff because of my heart.”
Cassidy came up and made David move over so she could sit down.
“Did you have fun?” David asked.
“Coach Merritt said that if your next scrimmage was like today’s, then I get to actually kill some of you,” she said with a smile.
“I guess Coach had you tell me that so I’d share it with the team,” David said.
“Or you could just let that be a little surprise. My money’s on Knackers dropping dead,” Cassidy shared.
The Aussie kicker had grown on everyone. He was no doubt a self-centered dick, but he could be funny as hell at times. You also knew precisely where you stood with him and what he wanted. If you were a girl, he made it clear that he wanted to do unspeakable things. David was amazed that he didn’t get kicked in the … well … knackers more often.
Cassidy had reported that he’d bedded about half the rowing team.
What surprised David was that Knackers had zero interest in jock bunnies. He suspected that Knackers enjoyed the hunt, and having a girl offer to sleep with him with no work defeated the purpose. Knackers’ ultimate goal was Cassidy because she’d made it clear that he had no chance. David predicted that she might find herself in Knackers’ bed at some point because she kept saying it wasn’t going to happen. If she meant it, she wouldn’t talk about it so much.
“I think you’ve gone soft, or he would already be dead,” David teased.
He dodged her jab in his ribs.
“You two, settle down,” his mom called from across the roof.
David stuck his tongue out at Cassidy.
“Ow!” he complained when she jabbed him.
“Don’t make me come over there,” they were warned.
David put his arm around Cassidy and gave her a hug to call a truce. Neither of them wanted to be on his mom’s bad side.
◊◊◊
His dad played grill master, and they all had a nice meal. After eating, his family and Alex headed to their respective homes. Crystal had volunteered to help him clean up.
David finished loading the dishwasher while Crystal took a seat at the kitchen bar.
“I met with my dad about you.”
“Why?” David asked as his stomach tightened.
“He wanted to get my take on how you would feel about what he’s working on.”
“Hang on. Let me get my dad on the phone. That way, he can ask questions if he needs to,” David said as he dialed his father’s number.
“What’s up? Did we forget one of the rug-rats?”
“Does that happen?” David asked, suddenly worrying about something new.
He could hear his mom chuckling, so he knew his dad was giving him a hard time.
“After you do it once, they seem to have figured out that if they don’t want to get left, they should hustle their little butts,” Dad said.
“Crystal said her dad is up to something and was about to share it with me. I figured I better just get you in on this conversation,” David explained.
“What’s Kendrick doing?”
David looked at Crystal and nodded.
“He’s been working on the streaming revenue. He said that the studios were receptive to making David whole. He said that your take on recent Bonds was correct. They are concerned about the age of their James Bond characters. They plan to either replace the current one with someone younger, or the studio might actually kill him off,” Crystal shared.
“Oh, boy. They’d better not do that, or that’ll destroy the franchise,” David said to share his opinion.
“Dad was told that they might go with a new 007. The gal sharing it with him was excited because they were thinking about a woman of color so they were more in line with being woke.”
“What does that have to do with the studio being receptive to David receiving his fair share of streaming income?” Rob asked.
“When they proposed the change to focus groups, there was some pushback. They’re covering their bases in case the new 007 doesn’t work. My dad thinks that they’re making concessions to stay on your good side. They hope that if their scheme to change James Bond to a woman doesn’t work, you might be open to taking over the role of 007,” Crystal shared.
Becoming the new 007 would be a double-edged sword. He would be set for life, but he would be typecast. The man playing Mr. Bond had been doing it for over 15 years.
Instead of getting ahead of himself, David focused on his other movies.
“What about Star Academy and Love Letters?”
“You’re one of the owners of Love Letters, so you’re covered with that one. They’re talking about possibly doing spin-offs from Star Academy. One of the streaming services is talking about doing a series of TV shows. Your character, Striker, is a possibility.”
“I bet your dad’s not happy David’s in college,” Rob said.
“He said all those projects can wait until David is free of the NCAA. But he had one other idea. What would you think if the NCAA would allow David to get paid for his social media?”
“I was told that would jeopardize my eligibility. If that happens, I’ll track your dad down,” David said.
“He’s well aware of that. What he’s proposing is that your social media be run by a blind trust and all income be donated to various causes or charities,” Crystal said.
“Why would the NCAA allow that?” Rob asked.
“Because it’s only a matter of time before name, image, and likeness compensation becomes a reality. They would use David as their test case to figure out how it would work for student-athletes. And as soon as it was turned on, David would have a steady cash flow in place,” Crystal said.
“What does your dad get out of this?” Rob asked.
“He’ll get paid by the trust as David’s agent.”
In the back of David’s mind, he could see that there would be a huge opportunity for whoever could guide the process. Both the athletes and universities would be worried about messing up and getting shut down. Where there was doubt, there was opportunity. He would have to get his brain trust working on that.
“I want to talk to your dad about all this. But it’ll have to wait until school starts,” David decided.
“I agree. David needs to focus on football right now,” Rob said.
“Can my dad call you, Mr. Dawson?” Crystal asked.
“That’s fine, but I want to think about all this. I might have some ideas of my own,” David interjected.
“Then go ahead and have Kendrick give me a call,” Rob said.
David said goodbye to his dad. He would talk to him later.
“Your dad is smart, having you come to me about all this,” David said.
“I wasn’t going to until I heard what it was. Social media influencers are starting to make real money, and I can see myself as their agent. I’ve talked to Chloe, and she doesn’t plan to continue college. She wants to build a following, and I’ve agreed to help her,” Crystal said.