“What about you? Are you still seeing Lexi?” Lindsey asked.
“My love life has been one long busted play this summer. Lexi hooked up with Ben Cowley …”
“The actor? I thought you two were friends,” Jamie said.
“I did, too. Lexi worked as his PA while Ben was filming in Paris. Then she got into a me-too scandal, which shut down the film’s production when Ben’s girlfriend got wind of what was going on. To fix it, they came up with the brilliant plan to fake Lexi’s pregnancy. They even got engaged for a minute,” David shared.
“Then what happened?” Lauren asked.
“I met someone in my film class. She was my TA.”
“How did that go wrong?” Kirk asked.
“I caught her in bed with some guy who I guess was an ex-fiancé. The weird part was he was a production assistant on the movie Ben was making. The only reason he was in LA was because of the Lexi-Ben saga.”
“There you go, Linds, he’s single,” Jamie said with a smirk.
“Not exactly. I’ve been seeing someone,” David deflected.
Not that he didn’t like Lindsey. Just not in that way.
They ended up in David’s room, catching up. There was a steady stream of visitors, including Nat and Chloe.
Kirk said he was hungry, so they all went downstairs for dinner. They were joined by several of the girls from the third floor who insisted David tell them about the incident in Colombia.
After dinner, everyone took off because a couple of frats were having parties. Crystal had called and invited him to join the women of Sigma Mu. They were headed to Phi Sigs’. She was playing her role as president and wanted to keep an eye on her girls. David stayed in and watched streaming video since he had a scrimmage tomorrow.
◊◊◊
The following day, David was lying down on his couch, enjoying a cup of tea, while Chloe was sitting in one of the gaming chairs, web browsing on her tablet.
“You’re nine likes away from a hundred thousand on that video you shot last night. Do you have any idea how many people that is?”
Kirk, Jamie, Lauren, and Lindsey had come back drunk last night and barged into his room. David had grabbed his phone to record the idiots because he wanted proof of how drunk they were.
“I was drinking tequila. We should all do another shot,” Jamie slurred.
“One more shot and I think it will te-kill-ya,” Kirk said, which they thought was hilarious as only drunk people can.
Lindsey almost coughed it up after downing her shot all at once.
“We might have killed her,” Lauren worried.
“That’s what her 19-year-old liver is for. It’s for nights like this,” Kirk said.
That made David laugh, and why he’d posted it. Kirk was right. If it weren’t for their young livers, college kids would be dropping like flies.
David rolled his eyes at Chloe and answered her question.
“Yeah. Ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-one.”
“Dick,” Chloe grumped.
David was startled when Cassidy burst through the door, looking pissed.
“What’s wrong?” David asked.
“The paparazzi were hanging around the back door of the townhouse, waiting to take your picture. When I came out, they started to snap away and ask rude questions.”
David gave her a confused look because that wasn’t anything new. Cassidy sighed and continued.
“One of them said, and I’ll quote him … ‘Hang on, guys. It’s just the housekeeper.’”
Chloe made the mistake of laughing. David leaped off the couch before Alex lost his girlfriend.
“What do you want me to do about it?” David asked to divert Cassidy’s attention.
“You’re going back with me and giving me a big kiss in front of those jerks.”
“How about I just give you a big kiss now, and you forget the paparazzi? Trust me. You don’t want them to think you’re my love interest,” David said.
With a kiss, Cassidy stopped David from teasing her. A serious kiss. A steal-your-breath-away-and-make-you-wonder-where-your-toes-went kiss.
Cassidy must not have closed the door because there was a gasp behind them. David and Cassidy turned to find someone’s mom looking scandalized.
“Well, I never!”
‘Well, I never did either. But I wouldn’t mind doing it again.’ David thought.
The woman hurried off down the hall. David glanced down, and Cassidy looked happy.
“Let’s go get breakfast,” Cassidy said.
◊◊◊
They were playing a simulated game today. The Cardinal team, made up of the first-string offense and the backup defense, was playing the Gold team, which was the first-string defense and the backup offense. By halftime, David was fuming because the Cardinal team was down 21 to 0.
Coach Stackhouse pulled him aside before he went into the locker room.
“Upset?” she asked with a tiny smile.
“I swear they know what we’re calling,” David complained.
“They do.”
“What!? Is Matt ratting us out?” David asked, becoming furious.
“Coach Merritt is,” Coach Stackhouse said.
“What!?”
“What are you going to do about it?” Coach Stackhouse challenged.
“Before we tackle that, why is he doing that?”
“Because even if the defense knows what play you’re running, you should be able to move the ball,” Coach Stackhouse said and then pushed. “We go as you go. Do you want to be named starter? Then figure out how you’re going to turn this game around.”
She left him in the tunnel. David took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and joined his team in the locker room. This was obviously some kind of test that he had to pass.
The number one offense was gathered around Coach Thomas, and they looked pissed.
“It’s almost like they know what the play is,” Willy said, guessing right.
David stepped beside his coach and smiled.
“Let’s assume that they do,” he said, not wanting to out his head coach. “We’re the starters for a reason. Let’s do our job.”
He turned to the offensive linemen.
“All week during practice, you were pushing the defense two or three steps downfield. Today, it’s just the opposite. They’re pushing you into the backfield. What is it that Coach Bolton always says?” David asked.
“One shot, one kill,” Willy replied, parroting what their offensive line coach taught them.
“What does that mean?” Coach Thomas asked.
“Explode off the ball and dominate,” Bear said.
“Skill players,” David said. “What are you taught?”
“Eyes, hands, feet!” the running backs and receivers all said.
“That’s right. Get your eyes in the right spot,” David reminded them.
“And when you run with it, hold the ball high and tight!” Coach Thomas growled. “We will not have any more turnovers. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir!”
“For the next half, forget they are our teammates. I’m going to assume they know the play we’re running,” David said. “Hell, I’ll even tell them in case they aren’t sure. And you know what? It won’t matter because if we execute and do our damned jobs, they can’t stop us.”
On the first play of the second half, David walked up to the line of scrimmage.
“I’m going to throw a bomb to Bill on a go route!” David called out.
He went down the line to explain to Percy.
“That means that I’ll have to hang onto the ball for a bit longer than normal, giving you a chance to show what a great pass rusher you are.”
Bear looked back at David when he saw the big smile Percy gave David. David had just thrown down the gauntlet, so to speak.
David got everyone set and clapped his hands to have Willy hike the ball. Bear ended Percy’s thoughts of glory by knocking him on his ass. It was simply a testament to what a mountain of a man Bear was. Even someone as skilled as Percy had trouble when Bear focused and took to heart the ‘one shot, one kill’ concept. Fire off the ball and knock them back.
Big Cat was lined up in the slot, and he ran a deep post route. The safety had been told that David intended to throw to Bill, but David stared down Big Cat to make the safety cover him.