He nodded. “Exactly. That’s why we wanted to get away for a few days.”
Korinne had confided in me during our lunch breaks about how she was told she couldn’t have kids. Then when she reunited with Galen she got pregnant with their oldest, and now they were being blessed with another one.
“I’m really excited for you both,” I said happily. “Please tell Korinne congratulations for me.”
“I will. Now go home—it’s getting late.” It was, but I still had a lot to do. Looked like my work was going home with me.
Chapter 3
Jaxon
Morning had arrived and I dreaded the thought of what was to come for our team. I wished the higher-ups knew what a fucking mistake it was to bring Ryan “the Fuckhead” Delaney to our team. When I strolled into the locker room, I could feel the tension. Half of our team was excited for the new quarterback and the other was pissed; that’s the half where I belonged. Blaine McCarthy snarled at me as I walked past and I flipped him off. He was one of our wide receivers but nowhere near as good as Evan. Being a dick was how he compensated. Many could say I was the same way, but I was just naturally an ass. Survival of the fittest was what my father always taught me. He was a survivor until he died of a heart attack two years ago. It was right after he found out my mother had pancreatic cancer.
Derek and Evan were already prepared for practice and were talking to Samson and Aaron Grainger, our punter. Aaron was the only teammate besides Derek who I hung out with on a regular basis. Not only did I train with him every day with our kicking coach, but he was also dating Hayden’s best friend.
“When do you think Delaney will get here?” Samson asked.
Everyone looked at the young quarterback and I almost felt sorry for the guy. “Hopefully, never,” I grumbled.
“Seriously,” Aaron agreed. “I can’t believe anyone would want that arrogant prick on our team. He’ll make us look bad.”
Derek slapped him on the shoulder. “No, he won’t. We’ll just have to take him down a few notches.”
Then, Evan, the voice of all reason, spoke up, but he had his glare on me. “Guys, let’s not do anything stupid. Delaney may be a dick, but we have to give him a chance. Now come on, we need to get out to the field.” Samson and Aaron followed him out of the locker room while I stayed behind with Derek. He leaned against the lockers with a smirk on his face.
“You noticed he looked straight at me, right?” I laughed.
He shrugged. “He’s just trying to keep the morale up. But I know he’ll go head-to-head with Delaney if he has to; we all will.”
I shoved my bag into my locker and started for the door. “I just want to start winning again. We’re not going to be in the NFL forever. The last thing I want is to go out knowing we were on the worst team in the league.”
Coach Joel nodded at us as we walked past his office and I had no clue if he heard me or not. The same thought had to be on his mind as well. “Dude, that’s not going to happen,” Derek replied. “The team is more than just the quarterback. We’ll make it back to the top.”
Once we were outside, he took off toward the rest of the guys while I ventured over to Aaron and Drake Caulfield, our specialist coach. While Aaron and I had similar positions on the team, they were also quite different. Aaron was a punter, who receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage and then punts it to the opposing team to limit any field position advantage. I was a field goal kicker. My job was to make sure to get those extra points no matter the circumstances.
“All right, boys, you know the drill,” Drake called out. “After your three miles we’ll get to work.” Coach Joel walked out onto the field and Drake rushed over to him while Aaron and I stretched.
The morning air was humid, which almost made it hard to breathe. So much for yesterday’s cool breeze. I was used to the humidity, though. Being from Tampa, one of the nation’s most humid spots, definitely prepped me for my time in the Carolinas. Once Aaron and I were warmed up and stretched, we took off for the track.
“Think we’ll be ready for the game this Sunday?” he asked.
Sweat dripped down my forehead and I wiped it away. “Fuck if I know. I guess we’ll find out.” We quickly finished our three miles and joined Drake by the sidelines. Drake was around forty years old and a former kicker for Pittsburgh. He ran a hand over his shaved head, keeping his gaze on ours.
“Why don’t we switch it up a bit today? Reed, I want you to practice punting, and Grainger, I want you working on field goals. That way if either one of you were to get hurt we’d have a decent backup. We don’t want the clusterfuck of what happened to Cooper.”
Aaron and I glanced at each other, completely in agreement. Drake tossed me a football and we took to the field. “I’ll snap the ball to you so you can punt,” Aaron offered. However, before we could even begin, a figure to my left caught my attention. Walking out onto the field, suited up and dressed, was none other than Ryan fucking Delaney.
“Here we go,” I whispered. Coach Joel and Drake hurried over to him, and they talked for a few minutes while everyone stood still.
“Think we should join the team for the introductions?” Aaron suggested.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
We walked over to where Derek and Evan were and waited silently. Once Joel was done talking to Ryan, they strolled over. “Boys, this is Ryan Delaney, our new quarterback. We have a lot of work to do for our game against Seattle. There will be plenty of time to converse later. Ryan,” Joel said, flourishing his hand to the field, “let’s see what you got.”