And every team that could have picked me up before the one that finally did, I’d write down their name and make sure to burn them every time we played my entire career. Because fuck those guys.
My off the field shit wasn’t that bad. So I partied hard and slept around. That’s what worked for me, and I was always there when the game started. Wasn’t that all that mattered?
Adam pulled back. “I don’t know if you’ll get drafted. None of the teams will want to take a chance on someone with your character concerns.”
“Character concerns!? I fucking graduated from college early! I have an engineering degree and a 3.6 GPA on top of football at one of the best universities on fucking planet!”
“And yet when you arrive at the party things always get out of hand and the police get called. And you always seem to wake up with someone important’s 19 year old daughter in your bed.”
I couldn’t really argue with that. I breathed in deep, shutting my eyes, still unable to handle all of this. “What’re my options?”
“Go home, kid. Don’t watch the draft. I’ll call you and let know what happens.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Think about what you’ve done and see if maybe, maybe, if a team gives you a shot, that you’ll consider cleaning up your life and giving the media no reason to pay attention to you for just a year.”
“This is fucking bullshit, Adam.”
“You’re telling me.” And with that, Adam, nodded to the security, who stepped aside and let him into the green room. Of course, Adam was allowed to go in. He had a bunch of other clients in there, and I’m sure all of them had put him on the list as one of their allowed guests.
“Fuck this shit!” I yelled after Adam as the door closed. I tried to push my way into the room, past the two security guards, but they must have seen me coming because they closed up right behind Adam and I didn’t get more than a hand on the door before they’d shoved me back.
“Mr. Rollins, we’ll have to ask you to leave peacefully, or we’ll be forced to call the police.”
“Alright, alright,” I yelled back, holding up my hands before I straightened my suit. “I’ll go, I’ll go.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I knew that I’d made a scene and that there were cameras on me already. People were talking all around me in hushed whispers, like they were scared that I would lash out at them if I could hear what they were saying about me.
They were probably right.
I needed to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible. The corridor stretched in the direction opposite to the stage, and that seemed as good a place as any, so I ran down it, just trying to get out of the spotlight for a moment so I could collect myself.
Fuck everything.
CHAPTER 03 - LILY
Bill came up behind me. “Drake Rollins actually showed up?” He chuckled under his breath. “I didn’t think the kid had it in him.”
I turned to Bill to ask what he meant by that, but Bill scowled at me and immediately focused back on watching Drake argue with the security guards locking down the entrance to the green room. It was hard to turn away from it myself.
Drake Rollins and I didn’t have much of a history together, but we’d known each other briefly at Cal. He’d taken a media and communications class that I’d taken a year earlier, as a breadth requirement for his degree, and I’d tutored him a few times. Drake wasn’t the type to need tutoring - in addition to being an amazing athlete, he was also brilliant. He just had a style of learning that was different from most. He didn’t learn things from hearing lectures or reading books, he learned through conversations.
The professors at Cal had gotten a little frustrated with him constantly asking questions in class, derailing their lecture plans, and finally had decided to give him wide access to talk to any of their assistants whenever he wanted. The plan had worked, and despite having a full load of football work and obligations, he’d completed an electrical engineering degree in just three years.
Why he’d taken a media and communications class I never really understood, but I’d really enjoyed our conversations together. And not just because they were interesting and informative, or because I’d learned a few things myself.
Drake Rollins was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. And that wasn’t exactly a unique opinion among the girls at Cal or any of the schools he visited through football. The man could turn heads of the female persuasion no matter what he was doing or wearing.
The trouble was, he was absolutely aware of that fact. I had heard stories around campus of this legendary conquests. With a chiseled body, and a smile cut out of stone like that, it’s not like too many girls would even dream of turning him down, and I had yet to hear of any that had done so.