Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I dropped into the chair across from the desk. “Does it get weird sometimes? Like, do you dissect each other’s performances?”
“It never gets weird, oddly enough.” Houston chuckled, then seemed to consider. “I’m not coaching him, you know, and he’s not coaching me. He for damn sure doesn’t need me coaching him. We’re…appreciating each other, connecting, sharing. You and Tuck don’t do that?”
“Mostly, we just smack-talk each other, but while the inquiry was happening, we were scared to even breathe a word about football, terrified somehow we’d be overheard and assumed to be cheating.”
Houston nodded. “Understandable. You holding up okay?”
I chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that so much in my life.”
“The team cares about you. Tucker for damn sure does.”
“I know.” I fiddled with the zipper on the gear bag I’d dropped beside me. “Does all of this ever get to you and Cullen?” I waved a hand around. “The games, the pressure, the competition. The distance?”
“It did at first, yeah.” Houston closed his laptop and settled back in his chair. “I was afraid to get too invested, afraid it would all be taken away from me or I’d get blindsided somehow, like with my knee. Just going about my business, and boom, my life would be upended all over again—which it was. And that did happen but in a good way this time.” His fond smile made me miss Tucker all the more, but it would be another week before we could see each other again, and this time, it would be on the field first.
“Yeah, all of that. Same.”
“The thing is, I think if you love someone, if you put them ahead of everything else, all of those tough choices you think you’ve got to make? That you stress the most about? They kinda make themselves. You ever felt for anyone else the way you feel for Tucker?”
“Nope. It’s scary as fuck.”
“Yeah, that’s the investment part. How many goddamn financial advisors have you had telling you how to invest and when? But the investments that really matter, the ones that happen in our lives? They’re the ones that seem the riskiest, and yet they’re the ones that’ll have far more of a return in the long run.”
I smiled. “You saying you think all that ‘love conquers all’ bullshit is true?”
Houston cracked up. “I guess I am. But don’t tell Garrett or Cullen. I’ll never hear the end of it, considering the amount of shit I’ve given them over the years.” He sobered. “You don’t need me to coach you, on the field or off, Patrick. You know what to do. Just keep your head down, do your goddamn best on the field, and know that the real prize is what’s happening after the game. You do that, I think everything will work itself out.”
I sure fucking hoped so.
On the day of our match against the Rush, I arrived to find Candice, Leon, and my parents waiting just outside the entrance to the locker rooms, Candice wearing a cheesy grin.
“Surprise!” she and my mom said in unison when I got closer.
My dad reached out, squeezing the hand I extended automatically when he did, still in shock. “Son,” he greeted me with a nod.
“I thought you all were halfway across the world closing some deal,” I said, still confused.
“Fell through,” my father replied with a grimace. “They didn’t approve of our…whatever. Doesn’t matter. Fuck ’em.” It was the most flippant I’d ever seen him in my life.
“That was last week, though,” my mom chimed in. “We were planning to come no matter what.”
I was skeptical, but a quick glance at Candice had her confirming with a nod.
I narrowed my eyes. “They didn’t approve of what? You? Business practices? Me?”
My dad shrugged. “Like I said, fuck ’em.”
“We don’t deal with…people who are not forward-thinking and progressive,” my mom said primly, confirming my suspicions.
My dad cleared his throat. “And we wanted to be here to support our son.”
“Whitt,” LaForge called out. “Let’s go.”
“I’ve gotta go…” I thumbed toward the hallway. Maybe later, it would all sink in, but I was still caught off guard, and right now, I needed to keep my focus squarely on this game as much as possible. “Thanks for coming. You have seats and everything?”
“I took care of it all,” Candice said cheerily.
“Great, thanks. You all…enjoy?” I said awkwardly, then scooted down the hall, fumbling my phone from my pocket.
Me: My fucking parents are here.
Tucker: For real? That’s awesome.
Me: It’s weird.
When he replied with “lol,” I could hear his chuckle in my ear, and it made me grin, easing some of the tension in my shoulders.
Tucker: Maybe they’re trying. Idk. Is it going to throw you off your game?
Me: Fuck no, it’s just more fuel.
Me: Okay, maybe a little. The combo of them and the hecklers outside the stadium got to me a little.