We ran that drill for another half hour. Again and again, over and over, I threw the ball to the exact same spot. The whole receiving squad was out there, except for the starter Reggie Crane. He was running his own routes, practicing for his end.
After another few reps, Coach finally nodded at me. “Okay, Evans. You’re good.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Coach.”
“Hit the showers.”
I walked off toward the sidelines. My arm was heavy and a little tired, but it was a good tired.
I never felt better than when I beat my own body up. I loved pushing my limits, finding out how far I could go. I got stronger with ever practice session, and I wanted to keep getting stronger.
“Man, nice throws,” John Drinkwater said, coming up next to me.
“You look good out there, Drinkwater.”
“I’m working on it.” He grinned at me. “Gunning for that first spot.”
Drinkwater was the second wide receiver, behind Reggie.
“Keep it up, man.”
He grinned and then ran off to join the other receivers for the end of their practice. I got to the bench and grabbed a water bottle, squirting it into my mouth. I swished it around in my mouth and then spat it out. I hated when the coaching staff squirted the water into my mouth during games. I felt like a hamster getting fed or something. I looked around the field, surveying the team.
Everyone here gave a shit and worked hard. From the least important guy on up, everyone gave it their best. We were one of the elite teams, one of the most popular football teams in history, and we had a lot of pressure on us. Every year we had to perform, and every year we did our best.
This year was doubly important. Preliminary rankings came out a week ago, and the MD Knights were in the top fifteen in the nation. Some people said that was a low ranking, but I didn’t mind. I wanted them to underestimate me.
They’d see how good we were on game day next Saturday.
As I headed back toward the locker room, I felt someone come up beside me. I glanced over and Hynes grinned back at me, his helmet tucked under his arm, his clothes dirty and sweaty.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
“Good. Coach had me throwing post reps. Arm feels strong.”
He laughed. “Not that shit. You saw her today, right?”
“Oh. Yeah, I saw her.”
“How was it? You try and put another baby in her?”
I laughed. “That’s not really how that works, Hynes.”
“You think I don’t know that shit, man? You can try anyway. Trying’s the fun part.”
“No, Hynes. We didn’t fuck again.”
“So, what? You just talked?”
“Yeah. We talked about the fucking baby inside her.”
“Your baby,” he reminded me.
I gave him a look as we walked into the locker room. “Thanks for the reminder.”
“No problem, man. Now strip down and get into the shower with me.” He grinned hugely at me.
“Cut that shit out, asshole,” I said, laughing. I went over to my locker and he disappeared a few rows down. I stripped off my dirty clothes, tossing them into the laundry bin, before wrapping a towel around my waist. I went over to the showers and climbed into a stall.
I heard Hynes get into the stall next to me.
“Seriously, man,” he said. “You figure out what you’re going to do yet?”
“Not yet, but I’m not running out on her.”
“Yeah, of course not. You’re not an asshole.”
“Usually. But the problem is, man, I’m broke.”
“No shit. I live with you. I know how broke your dumb ass is.”
“Seriously, man, I need money. I need to be able to help Avery take care of this kid, and I can’t do that without money.”
“Good point. And you can’t exactly get a part-time job.”
“No. I can’t sell autographs, I can’t do shit. I’m fucked, man.”
“Must be hard being so successful.”
I sighed. “Right now, yeah, it is.”
“Why don’t you get one of those loans from the mob? I hear they love giving loans out to desperate athletes like you, and I bet you know a guy.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right, a mob loan. That’s probably not a great idea.”
“Or you could whore yourself out. I bet there are a lot of ladies who want a piece of Gibson Evans out there.”
“I’d rather take the mob money.”
His water stopped and I heard him get out. “Your loss, man. You could get paid to get pussy.”
“I’m not sure it would be as good as you’re making it sound.”
He laughed. “Probably not.” I heard him leave the bathroom and I was left in there alone.