Mr. Fiancé(149)

"That's good," Chelsea teases back, nearly laughing. “After my little gift, that’d be smart."

Ice runs through my veins, and my throat closes in horror. "What did you do, you crazy bitch?"

"I just paid a visit to your dorm room when you weren't around. At the same time I flashed and hacked your phone, I did a little switcheroo. Those birth control pills I found in your room . . . well, since then, you've been taking sugar pills."

My fingers go numb. Is she fucking joking? "You really are an evil, psycho bitch, you know that?"

"I know. Just think, you might even have Duncan's baby in your belly right now. I wonder how well he's going to react when you drop that little bomb on him. Or maybe you'll just . . . hmmm, nah, you're not the type to do that."

Chelsea hangs up, and I look at my phone before dropping it and crushing it under my foot.

I think about what Chelsea said—about how long I've been taking sugar pills thinking they were my birth control. How is Duncan going to react, especially if I am pregnant? Then again, she could just be fucking with me.





Chapter 21





Duncan





It sucks sitting in the Pavilion, watching the Pro Combine with Carrie and Coach Thibs and Coach Taylor. Not that I don't enjoy the company. I do. But watching the other tight ends go through their drills and stations, I want to be out there. My hands are constantly wringing, and my feet twitch as I watch them do their drills, wishing I could be taking part. But not yet.

"Oh, come on, they invited that guy?" I ask as the tight end from Northern Virginia runs the 40-yard dash. "He's a blowhard with weak hands, and he can’t read blocks!"

"Tell us how you really feel," Carrie teases me, smiling a little bit. The past few weeks have been awesome, although Carrie's been looking a little tense. I can understand. I've been feeling tense too. While I'm sitting here trying to focus just on rehab, there are two other members of the Western Bulldogs who got invites to the Combine. Tyler already had his workout with the other quarterbacks, while tomorrow, Joe Manfredi gets a chance with the defensive backs. Today, though—today is the tight ends, and I'm watching my competition on the screen. "I mean, don't hold back at all."

"He is holding back," Coach Taylor jokes. "At least, based off that stream of curse words that would make a sailor blush that he let go the other day."

"Hey, I missed the weight," I weakly justify. "I got pissed. Besides, considering what you do in the weight room, I'm the Pope."

"Still, I didn't know there were so many different ways to use the word 'fuck' in a single sentence without repeating yourself," Coach Thibs jokes. "You might want to work on that before you do the sit down interview portion of the Pro Day."

"Speaking of which, thanks for delaying it as much as you guys did," I say. One week before the draft, and I'm having to do a Pro Day. I could skip that too, but it'd hurt my draft position. The pro teams know about my elbow. There was no way to hide it after the first injury, and certainly not after my surgery. I have to show them that not only am I changed as a person, but full-strength as a player. I need the Pro Day. "Are Tyler and the other guys upset about it?"

Coach Thibs shakes his head. "Nah. Only Tyler and Joe have a legit shot at the League. The rest of the guys, they might get some indoor contracts or overseas, if they're willing to deal with the cultural stuff. So for them, they're figuring on not getting drafted anyway. But having a little more time to be polished and strong for a Pro Day might get them an invite to a training camp. So they're cool with it. How about you?"

"I—I'm good. My elbow’s feeling as good as I assume it's going to be for a while, and I'm getting stronger still."

In reality, I'm not good. I'm nervous as hell, but I don't need to tell Coach Thibs that. Instead, I finish watching the review of the tight ends who did the Combine, a whole day's worth of stuff condensed to a single two-hour special. The best part, at least to me, was the analyst review at the end. "So with fifteen tight ends displaying their skills at this year's combine, there is still a sense of incompleteness with the absence of what many scouts are saying is potentially the best tight end available this year, Western's Duncan Hart."

"That's true, Tony," the other analyst says, a former player whom I remember watching growing up. "If it wasn't for an early season reputation for being a hothead, a half-game suspension after being tossed from the Clement game, and of course, the elbow injury that forced him out of the crucial minutes of Western's loss in their last home game, Hart was in line for quite a few awards. With on-field numbers like he put up, it's hard to argue that he could potentially be a top ten pick, something that hasn't happened for tight ends in over a decade. While reports from Western say that Hart is currently rehabbing from elbow surgery, his second in a year on his left arm, he will participate in a Pro Day for the scouts at Western."