Running Game(20)

My phone rang as I was sitting out on the balcony of my penthouse, watching the orange sun set in the distance. When I saw it was Coach Fox, I answered it.

“Hey Will,” I answered.

“How’s the knee, Colorado?” he asked.

“Still sucks. Swollen, painful, and really fucking ugly. The bruises have turned a really gnarly combination of green and purple now.”

“Well, that car fucked you up pretty good. Have you tried walking on it without the crutches yet?”

“For about half a second, then I’m reminded what an awful idea that is.”

“Well, make sure you don’t miss any physical therapy appointments. We don’t have any time to waste. I don’t want to tell you what’ll happen if you aren’t ready by September.”

“Well, then don’t. I’ll be better,” I replied. Not getting better wasn’t a fucking option, and I wasn’t about to even talk about it as a possibility. I wasn’t about to let some snot-nosed texting kid sideswipe my entire career.

“I hope so, Colorado, we’re counting on you,” Will said.

“I won’t let you down, Coach,” I replied before hanging up.

Yeah, I’d get better in three months. Well enough to play at least. That was plenty of time. But for some reason, football wasn’t really the most important thing on my mind right now. The thought of only spending three months with Maisey didn’t seem like near enough time for me.

I might have failed today, but tomorrow is another day. I was determined to pull out all the stops, not letting up until I had Maisey exactly where I wanted her.

As I lay in bed alone later, I couldn’t help but think that where I wanted her was right there beside me, under me, on top of me, in my arms…

If my usual methods didn’t work, I’d just have to pull out the heavy artillery.

Either way, she was going to be mine.

At the very least, for one more night.





12





MAISEY





I woke up the next morning thinking about secrets.

I’d always told Maddy that keeping secrets would only hurt the person keeping the secret. I’d told her that it was best to share things, get them off your chest, to keep the energy flowing freely inside of your heart.

Maybe it was some hippie bullshit, or maybe it was just my own guilt eating away at my scarred and battered conscience. But either way, I didn’t want her to turn out like me.

My secret was big. But it was mine. I’d held it close to my chest for so long, it had become a part of me. I’d never told a soul and I wasn’t about to start spilling things now.

But goddamn, did I ever feel the need for some relief.

Relief was out of the question, though.

It’s not like I could trust anyone with the truth.

It’s not like I could expect anyone to keep their mouth shut once they learned how big it was.

They’d be able to sell my secret to the highest bidder. They’d fall over themselves to ruin everything I’d built here.

I guess I could have sold it myself and ran away from it all, but the last thing I wanted to do was drag myself through the mud like that.

I hadn’t even told Eddie, my best friend in the whole damn world. As much as I loved Eddie, I knew how much he loved to gossip. He'd been an amazing friend, a wonderful kind of ‘uncle’ to Maddie, and brought a lot of much needed happiness and color to our lives.

By day, he was Eddie Rockwell, a loving gay man with a heart of gold, but at night, he turned into an entirely different person — Rockie Montaigne, the Queen of the Denver drag scene. He emcee’d drag shows at Charlie’s downtown every Friday and Sunday night and was very well-known and well-loved in the Denver community.

I’d met him a few years ago when I was still in school, doing my clinicals at another PT clinic. Eddie had fallen while dancing in a pair of stiletto’s and hurt his knee. I was assigned to him and a fast friendship formed. He and Maddy adored each other.

But still, I never told him my secret either.

My mouth remained firmly shut, my secret locked deep inside of me, never to see the light of day.

Everyone had something, right? Something they never told anyone? Something they took to the grave with them? I was no different.

At least that’s what I told myself so I could sleep at night.

Everyone had secrets. I wasn’t any different. It was perfectly normal to keep this to myself.

And if it wasn’t normal, then it was certainly necessary. Some things are best left unsaid, and my secret was one of those things.

And if I didn’t want to answer Jesse’s questions, I damn well didn’t have to. I didn’t have to tell him why I left. I didn’t have to tell him why I stood him up. Maybe I owed him an explanation, but he wasn’t about to get one.