Running Game(4)

But hell… If being ‘Colorado’ sold tickets and jerseys, then I knew better than to complain.

And besides that… The rewards were out of this world. My penthouse, my house in the country, my sports cars, my horses, my money…the women. All of it was amazing, better than I’d ever dreamed of as I sat in that tiny shithole town imagining what my life was going to be like when I grew up.

Although, I wasn’t sure exactly how grown up I really was just yet. Sure, I had all these adult things in my life, like Brandy’s exquisite pussy back there, but none of it made me feel like I’d actually become an adult. I didn’t have a wife or kids or even a mortgage to worry about, because everything was paid for. I certainly didn’t have a conventional job. None of the things I thought made you an adult when I was a kid were a part of my life now.

That doesn’t mean that what I do have isn’t incredibly fucking wonderful. I love every minute of it. I’m grateful for it all. Every single fucking day I say a little prayer of thanks. Every time I buy a new car, or a new house, or bring home a new woman… I know how blessed I am. And every time I hear the roar of the crowd, I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Colorado has been good to me.

But it’s a hell of a lot of pressure. Sometimes, when I’m running through the hustle and bustle of downtown Denver, passing by all the suited clones on their way to their cubicles, I wonder if I’m missing out on something. I wonder if they feel the same pressure that I do.

But then I realize how amazing it is to be me and I smile, run a little faster and sweat a little harder. All the physical pain? The long hours of practice? The lonely life of a star on the rise?

It’s all fucking worth it.

I count my blessings every day.

That’s what I was doing - counting my blessings - when I rounded the corner by the 16th Street Mall. I had the right of way as I crossed the street and bounded into the crosswalk.

I didn’t even see the little bastard coming.

He didn’t see me either, because he had his teenaged nose jammed so far in his fucking cell phone that he didn’t realize he was about to plow straight into the 2016 Superbowl MVP.

I felt my knee explode with the impact and I tumbled up and over the car, smashing the windshield on my journey before bouncing off the roof and making a beautiful little swan dive straight into the asphalt. A string of cuss words flew out of my mouth a as a lifetime of best-laid plans quickly evaporated into thin air. For a brief moment, I thought about how fucking stupid it would be if I died right here in the street. They’d probably make some fucking anti-text-and-drive law and slap my name on it. Somebody would make a sad commercial begging kids to put down their phones while “arms of an angel” played in the background and pictures of my smiling face flashed on screen.

I opened my eyes half expecting to see an angel, but the only thing hovering over me was Grady’s huge ass.

“Don’t move, boss!” Grady said, bending over and putting his jacket under my head. “Call an ambulance!” he demanded to the quickly growing crowd that had formed around me. The last thing I saw before I passed out from the pain was the horrified look on the pock-marked kid’s face over Grady’s shoulder, his iPhone still clutched tightly in his stupid little hand.





2





MAISEY





“Mama, I don’t want to go school. Sara told everyone that I’m dying and that’s why I need my inhaler!”

“What! That’s awful!” I said, stuffing a turkey sandwich into a brown paper bag. “You know that’s not true!”

“Of course I do, but now nobody will talk to me, or even sit with me at the lunch table. She told them all I was contagious!”

“That little bitch,” I muttered, low enough that my daughter wouldn’t hear me. I hated little Sara Paulson for the way she’d treated Maddy the last few years. I was counting the days till they both went off to different middle schools.

“Maddy,” I said, “you’ve just got to learn to ignore Sara. I know it’s hard, but it’s the only thing you can do. If you want, I’ll try to talk to Ms. Stone again.”

“No!” she said, her bright blue eyes flashing in anger. “That just makes everything worse because Ms. Stone makes me sit at the back of the room!”

“Okay, then, you’re just going to have to learn to ignore her,” I said, kneeling down and pulling her in for a hug. She was so tiny, so fragile, so beautiful it made me almost hurt to look at her. I’d never loved anything in my life the way I loved her. I’d have walked through fire for her, and more than anything I wanted to give little Sara a piece of my mind.