Page 3 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

“You can’t be serious. Max cheats on me, and I get punished?”

It was so like this profession to penalize the woman in this situation. Why should her personal life have had any bearing on her career? Especially when said personal life involved her being a victim?

At least the apologetic look Charlotte gave her was sincere. “I’m so sorry, Lucia. You know you’re my best analyst by far. Hell, with your qualifications, you should be my boss. But unfortunately, my hands are tied. I tried to convince him that you’d be mature about”—she waved her hand—“everything. But he was firm.”

Tears were welling in Lucia’s eyes, and she wasn’t sure she could keep them from falling. How was this fair? She hadn’t done anything wrong. She was a hard worker. She’d put in more hours than any of the other analysts, and, as Charlotte had said, she was one of the strongest analysts in the franchise. Maybe even the league.

“This job is—you have to understand, it’s all I have right now. I—I don’t know what I’d do without it.” Her pride was fighting a losing battle against blubbering, and she thought about dropping to her knees and begging.

“He’s very insistent that Max Clark remains at peak performance. But I thought this might happen, so I put out some feelers yesterday when I saw the news.” She paused, something dawning on her face. “I’m sorry, by the way. I haven’t said that yet, but I was so very sorry to see…that.”

Charlotte’s figure doubled in Lucia’s eyes as the tears bubbled over. Charlotte handed her a tissue before turning her monitor to face Lucia.

“Like I said, I put out some feelers. I thought John might pull something like this. Clark is his everything and can do no wrong. But you’re very highly sought after, too. And while most teams don’t have the bandwidth or budget, they’re all well aware that you developed GameFlow Analytics and are falling all over themselves to move money around.”

Lucia let out a pathetic sniffle, wiping her eyes angrily. She hated looking weak. One more reason for her to hate Max.

GameFlow Analytics was a software she’d begun developing in her senior year of college, though it hadn’t been complete until right before she’d joined the Vipers. She’d patented the software which, at its most basic level, integrated live game data and used machine learning to offer recommendations in real-time. Selling it to the NFL had skyrocketed her stock in the analytics market greatly.

During the three years she and Max had spent apart between college and her move to Richmond, she’d been bouncing from team to team, doing general analytics and starting her career with team quarterbacks. When she’d finally gotten the kinks out of GameFlow Analytics, she’d breathed a sigh of relief, because she knew it meant she’d have a higher chance of getting a job in Virginia with Max. After the sale, she’d had offers from all over the country but had chosen to go to the Vipers. For the prick.

“At the moment, only the Sabertooths have been able to find money to take you on, and they’re offering quite a raise if you join them. You’d be doing general analytics, just like here, and they’d also like you to continue working on your quarterback software while you assist their quarterback. Apparently, despite their Super Bowl win last year, he’s been struggling through preseason.”

It only took Lucia a moment to remember the arrogant asshole at the helm of the Charleston Sabertooths. Her whole body went rigid. “Not Colton Beaumont. Tell me it’s not Colton fucking Beaumont.”

Charlotte turned the monitor back, seeming to realize Lucia was uninterested in looking at the email on the screen. “It’s either you take the Sabers up on their offer today before I can formally fire you, and you can say you resigned for a better position”—Charlotte grimaced, apologetic— “or I’m forced to fire you, and the offer potentially comes off the table.”

Lucia would have almost rather been fired. Almost.

Max may have stripped her of her pride, but he wouldn’t take away everything that she’d worked so hard for. She would take the job, even if it meant helping someone she detested.

Chapter two

Colton

Colton slammed his helmet onto the field, grinding his teeth together to stop himself from cursing wildly. He was a team leader. He needed to show poise and grace in defeat. Out came the journalists and news channels with questions.

“What did you learn from this game?”

“What can you improve?”

“You threw a whopping three interceptions this game. What do you need to do to get that number down?”

“Is this just a rough patch?”

“Where is that great Super Bowl quarterback we saw last season?”

And on and on and on.

It took every fiber of his being not to shove his way through them and into the locker room where he could get a moment of peace. At least from the reporters. Once alone, he would spend hours dissecting the game, disappointment in himself growing with every play. They were right. This? After a Super Bowl win? Pathetic.

The only redeeming characteristic of the game was that it was a preseason loss. Not ideal, but at least it didn’t tank his team’s record. Even if it was their second loss in as many games. A horrible start to a season. A season he’d been positive would come with win after win after win.

When he finally made it to the locker room, his heart stopped at the faces of his teammates. Some had showered already, but most were still sweaty, their jerseys covered in grass stains. He took their disheartened expressions personally. It had, after all, been his fault.

“Guys, this one was on me. When I play well, we all play well, and today was not my best—”

“No, it was not your best, Beaumont. Sit down.” Coach Mark Turner stood behind Colton, anger clear from his stance and the ripped papers in his right hand. “Absolutely disgusting. You call that football? You should be ashamed of yourselves. This is not a Super Bowl-winning team, and it’s certainly not a Super Bowl-ready team—Rudy, what’s so fucking funny over there? Offensive line couldn’t keep the pocket from collapsing for more than a second or two today. You think that’s fucking funny?”

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