Page 6 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

Glorious? No. That would not do at all.

“Good morning, gentlemen.”

“Tell me this is a fucking joke. Coach? Is this a joke?” His eyes never left her. She stifled a gulp as they traveled down her body and then back up, stopping at the strip of exposed skin above her buttoned blazer before flicking back up to her face.

A middle-aged man stepped forward, eyebrows furrowed as he looked between the two. She knew from the film she’d already reviewed that he was the Sabertooths’ head coach, Mark Turner. “Team, this is Lucia Moretti. She is the creator of GameFlow Analytics”—that garnered a mumble or two between the men before they quieted at the coach’s look—“and she left the Vipers to work with us. She will be doing general analytics as well as helping Colton. Lucia will be an asset to all of us.”

“Hello. Excited to join the team,” she lied through the smile on her face.

“Coach, come on. I can’t—”

“Do you two know each other?”

“Yes—”

“No,” she said coolly. “I went to school in Los Angeles too, so we ran in the same circles, but no,” she said again, firmly.

She and Max had gone to Lincoln University, while Colton had played for Crestview College. The two schools had always been crosstown rivals, but she’d felt it firsthand when she’d begun dating Max, who absolutely despised Colton.

“Colton, she’s currently developing software specifically for quarterbacks. If there’s an analyst who’ll be able to help you figure out your numbers, it’s Lucia.”

Lucia stared Colton down, her own confident smirk on her lips, daring him to protest working with her.

Finally, he turned from her, focusing on his coach. “This can’t be the only way. I’ll work with any other analyst. Anybody but her.”

She should’ve felt humiliated at his rejection in front of this group of men, but instead, she was incensed. He talked like he was above her, and she’d worked her ass off for nine years to be here.

Unclench your teeth, you’ve had too much dental work for that, she reminded herself.

“You said you’d try anything to keep your spot and prove you want to be on this team. This is anything. You’ll start working with Lucia this week, and we’ll see how you improve for regular season.”

His words left no room for argument. Coaches began filing out of the room, a couple of them nodding at her as they left, though most ignored her. She wasn’t surprised.

Colton didn’t move, a glare hardening his face. He waited until everyone was gone before speaking quietly.

“How do we even know you and Clark are really over? For all we know, you’re here to learn our playbook and take it back to the Vipers.”

That, she had not been expecting. The reminder of her ex-fiancé, whose calls she was still dodging a week later, took her by surprise.

“If I wanted to take your playbook, all I’d have to do is study your film for a few games and write some code.”

“If you’re so good, then why haven’t the Vipers won the Super Bowl since you graced them with your presence?”

“What the coaches decide to implement, regardless of my warnings, is not up to me. I do my job, provide my recommendations, and my sway ends there.”

“How was Clark after I won? Was he pissed? Fuming?”

Lucia twirled the ring around her right middle finger as the conversation once again found its way to the disaster that was her love life. “Can we not talk about the man who cheated on me publicly and then inadvertently got me fired?”

Colton’s eyes narrowed. “Fired? Coach just said you chose to take this job over your job with the Vipers.”

She raised her chin, growing tired of his asinine line of questioning. “I chose this job when it was clear to me that I would lose my job with the Vipers.”

He stepped closer, pulling his hands from the pockets of his sweatpants. For a moment, his arms flexed, and she watched the veins in his hands, her breath leaving her before she forced her eyes back to his.

“This whole firing business and you not being truthful about your means of getting here makes me think I’m right about you. Maybe it’s all a ploy to pull a fast one on the reigning champions.”

Lucia scoffed, “You’re awfully paranoid for someone who can’t even string together a good enough drive to prevent three and out after three and out. Does your punter ever get tired?” The surprise on his face added fuel to her fire. “And what would I even gain from lying about everything and being publicly humiliated like that?”

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