Page 34 of Playing for the Dark

“Are you stupid?!” he questions, throwing his hands out, pissed the fuck off.

“I mean, some would say yes; personally, I say no—I’m pretty smart,” I bite back, joking, but also knowing where his concern is coming from. If he only knew I used to have bullets shot at me on a regular basis—some even hitting me—and far too many knife wounds to count under these tattoos of mine. He should be thankful the worst I’m doing is riding a sports bike.

He huffs out a breath, shakes his head, and sidesteps to go around me.

As he’s walking out the door towards the field, I yell out, “I guess that means you don’t have a mask kink?!” I get rewarded with not just one middle finger but two.

We’re all on the field doing pre-game warm-ups, all of us carrying on with our own routines. The arena we get to play in is the coolest fucking place. The field is actual grass, which is so much easier on our bodies. The whole field gets rolled out to get the sun it needs to grow. This whole place is practically brand new, and it shows. The Rebel’s first year as a franchise was also my first year in the league, so we’ve been building this team from the ground up. I’m just glad we have Nash now. Our last quarterback needed to retire before he came here, but of course, he was holding onto the dream of getting a ring that he was never going to get.

I look over to the seats I got for Bill and Ellie; they’re empty, but I still have hope. Maybe they’re in line for some beers and pretzels. I shrug, falling back into my routine, drowning in my playlist.

We head into the locker room for the last little pep talk from the coach and then we’re all running through the tunnel, jumping up to smack fans’ hands, screaming, and getting hyped up.Once the coin toss is done, it’s decided that we’ll be first to receive so the special team takes the field. Coach keeps me on my toes; sometimes I’m out there with them, but normally, he wants me tosave my energy to run plays on offense.My ass is getting old.

We’re huddled up on the field after special teams got us to the thirty-five-yard line on our end, which isn’t bad for our first return. Nash is straight business out here, and fuck, if that doesn’t have my dick up paying attention, I don’t know what will—and fuck knows these pants don’t hide anything. He gives us our play and we break out of our huddle, heading to the line.

I get to the end of the line closest to our sideline and turn to look at the seats one last time—there she is. I wave at them both, blowing a kiss to Ellie over the face of my helmet. I see the shock on Bill’s face, but he cools his expression. Coach is going to chew me up for being distracted, but this is the first time someone has shown up to watch me play. So, fuck off with the distracted shit.

We’re running a slant on this one, so it’ll be a quick pass over the middle, which is a big risk but can have a huge payoff. If coach isn’t saying a big fuck you to anyone who’s doubting us with this one, I don’t know what would. Nash goes through his sequence with the center, Barrett Ashford, a literal bear of a man. He puts the term "big boy" to shame and is a ride I would not be upset to take a turn on.He’s painfully straight, so that won’t be happening.

I hear Nash’s cadence called out, knowing to get ready. “Dilly, willy.” I snicker like the child I am. What on the devil’s burning earth made them come up with thatspecific cadence? I’ll never know, but it throws the D line off just enough. I shoot up the middle, Nash sends a dart at me, and I catch it out in front of all the cornerbacks with a clear path to the end zone.

The stadium is shaking with how loud the fans are. No one is even near me in the end zone as I spike the ball down and throw my ass in a circle to celebrate. Usually, I just throw this ass around, but this time I’m pointing it to the stands at myShpirt Im.She’s standing up, clapping with a shocked look on her face. I don’t have time to wonder if it’s from the ass-shaking or the bomb-ass opening play we just pulled off.

Nash comes running up, smacking my ass, and pulling me into his helmet by my cage. We lock eyes, and he talks like we’re just having a casual conversation. “You did so good, Bebé.”

Fuck, that makes my stomach flip. “You too,Djale I Bukur.” I saunter back to the sideline after returning his ass slap but lingering a little too long with a follow-up squeeze. I can’t resist… football pants are top-tier. He grins at me over his shoulder.He’s a cocky little bastard.

We beat the Devils 34-3.

1. Chrome Hearted - jxdn

Chapter 26

Zamir

In the locker room, the whole team is stripping out of our gear to hit the showers. I texted Ellie before the game to meet me outside the locker rooms, also wanting to see if she knew why in the fuck Marcello Barone was sitting next to them. I don’t like the head Don being within ten feet of her… it’s not safe. Plus, he wore the most predator look on his face when he was looking at her; she was too engrossed in the game to be paying attention to him. Him showing any attention to her is plastering a target on her head. If anyone were to see what I did, they would know in a heartbeat that he’s obsessed, and someone could use that for leverage. He’s a powerful man and doesn’t have many weak spots…but he might have one.

Ellie Dixon.

Maybe I’m just being too paranoid and it was all a coincidence that he got the ticket beside them, but I highly doubt it. I know he’s buddy-buddy with the owner and Coach. Not to mention he has his own suite for fucks sake… which is why it’s an even bigger red flag to be sitting beside Bill and Ellie.

Nash is across from me in the locker room, so I question him, “Do you want to come over to my place tonight? Ellie’s out there waiting on me. I’m going to see if she wants to hang out after.” Nash looks like he’s seen a ghost. “What’s wrong, Nash?”

“Nothing is wrong, and no, I’m good. I’m super tired.” That’s all he leaves me with before he’s high-tailing it to the showers. That was weird as fuck, but he truly could be tired… that was his first professional game after all.

Freshly showered, I stroll out of our locker room and turn toward the door that leads to our parking lot. My backpack is on, and my helmet is in my hand. I spot Ellie leaning against the wall with her dad beside her. “Bill, it’s so nice to see you finally showed up to one of my games. I didn’t know what it was going to take, but I’m guessing this one here had something to do with it,” I finish, giving Ellie a pointed look while going in for a hug with her dad. He really has been a huge emotional support for me since being here. Who knew his daughter was a fucking knockout.

“Actually, I was trying to talk him out of forcing me to come, but he wouldn’t stand for it.” I bend to scoop her up into a huge hug, spinning her around for show.

1 I put my lips right up to her ear, whispering, “I saw you enjoying yourself in the stands,Shpirt Im;I don’t like liars.” The cussing coming from her proves how much she hates this; I chuckle, sitting her back on her feet. She’s tall for a woman, but I’ve still got a head over her without her platform shoes on.

“I rode with my dad, so make this quick so he can take me to my place,” she says barely above a whisper.

“Bill, I can take her home. You go home and relax.”

“You sure, son? I don’t mind.”

Ellie’s waving her hands in front of both of our faces. “I’m literally right here and my own person. Zamir, you haven’t even asked me if that’s what I wanted to do.”

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