Page 7 of The Wiener Across the Way

Chris nodded. He got the competitive streak better than any of the rest of us. He and I had been competing since diapers. “It is, man. It definitely is.”

“Well, badass, I guess.” At least that meant it wasn’t completely a fluff title. “Now you shitheads get back to prancing around the field. I’ve got work to do.”

I picked up my helmet and got the hell back to my own drills. I was Declan Kingman, linebacker for the Denver Mustangs, and maybe the league’s meanest player, which meant I had to work doubly hard now.

During the next drill, I threw myself into the tackling dummies with a renewed vigor, plowing into them with precision. I was their defensive cornerstone, the one who kept the opponents at bay. Meanest player... I wasn’t fucking mean, just focused, determined, and got the job done.

Grumpy on occasion, maybe.

“That’s my man.” Chris caught my eye after a particularly sharp tackle and threw a super annoying thumbs-up my way. What were we, seven and eight years old? I gave him the bird in return.

After practice I slowly made my way to the locker room, where my brothers were already changing.

“Man, you were on fire out there today.” Chris slapped me on the back as I walked up to my locker. “But you’re also grumpier than Luke Skycocker when he doesn’t get his strawberries. What’s eating you?”

I shrugged off his comment, stashing my helmet, and peeling off my uniform. Yeah, I was going to have some bruises. “I’m not grumpy.”

Everett eyed me closely. “You’ve been growling around since that mistake last game. You need to shake it off.”

He and Hayes exchanged a look and then both burst out into the Taylor Swift song “Shake It Off” and did a dance that looked more like they were having seizures than choreography. Eyeroll. Only dudes who scored touchdown after touchdown did dances like that off the cuff.

Hayes stopped gyrating around first and pointed at me. “You’re too hard on yourself, dude. You need to calm down. You’re being too lou?—”

“I will sit on you and make you cry like you’re five years old if you start singing and dancing again.”

Like any self-respecting man, I loved me some Tay Tay, but she was not the pop star on my mind at the moment. Shit. No. I should not be thinking about Kelsey Best. Again. She was already a distraction I couldn’t afford.

“One error doesn’t define you, little brother.” Chris got all serious and captain of the team with me. “You’re the best linebacker we’ve got.”

I appreciated their support, but their words did little to ease the knot in my stomach. I probably just needed to eat.

Everett clapped his hands together. “I know what you need. To get laid. It’s been ages since I’ve seen anyone sneaking out of your house at sunrise. Well, except you. This morning.”

Chris laughed, nodding in agreement. “Everett’s right. Look at how having a fucking baller sex life has improved my game this season.”

“Oh my god.” I tossed my gear into my locker a little more forcefully than necessary. “We know. Trust me, we know exactly how much sex you and your fiancée are having.”

“I don’t even need an alarm clock anymore,” Everett said. “Trixie’s louder than her pet rooster in the morning.”

“I know.” Chris waggled his eyebrows and grinned like... well, a guy getting laid more than seemed humanely possible. That, and he’d finally told the love of his life how he felt about her and they were living a disgustingly cute, and noisy, happy ever after.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t need to get laid, or even a date, and I don’t need to lighten up. I’m just being me and the rest of you are being giant man-babies.”

Hayes slung his towel around his waist to head to the showers. “Come on, Deck. It might be good for you. You might even smile, but don’t break your face.”

Maybe they were right. Maybe a night out, away from the field, away from the expectations, was exactly what I needed. I worked hard, and I knew how to play hard too.

I did have concert tickets after all. I was just going to give them to Jules and tell her to invite a friend. But maybe I was going to be her friend.

“Alright, fine, I will go out and blow off some steam,” I conceded, closing my locker with a thud. “But don’t you even think about setting me up with someone, Ev. Put your little black book of a phone away right now.”

Everett raised his hands, but the screen of his phone was facing me, and there was already a woman’s name pulled up in his contacts.

“I swear, if you try some matchmaking scheme, you’re going to see who the meanest linebacker is when I squash you into the ground in front of the cheer team.”

Everett’s grin widened. “Ooh. Do that anyway. Then they’ll feel sorry for me, and maybe they’ll kiss my boo boo and make it all better.”

“Like most of them haven’t already kissed your boo boo.” I punched him in the nuts but being my closest younger brother, he’d perfected his block for that particular move.

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