Page 127 of Mad Rivals
A Brand-New Legacy
I run the slant route for a third time, and Tanner quickly throws the ball to me after I make my forty-five-degree cut inside.
“Good, Madden,” Coach Clark praises. “Great quick release, and that cut was pristine. Starting material, really. Going to be a tough call for us coaches deciding who we’ll play, but you’re already a force against our starters.”
I feel good about the plays I’ve learned today, but there’s still a long way to go. I haven’t studied a full playbook in years since I was with the same team for so long and only had to learn a few new plays each season. But this is different. Iwantto succeed. I want to prove that I deserve to be here. And the bitter, mad part of me down low wants to show my former team what a mistake it was to let me go…especially when we go up against them later this season.
I’m even excited to get to what’s beyond the game now that I know the direction the company is taking next.
And that’s why I’m so torn about whether I want to keep playing. I know it isn’t a decision I need to make right now, but just stepping out onto the field, feeling the grass beneath myspikes, cutting routes that confuse defenders because I can read this game so fucking well…it fuels me. It gets my heart pumping and my blood roaring to life. I’m Mad Brad out here. I’m quite sure I’m not ready to give that up, and the thought of seeing my girl in the crowd cheering me on as she wears my name on her shirt gives me next-level energy.
I’m lucky enough to get to go home this week, and she’s there every night when I arrive. On Wednesday, it’s after eight when I arrive home, and I was at the practice facility at six this morning. I’m exhausted, but seeing Kennedy sitting on my couch with a book fills me with the sort of energy I didn’t know I could dredge up right now.
God, I love her. And she’s mine. Eventually she’ll answer my question, and then we’ll be working together, making choices for a company that belongs to us both.
And that’s when the next phase of our life together will begin.
The hours are slow, but the week is fast as I find myself packing on Sunday night for a week away with my team while my girl watches my every move from the bed, where she’s relaxing.
“Are you going to be okay with me gone?” I tease as I walk over toward her and climb on the bed.
“I’m getting to know my community here. Especially Grace, who’s quickly becoming my best friend here in San Diego.”
I hover over her, and then I narrow my eyes at her and thrust my hips at the same time. “I thought I was your best friend.”
She laughs. “Yes. You and your cock are my best friends. I meant to say that Grace is becoming my bestgirlfriend here in town. Clem will always be my number one girl, though.”
I finish packing, and I make love to my girl, and the next morning I’m heading to the team bus at the practice facility to head to our home away from home for the week at San Diego State University. We’re assigned dorm rooms and roommates, and I guess when you go pro, you expect luxury accommodations from there on out.
Yeah, that’s not real life.
But it’s my life.
I’m sharing a room with Clay Mack, who has somehow become one of my best friends, and it’s on the first night of camp when the lights are out and we’re aching after a painful day trying to prove ourselves on the field when he says, “Why do we put ourselves through this?”
It’s a great question. We bunk up in college dorm rooms for a week and put our bodies through the kind of wear and tear that’s been compared to getting into a car accident day after day for the entire week, and then we return back home to continue the pain.
“Because we love the game?” I say, and it comes out like a question.
He laughs. “We do.”
We’re both quiet for a minute, and then I ask, “Can I tell you something?”
“Yeah, man. Anything.”
“I proposed to Kennedy.”
“Dude! I thought you were going to say this is your last year. I wasn’t expecting that. Congrats, man.”
I chuckle. “She didn’t say yes.”
“Oh, shit. Well, then I’m sorry, I guess.”
“She didn’t say no, either.”
“Did she give you an answer?” he asks.
“Yeah. She said she needs time, but we both know this is right. We both know she’s going to say yes. She’s just playing it safe while we work on rebuilding some trust.”
