Page 51 of Not Before Game Night
This season was the first that I looked for anyone else since Dad’s death.
I knew where the team owners sat. There they were. Peter Cartwright and family. Family included Vanessa.
My eyes glued to her, and from the great distance between us with the stadium brimming with people, I could feel her gaze on me.
It was just like high school. All these people cheering. There were multiple groups of women either carrying banners with my name on them saying ‘We Love Cole B’ and other variations. There were the usual football groupies who always stayed close to the front or the exit so they could get close at the start and end of the game. Then there were the fans.
All these people, and I saw her. Saw her and felt her. Just like before. The girl who would watch from afar thinking I couldn’t see her when I did.
Her interview question came into my mind at that moment.
What did I look forward to this season? I’d said nothing.
The truth was that was a lie.
What I looked forward to this season was her.
* * *
The Centaurs won 34-33.
It was a close call and almost had me guessing if Coach was right to be superstitious. As far as I knew I was the only one to have sex the night before the game, and one of us breaking the rule would have been enough to tip the scale.
But… nope. Coach was way wrong. We won.
As I’d passed the ball to Gilly and he scored the winning touchdown, my mind switched right out of football mode.
We won, and Coach Simpson was dead wrong. He could abandon his rules of no sex before game night, but I wouldn’t be the one to tell him that.
I had bigger fish to fry in the form of a striking brunette who still had something that belonged to me.
Herself.
The cheers that erupted from the crowd were deafening, and the excitement rippled throughout the crowd.
I spared just the right amount of time to acknowledge the win and be excited with my team, but that was all.
The second we got back inside the changing room, I grabbed my jacket and bag while the guys were literally bouncing off the walls with the excitement at the victory.
Denver was heading over to me, but I evaded him. I evaded him the same as I did the groupies and headed out to the lounge where I knew the big guns would be.
Peter Cartwright always came here after a game to mingle with the other team management and owners.
I thought I’d find Vanessa here, and I was right. She was standing over by the bar with Gage and her two sisters.
While they talked and laughed, she had that reserved look about her.
I headed straight to her.
It was Mia who saw me first and poked Vanessa in her side to get her attention. She motioned to me, and when Vanessa saw me, her eyes widened. Surprise suffused her beautiful face, and the glint in her eyes drew me closer to her.
The fire from last night that I’d only experienced with this woman raced through me when she moved to walk to me too. We met each other halfway.
She looked nervous, but she gave me that good-natured smile.
“Congratulations on your win. You were great,” she bubbled, but there was a quiver in her voice.
“Thank you.” I said the words, but I had that autopilot sensation again. Where my lips were moving but my brain was elsewhere entirely. So, I said the only thing that came to mind, and it stemmed from what I wanted most. “Come with me.”
