No matter how the games ended. Whether the crowd was happy or disgruntled. It meant more drinking. Hours later, husbands, boyfriends, and sons would stumble out, pile into beat-up trucks, and weave their way home to frustrated wives, girlfriends, and mothers.
As he grew older, Logan’s view changed. He moved from the stool to behind the bar. And he promised himself one thing. He would never become one of those men. He wouldn’t spend the week at a job he hated. His home wouldn’t be a semi-wide trailer filled with hand-me-down furniture and a wife to whom he couldn’t face going home.
His Sundays were going to be spent playing football, not watching it.
“Ready to take down this vaunted Arizona defense?” Gaige yelled at him, butting helmets.
Vaunted. Good word, Logan thought. His QB liked to use what his granny called highfalutin talk. Must have been that Ivy League education. He knew that Gaige Benson didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He came from the mean streets of Brooklyn. He had the scars to prove it.
Like Logan, Gaige had vowed to get out of the life into which he was born. In the process, he polished himself up like a new penny. He took advantage of his full-ride scholarship to Yale. He didn’t spend all his time on the football field. Fancy vocabulary. Fancy clothes. Fancy women. They were all part of the package Gaige purposefully fashioned for himself.
Seventeen years after clawing his way out of the tenement that he grew up in, very little of that borough-rat remained. Until game time. No one was tougher than Gaige Benson. Three-time league MVP. Considered one of the best ever to play the game. No one stood in his way when he was playing the game. He had the scars to prove it.
“Gather round.”
Knights head coach Harry Coleman gathered the team close. He had to yell over the crowd, but he had the voice to do it. Booming was putting it mildly. The first time Logan heard it, he stood right beside the man. The ringing in his ears didn’t go away for three days.
“Divisional game. If I have to say any more than that, you shouldn’t be out here. Go kick some ass.”
The defense took the field to start the game. Arizona had a rookie quarterback drafted in the second round from a small college in the Midwest. The only reason he was out there was because the regular starter suffered a concussion in last week’s game and the regular backup had food poisoning. Thrown into action at the last minute, Logan swore he could see the guy’s hands shaking before he took the first snap. When the ball went sailing between his legs, Logan shook his head.
The moment was too big for some people. For Logan, it wasn’t big enough. He aimed for the biggest stage of all. The Super Bowl. It wasn’t a matter of if he would get there, but when.
“Three and out.” Gaige grinned, pulling on his helmet. “Come on, kid. Let’s go show them how it’s done.”
Logan ran onto the field. Kid. He shook his head, grinning. From the first day of training camp, Gaige had hung that moniker on him. Ironic since he was almost twenty-five, a good two years older than most of the other rookies. However, he supposed when someone had been in the league as long as Gaige, all the new guys seemed like kids.
“We’re starting on the ground,” Gaige instructed them in the huddle. “Sweep out left. Basic. Got it?”
Lining up as he had a thousand other times, Logan checked the defense. He knew he was fast. One of the fastest in the game. What set him apart was his anticipation. He had the uncanny ability to read the guy covering him. He knew when to fake left or when to fake right. Stutter step or flat out, in your face, catch me if you can.
His speed got him out of Denville, Oklahoma. His brains and determination got him to the NFL.
The sounds of the game were as familiar to Logan as the back of his own hand. The call from scrimmage. Each quarterback had his own unique cadence. Gaige was a master of mixing his up. Study him all you want. Good luck figuring it out. His teammates knew. A signal just before they broke the huddle.
Pay attention, you were golden. Slack off even once? Gaige could ream a guy out with the best of them. And he had no problem doing it in the middle of the game.
An entire YouTube channel had been devoted to Gaige and his rants. They were as legendary as the man himself. With a ball in his hand, he was cool as ice. The rest of the time, watch out.
No one would ever accuse Logan of lacking focus. Today was no exception. They were driving down the field. First and ten from the Arizona twenty-yard line. He already had three carries for at least thirty-five yards each. It was going to be a good day.
“Ready to take it in?” Gaige asked.
“Always.”
“Then show them what you’ve got.”
A quick snap later, Gaige handed the ball to Logan. The offensive line created a seam. Not a big one. Just big enough. Using the push of his powerful legs, Logan surged through. One more step. They wouldn’t catch him. No one could.
Like everything connected with the game, Logan heard the snap of the bone with total clarity. The agony that surged through his body was so intense he almost passed out. In the next few minutes, he was going to wish he had.
“Get back.” Logan heard Gaige through the haze of pain. “Goddamn it. Move the hell off.”
The three-hundred-and-fifty-pound linebacker didn’t get off by standing. He rolled. Crushing Logan’s broken leg as he went. He would never know if the move had been deliberate. Now, it was the last thing on his mind. He only cared about two things. How bad was the injury and when would he be able to play again.
“Hold on, kid.” Gaige took his hand. “They’re bringing the stretcher.”
The team doctor checked his eyes. Logan knew he was asked some questions. What they were and how he answered, he would never remember. By the time they carted him off the field, Logan knew the break was bad.
“Gaige.” Logan reached for him.
“I’m here, kid.”
“Is it over?”
“The game?” Gaige walked with him, his head bent toward Logan. “No. But I promise we’re going to win the bastard.”
They loaded him onto the open cart. They had him secured and the vehicle rolled away before Logan had his answer. He wasn’t wondering about the game. It was his career.
To no one in particular, he whispered the question again.
“Is it over?”
AFTER THE RAIN—NOW AVAILABLE
AN EXCERPT FROM
DREAMING WITH A BROKEN HEART
(HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS BOOK ONE)
THE ROOM WAS dark. Too dark for Garrett’s liking. A little stuffy, a slight antiseptic smell with an overlay of sex. That’s what you got from a cheap motel and furtive lovemaking. Odors and memories you’d just as soon forget.
The sounds from behind the closed bathroom door indicated his partner was trying to remove all traces of their recent activities. It shouldn’t hurt. This wasn’t the first time, and damn his weak resolve, it wouldn’t be the last.
If he smoked, he would have something to do with his hands. Watching his father struggle with lung cancer put the fear of God in him and his brothers at an early age. All four of them had their vices; smoking wasn’t one of them.
Get up. Get dressed. For once, be the first to leave. Even if he could find the balls to walk out on her, he couldn’t leave her alone at this time of night. In this part of town.
God, it was like a furnace in here. Despite having the AC wall unit on high, Garrett knew it must be hotter in here than outside. The sheet riding low on his hips was too much. Damn modesty. The room was too dark to see anything; if she didn’t like seeing his naked body, she could turn away. Garrett whipped off the coarse cotton material at the same moment the bathroom door opened.
“You don’t have to go,” Garrett said to the shadowed figure.
“Yes, I do.”
She always made sure the light was off. Her silhouette showed a tall woman, thin. Too thin. Even by L.A. standards. She was gaining weight — slowly. Garrett could attest to that. He knew it was a strug
gle. One she fought every day.
Garrett felt the anger drain from his body — his heart melt. Her demands were not capricious whims. They weren’t her attempt to gain the upper hand. Her goal was not to manipulate. She had her reasons. They were real. Legitimate.
“It’s still early.”
Garrett kept his voice low and even. Shouting didn’t help. She never fought back. Retreat. That was her coping mechanism. The last time he blew up it was two weeks before she would take his calls.
“I…” she cleared her voice. “His flight gets in at midnight.”
“Don’t be there.”
“You know how he gets.”
Garrett knew all right. She was devoted to a man who treated her like crap, forgot her existence ninety percent of the time, yet expected her to be there when he decided to come home. His fists clenched the mattress. It was the only thing preventing him from grabbing her, begging her to stay. For once, pick me.
“I don’t know when I can see you again.”
I don’t know if I ever want to see you again. Garrett thought the words. He would never verbalize them. She was his drug of choice. Weeks passed. The need for her grew. Outwardly, his life looked smooth as glass. Inside, the itch grew.
Garrett became an expert at compartmentalizing. His work never suffered. His family never suspected. No one had the slightest clue about what was raging inside of him. She knew. Because she shared his unbreakable habit. Enablers. That’s what they were. It was sick. Sometimes, like tonight, he hated himself. He wished he could hate her. Then, maybe, he could walk away.
“I’ll be out of town for the next month.”
Garrett wished he could see her face. Was she sorry he’d be gone? Relieved? Would she miss him half as much as he was going to miss her?
“Take care.”
Garrett waited a second, letting the motel room door close behind her. Jumping up, rushing to the window, he pulled back the thin, dingy curtain. He never walked her to the taxi. Even the minutest chance of them being seen was too much.
The ritual of watching until she was safely inside the vehicle, seat belt on, doors locked, was something he never ignored. Nothing bad would happen to her when he was around. It was when he wasn’t there that trouble found her. One more frustration. It wasn’t his place to protect her. Knowing that drove him crazy.
Garrett grabbed his jeans from a nearby chair, pulling them on. Unlike her, he wouldn’t clean up before he left. He would carry the smell of her with him — let it fill the interior of his car. Tomorrow he would pretend it was still there.
Damn it. Enough. He deserved more than this. They both did. One month. When he got back, one way or another, things were going to change.
DREAMING WITH A BROKEN HEART
Dreaming Of Your Love (Hollywood Legends #3) Page 30
