Page 97

Joel glanced back at Oakley, who’d made good on his escape. “Coach?—”

“Get your ass in the house, Joel. And on the way there, get yourself ready to start speaking the truth about what just happened here. Because if you lie to me, I’ll fire your ass so quick, it’ll make your head spin.”

Joel followed Coach into the house and plopped down on the couch heavily. He didn’t have any more lies left inside him. He’d spent the past few weeks in a constant state of dishonesty. He needed help.

“Okay,” Coach said. “Let’s have it.”

And Joel gave it to him. All of it. Sadie, Oakley, the fling, the kiss, the feelings, the shame, the fear. It all fell out of him in a giant heap.

And through it all, Coach was quiet. Joel had no idea what the man was thinking because he hadn’t lifted his gaze from the floor. Joel couldn’t make himself look into the eyes of the man who was like a father to him and risk seeing disappointment.

Once he’d run out of words, he held his pose, his hands still clasped together, his elbows resting on his knees and his head bent as if in prayer, eyes locked on the rug beneath his feet.

“What’s the red zone?” Coach asked.

Joel was so taken aback by the question, he looked up. “What?”

“The red zone. Come on, boy. I taught you everything you know about football. Tell me what the red zone is.”

“It’s the last twenty yards before the end zone. It’s when the playing gets rough, dirty even. Offense is fighting like the devil to score and the defense is kicking ass to keep them out.”

“You’re in the red zone, Joel.”

Joel wasn’t sure how to reply. It was a simple answer, and when Joel thought about it, he realized it did feel like that. He’d been under a cloud of almost blinding desperation for days.

The red zone.

Coach’s words made sense of a situation that felt futile. Joel was on the verge of something big. Problem was he couldn’t figure out if he was the offense or the defense. Something told him he was both.

“What do I do?” Joel asked.

“I can’t answer that for you. You have to decide what you want. You in love with Sadie?”

Joel nodded. No hesitation. He was head over heels in love with her.

“You in love with Oakley?”

Joel nodded again. He was too tired to keep denying it.

“So why aren’t you fighting to get into that end zone?”

“I can’t have them both.”

Coach frowned. “Who says?”

Joel threw up his hands. “The whole world!”

Coach’s brows furrowed. “Bullshit.”

“What the hell would my mom think? She’s very religious, Coach. The ménage part is strange enough. If I tell her I’m in love with Oakley, that I want to have sex with him, she’ll…”

“She’ll what? Disown you? Hire a priest for an exorcism? Try to have you committed? What will she do?”

Joel shook his head. “I don’t know. I just know I don’t want to hurt her. I love my mom.”

“And she loves you, Joel. Probably a hell of a lot more than you realize.”

Joel still couldn’t relax. His mother’s approval was important to him. But so was Coach’s. “What do you think of all of this?”