Page 49

Amos

“They’re cutting you, but the good news is you’re nonexclusive, so we can negotiate with other teams,”

Erissa said and I could tell she was trying to be upbeat. What she wasn’t saying is they intentionally waited until after the summer to release me from the contract. Sure, I wasn’t in an exclusive contract, but who would bring in someone at this point? I hadn’t even been training.

No, the sons of bitches intentionally set me up. “Erissa, we need to get the attorneys to go for the jugular. This isn’t okay.”

She sighed into the phone. “No, it’s not, but before you go down that track, I might have an offer for you. Nothing as lucrative as your last contract, but it’ll get you back into the league.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

She paused then sighed again. “Let me make sure it’s a legit offer before I say any more, but, yeah, I… I’ll call you tomorrow either way.”

“Thanks, Erissa.”

“Oh,”

she said, stopping me before I hung up. “I got a bizarre message from someone in New York. I was going to ignore it, but… Did you try out for a Broadway musical while there?”

Shit… busted. “Yeah, why? Did someone post pictures or something? I mean, I… I just got caught up in the moment. Fuck… this is going to bite me in the ass, isn’t it?”

Erissa chuckled. “No, well, maybe. I don’t know, but I got this random email asking me to let you know you got the part. Um, Amos, the musical is called Alec in Wanderlust, and it’s a new one. Is this a gay musical?”

I laughed. “Honestly, that’s… I don’t know. I tried out for Lola from Kinky Boots.”

“Fuck, of course, you did. You are determined to give me gray hair. Goddamn… okay… well, shit. You’re gonna need to call them and let them know you aren’t interested… Unless you are? Are you leaving the game? ’Cause, Amos, if you are, I need to know before I chase down too many leads here. And you cannot be Lola or some drag queen and in the NFL. Not just because of the image, but because of the stupid time limitations in each.”

“Yeah, I know. I… let me think about it, and I’ll tell you when you call tomorrow. I can’t believe it! They said I got the part?”

She didn’t respond for a moment, then abruptly said, “I just can’t with you right now. Tomorrow… We’ll work this shit out tomorrow.”

I smiled as I put the phone down. “I got the part… How the fuck had I gotten the part?”

I asked the empty room.

I’d fucking broken down during the last song. I’d walked out without telling anyone where I was going. My contract had been suspended… Why didn’t that bother me more than the part excited me?

I mean, I’m not a fool.

Having me, a disgraced football player, in a Broadway part would be a draw.

Of course it would, and the fact that anyone with eyes could see they had suspended my contract ’cause I was caught out in drag… Well, that just made my being in this role that much more juicy.

I wondered what the hell Alec in Wanderlust was.

It had to be something similar, like with drag queens, or at least gay people, with a name like that.

I knew that’s probably why the producer dude—yeah, I had looked him up—had invited me to try out.

But if I didn’t impress them, even if I was an NFL player, even if they got promotion from my leaving one and going to the other… I still had to have some talent, right? If they didn’t like my singing, they wouldn’t have offered me the part.

The question is: Am I ready to throw away my career? Should I throw caution to the wind and try being on Broadway? I mean, I could learn any choreography.

My opinion on that was bring it, bitches.

I’ll show you what this six-foot-five, two-hundred-forty-pound linebacker could do.

I sang all right, though I’m maybe not ever gonna give the queen, RuPaul, a run for her money, but I could outperform anyone.

I could do Lola, or whatever this part was.

I knew I could.

Just, did I want to? Or did I want to play out the next ten years left in my football career?

I thought about it until my head hurt.

Then I called my brother.

When he didn’t answer, I called Mom.

She didn’t answer either… Owen’s anniversary was tomorrow, and the two lovebirds would be all goo-goo today and tomorrow, so I didn’t even want to disturb them… That left only one person… one human being I could think to talk to about this, Tommy.

Damn, he would’ve been my first pick if I was honest, maybe not until recently, but now that we’d hooked up again, I wanted it to be him I told this news to.

But… but he had left. Fuck it… I couldn’t.

I texted Josiah again.

Man, I need you to text me ASAP. I need help figuring something out. Something massive!

I went and crashed on my bed and closed my eyes. My head hurt and I didn’t want to think any more without someone to help me hash things out. Luckily, just as I’d closed my eyes, my phone pinged.

Josiah: Hey, got a work issue, but should be free in about an hour. Can it wait until then?’

Me: Yeah, but don’t ghost me. I need to talk!

Him: No problem. I’ll call as soon as I can.

I closed my eyes again, and just knowing Josiah was gonna call calmed me enough that I fell asleep.

My dream of dancing on stage with Tommy, like we’d done in college, mimicking a song from our favorite Broadway show, Rent, came quickly, ’cause when Josiah’s phone call woke me up, I was smiling from ear to ear.

God help me, I was such a chump.