Page 30 of Hard Count (Newhouse University #4)

NASH

I can’t look at the scoreboard. Every time I do I think about the ball I overthrew in the first quarter or the pass that got picked off in the second. If I hadn’t messed up, we would only be down by seven instead of twenty-one going into the last quarter of the game.

“We’ve got plenty of time,” Adrian says, his hands tucked into the neck of his jersey.

“The Vikings came back from a thirty-three point deficit to win the game in overtime,” Asher states.

“We aren’t exactly the Vikings,” I tell him.

“No, we’re better. We at least got a few touchdowns the first half of the game,” Adrian jokes.

“Would you rather lose by not scoring any points or lose by one?” Asher asks.

“I would rather not lose, period,” I reply .

“That’s what I like to hear. How are you holding up?” Coach stands in front of me.

“I’m good, Coach,” I lie. My earlier mistakes play on a continuous loop in my head.

“They’re trying to rush you. Did she give you any tips on that?” His eyes drift to where his daughter is sitting in the bleachers. I tried to get her to stand on the sidelines with us but she refused. She’s still afraid to step too far into his world and have him push her away.

Things seem to be getting better between the two of them. At least when I come over for dinner, they’re more talkative and open to keep trying to repair what they lost or build something new. Drew no longer procrastinates when we need to leave for dinner.

“She said to trust my receivers and get rid of the ball fast.” Easy for her to say. For some odd reason she’s under the impression I can’t miss as long as my mental game is strong.

“Lucas has been double teamed all night. They aren’t giving him room to breathe. That leaves Jacob, Alex, or handing it off to Adrian,” he says.

“Alex is probably our best option. Drew said he’s underrated. They expect us to go to Lucas or Adrian.”

Coach turns back to the field. Our defense has been holding them but they’re still moving the chains and getting first downs. It’s currently third and four. We need to stop them. A fumble or pick would be nice right about now.

I glance over my shoulder at Drew. She’s standing on her feet and rocking back and forth with her thumb in her mouth. I’m surprised she has any nails left to chew at this point the way she attacks them every game.

Our defense stops Texas on downs and they’re forced to punt. Now it’s my turn to get out there and make something happen. I pop my helmet back on my head.

“See how the defense lines up. You know what to look for. Go with your gut. I trust you.” He places a hand on each of my shoulders.

“I picked you to lead this team for a reason. She was right about you. You’re a natural on the field.

You have what it takes to turn this around.

Believe in yourself, Pierce. She does and I do too.

” He slaps my back as I run onto the field.

I’m not usually one for pep talks. Neither is Coach for that matter.

He doesn’t stand on a soapbox and blow smoke up our asses to get us to perform.

He just expects us to do it because that’s why we’re here.

That’s why he gave us a jersey to begin with.

I can't lie and say his words don't spur something inside of me.

Knowing he has full trust in my ability to do my job.

I enter the huddle and tell the guys what Coach and I discussed. Alex’s face pales but he recovers quickly. “You have the speed to outrun your man. Use it to your advantage. Get to your spot and I’ll have the ball waiting for you.” I clap my hands and we break.

Drew gives me a quick nod. She was right about you. What did he mean by that? I can’t think about it now but I’ll be asking her about it after the game. I check their defense one last time. They still appear to be targeting Lucas .

I call for the snap and as soon as the ball touches my hands I fire it off toward the end zone.

All I can do is watch and hope Alex makes it.

He’s tracking the ball while our offense knocks defenders out of his way.

The ball begins to drop before Alex crosses the end zone.

He dives forward and juggles the ball in his hands before securing the catch, dragging his feet to stay in bounds. Fuck, yeah!

“Nice throw, Pierce!” My teammates slap me on my back as we run off the field for our special teams to kick the extra point.

I rip my helmet off my head and find Drew in the stands.

“That’s for you, baby!” I shout. Her cheeks flush and she shakes her head with a grin on her face.

Damn, she’s beautiful. Every time I look at her I fall for her even more.

If only, she’ll let me in all the way. She’s still so hesitant to open up to me.

Her body she gives freely and I happily take. But it’s her heart I’m still after.

Eli punches my shoulder and brings me back to the present. “Good job out there, man. Get ready. I don't plan on being on the field long. You’ve got more work to do.”

“Why? Do you prefer standing on the sideline watching Frankie now?” I joke with him.

He glances up at her before putting his helmet on. “It’s not a bad way to spend my time,” he says, then jogs onto the field. I can’t argue with him. Drew easily monopolizes my attention too.

Eli holds true to his word. Our defense makes them turn the ball over on downs. I scrub my hand through my hair. We need fourteen points and have ten minutes left on the clock.

I think back to all of our practices with Drew this week. What play would she run? There's something she said when we were going over game film that sticks out in mind. When Texas is winning, they assume the other team will throw. If time is winding down, they’ll expect us to use the sidelines.

“Adrian you're going to run straight down the middle,” I say.

“The clock won’t stop. I need to get out of bounds.”

“It will stop when you get the touchdown. It’s time to part the sea.

Got it? Make room for him,” I tell the offensive line.

They nod in understanding. We’re all a little apprehensive.

We’ve practiced the play a few times in case we needed it but the game is unpredictable. Things can go wrong in a blink.

The ball is snapped. I drop back as if I’m making a long pass. Instead, I hand it off to Adrian as he shoots past me. I continue to act like I’m going to throw in hopes to draw out a defensemen and get them to tackle me. I don’t feel like getting sacked, but I’ll happily take one for the team.

I smirk when I see Donaldson—number thirty-three—coming for me and brace myself for the impact. He brings me to the ground just as everyone in the crowd goes crazy over Adrian’s touchdown. “Fuck,” he curses, offering me a hand up.

“Better luck next time,” I say, slapping him on the back.

Coach calls my name frantically from the sidelines, holding up two fingers. I nod and run down the field to get into position for a two point conversion. It’s a risk but also smart. We’ll need that extra point eventually. Might as well try and get it now.

Thanks to the unnecessary roughness penalty we’re on their one and a half yard line. The plan is for Lucas to catch the ball just inside the end zone but I don’t like the way their defense is set.

When the ball is hiked, I step back and look for Lucas.

As I expected they have him double teamed.

I don’t get an opportunity to find another receiver before I’m being chased out of my pocket.

I'm going to need to do this myself. With moments to spare, I find a small gap between a few players and run the ball into the end zone.

It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done. Now we just need to get the ball back and score one more touchdown to win.

Asher passes me a water bottle once I make it back to the sideline. “Would you rather be able to read minds or only hear the truth?” he asks, breaking up some of the tension we feel. Some might find his questions an unnecessary distraction but they actually give us a moment to reset.

“That’s a tough one. I guess I would pick reading minds.” All the moments Drew has shut down or gone silent on me flash through my mind. I would love to know what she’s so afraid to tell me.

“Then you would know what their defense was planning,” he says, interrupting my thoughts .

“Exactly.” That would be nice too. Right now it looks like they're just trying to drain the clock and give us as little time as possible to make a comeback. Our defense isn’t having it though. They’re making quick work at shutting them down and pulling them out of bounds to stop the clock.

I jog onto the field, fist bumping Eli as he passes me. At this point, we have no choice to either do short passes down the sideline so we can get out of bounds if we need to or take a shot down field and risk leaving them too much time to score again.

Keeping one eye on the clock, I also watch their defensive line.

I have a feeling they know what we’re about to do.

“Blue one-two-one.” I signal my guys that I’m going to run the ball and I need them to block for me.

“White eighty,” I shout. The ball is snapped and I step back and fake a handoff to Adrian when he runs in front of me.

I surge forward and run through the gap he created for me. I'm able to get to the fifty yard line and slide to the ground before anyone can tackle me. There’s no time to celebrate. We have to hustle back into position and run the next play.

This time I hand off to Adrian for a gain of five yards.

Fuck. The seconds are ticking by faster than I like.

We don't waste time to huddle and set up on the line of scrimmage forcing Texas to scramble into position. “Blue eighty,” I say, informing the guys I’m going long and they need to get to the end zone.

I don’t care who catches it but someone needs to be there. “Hut. Hut. ”