Page 45 of Hard Count (Newhouse University #4)

“You were halfway in love with me when we met.” He tightens his grip on my hands.

“I’m not sure I knew what love really was until you showed me. You’ve loved me without any conditions.”

I’m not convinced my mom ever truly loved me. She loved using me for her own gain. My dad tried but it wasn’t until recently that I felt his love. In the past, it was hard to tell if he actually cared or if he was playing a game with my mom.

Nash didn’t hesitate to show me affection. His instincts were always right when they came to me. When I would pull away, he pushed us forward. “You always know what to do with me and I’m a lot harder to read than a defensive line.”

Nash places my hands on his sides. He cups the back of my neck and my ass, tugging my body against his.

“That’s what you think. You tell me everything I need to know without having to say anything.

The way you look at me, the way you touch me, the way you make me feel, it’s all right there.

” He leans down and presses his mouth against mine, confirming everything I feel for this man in my heart.

“That’s because you have good intuition," I say, breaking our kiss. "You know how to read your opponents. You took the time to understand me and you ended up winning my heart and healing it,” I say, showing him my tattoo.

“What’s this?” He runs his thumb back and forth over my stitched up heart making me shiver.

“It’s not your full name but it has the same meaning.

” I take his finger to trace over the letter ‘N’ that now holds to the two halves of my heart together.

I had the tattoo artist make it look like thread stitching it up.

It's what Nash does for me everyday. “You made me feel whole again. I love you. I believe in you and I know you can win this game.”

“I love you, too, baby.” He kisses my wrist and hugs me again. “Let’s tell everyone the plan,” he says. He grabs his gear and then opens the door, pulling me with him back to the locker room with the confidence I’ve become accustomed to seeing in him.

As we walk in, my dad is addressing the team with his game plan for the second half.

Nash steps in front of him and they have a private discussion.

Nash points to me and my dad’s eyes connect with mine.

The corner of his mouth ticks up in a grin.

He gives Nash a nod and they both turn toward the rest of the team.

“We’re going to change things up for the second half of the game,” Nash says. The guys shuffle around and move closer. “If we listen to everything Coach Prescott has to say, we can win this thing. So pay attention.”

Nash moves to the side and my dad steps forward.

He doesn’t stop walking until he’s standing in front of me.

My stomach twists into knots with the way he's is looking at me. His eyes are soft around the corners and his smile reminds me of the one in the picture I keep on my dresser at home. “Tell us what we’re doing, Coach,” he says, handing me his clipboard.

“You got us here. You can bring us home as champions.”

My eyes are blurry as I scan the room. I don’t stop until they land on a set of light brown ones filled with pride. Nash hands me a bottle of water and I take a few sips. “You got this, little fox. I believe in you too.”

It’s intimidating having the entire team waiting to hear what I have to say when such an important game is on the line. I inhale and exhale a few times before finally pulling my thoughts together.

“Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do,” I begin, and explain how the plays will need to be called for the second half. “Their defense hasn’t stopped moving the entire game. I say we do the same and give them a taste of their own medicine.” I smirk at the guys.

“Get in front of him. What are you doing? Stay on your man,” my dad yells. At whom I don’t know.

“You’re going to get us a penalty.” I grab his arm and pull him off the field. We’re currently down by eleven with about eight minutes left on the clock. We scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and our defense only allowed Texas to get seven more points.

“That receiver is getting ahead of Trey every time. They’re going to throw it into the end zone if we aren’t careful.” He crosses his arms over his chest as he paces back and forth.

“I don’t think they will,” I say.

My dad stops short and stares at me. “How do you know?”

“Trey and Chris are dancing around on the field. They’re doing a good job confusing him.

Their QB is too calculated. He won’t risk the unknown.

He’ll stick to the shorter pass routes and rely on their run game.

Eli needs to watch the center, and as soon as the ball is snapped he should charge the quarterback to force a fumble. ”

“That was so hot,” Nash leans down, whispering in my ear while my dad talks to Eli through the radio in his helmet.

“Stay focused, Pierce. One more play and you’re up.”

“Yes, Coach,” he says, with a smirk. I bite down on my lip. Mmm…I kind of like the sound of that.

Eli doesn’t force a turnover but they do stop them on downs. “Go get ‘em,” I smack Nash’s butt before he gets too far away. He tosses a smile at me through his helmet.

“How are you holding up?” I ask Eli as Asher hands him a water bottle.

“Good.” His eyes stay pinned to a spot over my shoulder. I don’t have to turn around to know he’s looking at Frankie. Sydney took my spot and is sitting with her for the rest of the game since I’m down here.

I focus my attention back on the game. Nash has been doing a good job keeping their defense second guessing what we’re doing on our side of the line. He calls a few running plays back to back and we get a first down. It’s good but we’re wasting a lot of time on the clock.

“He needs to go for a touchdown,” I say to my dad. The clock is not our friend right now. “Give me that,” I demand, grabbing at my dad’s headpiece after Nash passes another ball off to Adrian.

I adjust the headset and get the mic into place. “Can you hear me?”

“Drew?”

“Right now I’m your coach and you're still playing scared. What is your gut telling you to do?” I ask, staring him down. He glances over at me from the line.

“Throw it in the end zone.”

“Do it. Give us some of that Nash Pierce magic.”

I can sense his smile from here as he calls the play. He fakes a handoff to Adrian and drops back, throwing deep to Alex. Everyone on our side of the stadium is on their feet as the ball soars through the air. "That's what I'm talking about!" I shout back at my man.

"You like that, baby?" he quips back at me as he waits to see the outcome of his throw. I do. I like it a lot.

“Come on, Alex. Get it,” I murmur as the ball drops. He sticks a hand in the air and snatches it before landing hard on his back in the end zone. “Is he okay?” Concern leaches from my voice.

“I’m going to check, baby.” Nash runs down to the end zone and gets there just as Alex sits up. The crowd claps and cheers when he stands. “He had the wind knocked out of him but he’s good.”

“Thank goodness. I think we need to go for two. Then worse case we can tie with a field goal.”

“Sounds good, Coach.”

My dad holds up two fingers and I nod. His face fills with pride and he nods back at me. “Here.” I hand him back the headset.

“You keep it. He listens to you better than me. I’ll just yell at them from here.” He winks. Eli laughs behind me. I roll my eyes at both of them.

Newhouse picks up the two points and now it’s up to our defense again. “Save us some time,” I say to Eli as he puts his helmet on.

Asher passes out water bottles and towels to the guys as they come off the field. His eyes snag on some girl in the stands holding up a sign and a giant grin on her face. He hands off the water bottles he’s holding to Chris and runs up the bleachers. Nash and I exchange glances and shrug.

“We'll have less than two minutes when I go back out there. What are you thinking?” Nash asks. His helmet is pushed up and balancing on his head while he squirts water into his mouth. It takes me a moment to remember I’m not here to drool over my boyfriend.

“Too much time for a hail mary. It’s going to be a balance of moving the ball with our run game and being efficient with the last one hundred and twenty seconds. Depending on where we get the ball it’s about two yards per second. But first we need to shut them down.”

Texas can’t score again. If they do, it’s lights out for us. They’re third and long right now. I don’t know if they’re more concerned about scoring or wasting time. “Eli, can you hear me? ”

“Yeah. Loud and clear.”

“Watch for a lateral. They might try to play monkey in the middle to kill the clock. They’ve done it before and it worked,” I grumble. Dammit.

“Not this time,” he says, with determination.

Texas snaps the ball and sure enough, their quarterback passes it back to their tight end but he’s no match for Eli. Running at full speed, Eli charges and knocks the guy down so hard the ball comes loose.

There’s a scramble for the football and I have no idea who recovered it.

Everyone has dog-piled on top of each other, trying to gain control.

Newhouse players clear the bench and step closer to the field in anticipation for the call.

The referees clear the pile one player at a time and signal it’s ours.

I grab Nash’s helmet and pull it back down on his head. “Take them by surprise just like you did me. Make them fall over the line with a hard count.”

Nash nods and runs onto the field.

“This one’s for you, little fox,” he says through the radio.

On our first play, Nash draws one of the lineman over the line of scrimmage before the snap. We gained six yards with our run and a free down thanks to the penalty. He does it a second time but I’m not sure if it will work a third one.

“Call it quicker this time,” I say. “They’re going to be cautious.” He needs to hurry anyway. We only have sixty seconds left.

Marcus snaps the ball and Nash quickly passes it off to Adrian who runs about thirteen yards before he’s tackled. The clock’s still running. There’s no time to waste. Nash signals everyone to hustle to the line. We move so fast the Texas defense isn’t even in position when we snap the ball.

“We’re almost out of time with over forty yards to go,” he says.

“You ran the forty yard dash in high school in less than five seconds. Snap the ball and run it in yourself. You have twenty seconds. That’s plenty of time.”

“I tried that in the first half and I didn’t make it.”

“That play is in the past. We aren't thinking about that anymore. You can do this.”

Once the ball is in his hands, he doesn’t let go. He slices through the small hole our offense makes and runs straight down the middle of the field. There’s no turning back now. If he doesn’t make it, this is the game. He won’t be able to step out of bounds to stop the clock.

Thirty yards.

“Keep going. Don’t stop now. You’re so close. You’re winning this game. Right here. Right now,” I say, my heart pounding in my chest as a defender starts chasing after him.

Twenty yards.

The clock winds down to five seconds. The fans from Texas yell louder for their defense to catch up but they won’t be able to get my man. Not this time.

Ten yards.

“I’m so fucking proud of you. I always knew you were a champion. I was lost and felt alone but I saw you play and I had something to believe in again. You gave that to me,” I say as he runs past the five yard line and into the end zone.

Tears of joy steam down my face and I jump into my dad’s arms to celebrate. “Good job, coach,” he says, squeezing me tighter.

We rush onto the field and I dodge out of the way when I notice Chris and Trey with the large cooler. I’m not getting that dumped on me. I have one thing on my mind and that’s getting to Nash.

He emerges out of a crowd of players like a dream. He’s carrying his helmet in one hand as he jogs in my direction. I run full speed into his chest. He easily lifts me with one hand under my thigh. “Hey, champ,” I say, pressing my mouth to his.

The stadium is electric as fans storm the field and confetti floats through the air while the Newhouse fight song plays in the background. It's pure chaos in every direction but when he’s holding me like this it's just the two of us.

“Now I know,” he says.

“Know what?” I wipe some of the dirt and sweat off his face.

“What you’d say to me during the game. That’s how I stayed focused. I’d imagine you talking to me and pushing me through every play. And now I know.”

His words supercharge my already heightened emotions. “I love you," I say.

“I love you too.”

“Are you ready for what’s next?” I ask.

“As long as you’re with me, you can count on it.”