Page 1 of Hidden Plays (Desert Football #1)

ONE

JORDAN (JJ)

“ W hat hell do you think Coach has planned for us today?” I strolled into the weight room with Casey Carter, our starting quarterback, and one of my roommates in the Desert Dog’s house.

Glancing at him, I took in his dirty-blond hair and green eyes.

The guy was more muscular than I, but I was taller.

Of course, I had the perfect build for my position as a wide receiver.

“Not sure, but I’m looking forward to a good workout. This arm needs a little tender loving care.” Casey snickered and flexed his right arm, his throwing arm.

“The last game, you were on it.” And I’d caught two passes in the end zone, scoring two touchdowns.

I couldn’t complain. As we walked past the cable machine, I took inventory of myself in the gym’s mirrored wall, my blue eyes peeking from under my long, dark bangs.

Guys always liked the contrast of my eye color with my dark hair.

Except for my last boyfriend, Myles. Apparently, he’d wanted something different.

And that something was in the form of Cooper, our tight end.

“But we can always improve, right?” Casey tagged my shoulder and leaned in. “Hey, look. We’ve got a new trainer. What happened to Stacey? ”

My gaze swung to Coach Bowden, our strength and conditioning coach, holding an iPad and standing next to—fuck me. Standing next to Holden fucking Cox. My old high school nemesis and the man who took my MVP title in my junior year. What the hell was he doing here? “Shit.”

“Shit, what?” Casey eyed the crowd of guys—our offense except for the linemen, Cooper included in them.

Grabbing Casey’s arm, I turned to him. “The guy standing next to Coach was on my high school football team.” God, it was a long story. I lacked the time to discuss it now. “Let’s just say he’s an asshole.”

“Really?” With a smirk, Casey arched a brow. “Looks like a perfectly decent guy to me. And hot. I mean, look at him. He’s all flowing blond hair and built like a Greek God.” Casey swiped his tongue over his lips. “He’s not queer?—”

“No, he’s definitely not queer, so tell your dick to stand down.” Jesus, Casey was the biggest flirt I’d ever seen. With a huff, I faced Holden and Coach.

“It's about time you made it. Get your asses over here, Matthews and Carter.” Coach waved us to the group.

“Sorry, Coach.” Hanging my head, I ambled toward everyone, with Casey following.

Maybe Holden wouldn’t remember me? But how could he not?

I was there the day…fuck. Is this what happened to him?

Could he never play again? I stopped next to Cooper, the man who now had my old boyfriend, Myles. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“Great.” Cooper crossed his arms over his wide chest, his brown bangs falling to the sides of his hazel eyes.

“Okay, everyone, we have a new student trainer. His name is Holden Cox. He played quarterback for Desert Mountain High School and will be a great asset to our team this year. He’s coming in with some advanced techniques to whip you all into shape.

” Coach lifted his chin, scanning the crowd. “Questions?”

I averted my gaze from Holden’s, peering at the treadmills lining the windows and then at the row of leg machines. How closely would I be working with him?

Raising a hand, Casey asked, “Uh, what happened to Stacey?” He glanced at me.

“Stacey had a personal emergency and had to quit. I’m not at liberty to go into any details.” Coach shifted his stance. “She was looking forward to this season and working with everyone, but it wasn’t possible.”

“Oh.” Smirking, Casey nodded. “Let’s hear from Cox then.” He shifted his smirk to me and leaned in, whispering, “Nice last name, huh?”

“Stop.” With my cheeks flaming, I planted my hands on my hips. Casey had to go there.

“I know it’s unusual for you to get a new trainer mid-season, but I want you to know I’m pumped to work with you. Football was my passion, and making sure you’re all in peak performance will be my mission.”

I glanced at Holden and rolled my eyes. He was still full of himself. But fuck, he’d filled out a lot and Casey was right, he was hot. He had an edge to him he didn’t have in high school.

As Holden eyed each of us, a silver hoop earring glinted under his left ear and a black beaded necklace hung from his neck.

His blond hair was longer than years ago, falling to his shoulders in the back and past his ears in perfect waves.

With age, his cheekbones had become prominent, and his lips…

he’d always had thick lips, but now, damn.

And fuck me. He had a few tattoos scattered across his arms.

I forced myself to look away, my dick waking. Yeah, he had an edge to him, all right. He was still a fucker, though.

“Okay, Cox will work with the wide receivers first.” Coach sent a grin around the room. “Tight ends and quarterbacks, come with me.”

As everyone disbanded, I ambled toward Holden along with our second and third string wide receivers. It figured I’d be the first one to work with him .

“Okay, everyone, I want to do a quick assessment of you first.” Holden’s gaze snapped to mine. “Matthews, I hear you’ve picked up some speed since high school.” He arched a brow. “Care to prove it?”

A laugh broke out among the other guys with our second-string receiver, Marks, saying, “Haven’t you heard? Matthews is the fastest wide receiver in the NCAA.”

“Really now?” Lifting his chin, Holden held his iPad to his chest. “Let’s take a little walk to the track and time him.”

We were supposed to be working on agility and strength today. What the fuck? “Dude, you don’t have to time me today. My stats should be right there on your little tablet.” I cocked my head. Time to fuck with him, just like old times. “Or are you still figuring out how to log in?”

The guys chuckled around me.

Holden focused on me, his gaze hard. “Always such a smartass, Matthews. I see nothing’s changed.”

Marks tagged my stomach. “Do you two know each other?”

Sending Holden my best grin, I said, “Sure we do. You heard Coach. He played at Desert Mountain, the same as I did. He was my quarterback there when I was a junior.” I glanced at Holden’s left leg, the one that was injured in the championships.

A few scars remained around his knee. It would be too much of a dick move to mention that.

He should’ve recovered from the injury, right?

It’d been bad, but…“You were supposed to go to Penn State. What happened?”

Clearing his throat, Holden dropped his gaze and shifted his stance. With his focus returning to me, he said, “That’s in the past. Broken leg and knee injury. Remember? Or maybe not. You always were self-centered.” His lips tensed.

I stepped toward him, his scent like fresh rain mixed with cinnamon wafting over me.

“I remember. Just didn’t want to be the one bringing it up.

It’s your story to tell.” I looked down at him.

I’d grown a few inches since high school, and my six-foot-four frame was probably two inches taller than him now .

“So maybe you’ve grown out of your immaturity. We’ll see.” Sucking in a breath, he swiveled and headed toward the treadmills. “Come on, everyone, let’s do a five-minute warmup, and then I’ve got some resistance band training for you.”

I watched the sway of his tight, round ass in his team athletic shorts. Too bad he was straight. It would be a great ass to fuck. And fucking a guy like him, all full of himself? Hot. Except there was no way that would happen, and I needed to focus on training.

After our training session, I stretched my hip on a foam roller, rocking back and forth on the mat. It had been tight as fuck lately, and I didn’t need a sprain in the game.

“How’s that hip?” Holden strolled to me and sat cross-legged, his hands resting on his knees.

“It’s fine.” So what if he was my new trainer? He didn’t need to know my weaknesses. I changed position, sliding my leg crossways. Pain shot up my side, and I winced.

“Doesn’t look fine to me. You’ve been favoring it throughout our session.” He reached out his hand, then snatched it back. “Where does it hurt?”

Fuck. “It’s okay. I know how to deal with it. Stacey set me up with a stretching routine.” With a scoff, I stopped rolling and sat with my legs tucked under me. Would he try to tell me Stacey didn’t know her shit?

“Okay, but maybe I have some other stretches you could try?” He lifted his brows. “We don’t need you coming up injured in the next game. We’re playing a tough team on Saturday.”

“I know that, and I won’t get injured.” God, he thought so fucking highly of himself. “What do you think you know that Stacey didn’t?” There, I’d said it.

“Nothing. Stacey was a great trainer. I don’t have a beef with her methods. I just have some new ones for you to try.” He pursed his lips. “For fuck's sake, I’m here to help you, JJ.”

“Are you though?” I stared at him. It just slipped out. “I like what I’m doing. It’s helping.” I attempted a quick grin. “If it’s helping, why change it?” Shit, would he tell Coach I wasn’t receptive to his suggestions?

“Because it’s not helping.” He glared at me. “I know you’ve been battling this for a few weeks now. Did you think Stacey wouldn’t leave good notes on what she did here?”

“Uh, no.” Fuck, he had me there. I wiped my hands together. I had to give in. “Go ahead. Show me your ideas.”

“Lie down on your back.” He shifted to his knees.

“What? Why?” My eyes widened as my dick twitched. I didn’t need him climbing all over me with him looking like…like that. What if I got a boner?

“I want to assess at what inflection point you have pain.” He snapped his brows together. “What’s the problem? You’ve been through this before.”

“Yeah, but there’s no…” I surveyed the room. Some guys finished at the bars, and others wound down on stationary bikes. “There’s no bench?—”

“I don’t need a bench to assess you.” He scoffed out a laugh. “Matthews, we need to get over our past if we’ll be working together.”