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Page 3 of Man to Man Coverage (Rangers Football: Hard-Hitting #6)

Devlin

S o, that was… weird.

Rex Williams, one of our kick returners and third-string running backs, has never talked to me.

Honestly, I’ve never seen him talk to anyone other than Jepson and Jaxson Masters.

Of course, I haven’t gotten to know him either.

Not because I’m a snob, but because I find him attractive and I’m not sure I could stop myself from flirting if presented the opportunity.

It’s no secret I’m bisexual. I don’t wear a rainbow flag on my jersey, nor do I talk about my love life to the press when they ask, but I’ve never denied it either. However, even though none of my teammates give me an attitude about it, the last thing I want is to make it weird with one of them.

The whole you don’t shit where you eat mentality.

I have a couple of close friends in Declan and Aggie, but otherwise, catching footballs for the Rangers is a job I love, and that’s it.

I’ve always been a bit of a loner, and my aloofness makes me seem cooler to the casual observer than I really am, but it was weird he asked me about my sexual experiences.

Could Rex be interested?

No. That’s fucking crazy talk. As far as I know, he’s straight and spends most of his time with Jepson, who loves strip club dancers and starting fights. I don’t know if Jepson is really a slut, but he carries himself like one.

Honestly, the whole Jepson-Jaxson-Rex dynamic is a complete mystery to me—even more so after hanging out with them for an hour tonight.

Besides, even if Rex was interested, what are either of us going to do about it?

We couldn’t openly date, not while on the same team.

There are rules against dating cheerleaders and any other women connected to the team and I’m sure if the league thought it would come up, there’d be a no-fraternization policy between the players, too.

Right?

These are the thoughts dancing around in my head as I lay in bed praying for sleep.

We play Nashville in the morning, and then we move on to the regular season.

After last year’s performance and our first two preseason games this year, we’re projected to be one of the top teams this season.

A lot is riding on us this year and all eyes will be on me and Declan as the dynamic duo.

It’s not just us—the entire team is gelling—but the press loves pitching us as the power couple.

Whatever.

Eye on the prize.

This season is about two things: a championship ring and a season of broken records.

Nothing else matters.

“ T hat was embarrassing,” I mutter to Declan as we take our seats on the plane heading home. We blew out Nashville forty-eight to seventeen, and they only got seventeen points playing against our third string. Everyone got a chance to play today.

Hell, I think even the water boy kicked a field goal.

Joking—but it makes my point.

“Yeah.” Declan has a shit-eating grin on his face, which tells me he doesn’t feel sorry for them one bit. “Wonder how the headlines will report the slaughter?”

“Whatever they say, it won’t be satisfying to you. You didn’t have to save the day—you fucking egomaniac.”

“If I wasn’t cocky, I’d barely have a personality.” He flashes me a cheesy ass grin.

I roll my eyes and chuckle. He’s one of my best friends, and he’s actually a great guy who would give you the shirt off his back.

Of course, if he has a chance to pull it off in front of a group of hot women screaming for his attention, even better. The man loves to look at himself, especially when on the cover of a magazine.

Rex boards the plane with Jepson and Jaxson behind him.

Damn, he is a good-looking guy—in a corn-fed kind of way.

Reddish-blonde hair, brown eyes, about my height and weight and all muscle.

Perfectly poised for corruption, which I’m sure Jepson Masters tries to introduce every chance he gets.

“Hey, Rex. That was a nice touchdown today. Your first professional goal?”

“My first goal ever.” Rex shrugs, as if to say it’s no big deal. But it is a big deal, and I’m not going to let him downplay his accomplishment.

Luckily, Declan has my back as team captain. He glances up from his phone and acknowledges Rex with a chin tilt. “You did good. Eighty-seven-yard run, three missed tackles—you should be proud of yourself.”

“Yeah, well, if the two of you hadn’t put up twenty-four points before the end of the first quarter, I never would’ve played.” Rex smiles at me. “So thank you.”

Jepson smacks Rex on the arm. “Where are we sitting?”

Declan narrows his eyes. “Rick Steward changed positions and drew a personal foul penalty specifically so he could clobber you on the field today.”

Jepson shrugs. “Yeah, I make friends easily.”

“I guess we’re lucky he didn’t decide to take out his frustrations on your quarterback, huh?” Declan keeps his tone light, but the warning is there.

Jepson is smart enough to blanch, look away sheepishly, and mutter, “Yeah. I guess so.”

I roll my eyes after he pushes past Rex, who suddenly looks uncomfortable in his skin.

“What happened to your eye, Jaxson?” Not that I don’t already know.

Jaxson shakes his head and Rex sighs. “Well, thanks for the field time today.”

“You’ll get plenty more opportunities to show your stuff this season, I promise you.” I hold up my fist, and Rex, his cheeks turning a gorgeous shade of pink, bumps it and then heads back a couple of rows to sit with his friends.

“The suicide squad,” Declan mutters under his breath.

“I don’t know. Rylie and I went out with them last night and honestly, I think the only troublemaker is Jepson. Jaxson’s getting his ass handed to him by trying to protect his brother, and Rex doesn’t know what to do. I don’t think he has any other friends.”

Declan chuckles. “You’re not suggesting we adopt him, are you?”

“I’m just saying he doesn’t seem like a bad guy.”

Being on a team is weird. I mean, we’re lumped together with a common goal, which weirdly makes us a family—so god help someone from another team who messes with one of our own. And yet, there are groups within the family and we bicker and faction like all large families do.

Much like Jepson, Jaxson and Rex are tight, Declan, Aggie and myself are thick as thieves.

We’ll be tight regardless of where our careers take us, even if we someday don another team’s jersey.

The tightly knit groups are usually formed by the positions we play—offense hangs with offense, defense with defense, and special teams with special teams. It’s almost like high school cliques, which I always found bizarre considering we’re grown-ass adults in our twenties and thirties.

Hell, some of us have wives and kids.

Speaking of which…

Aggie slumps into the seat across the aisle from us.

“What’s up?” I furrow my brow.

He shakes his head. “My lawyer called. Ellen is contesting the divorce.”

“Again?” My heart breaks for my best friend.

He has been going through hell for months—no, scratch that, years—with this villainous woman and she will not let him go quietly.

He’s been living in my basement while she lives in his house and drives his car and lives her life off his bank account—of which she somehow got him locked out of.

She’s taken almost everything from him and still wants more.

“Yeah.” He closes his eyes, letting me know he doesn’t want to talk about it while surrounded by our teammates.

I reach across the aisle and pat his forearm. “Sorry, man.”

Declan says nothing, meeting me in the eye and shaking his head. We all feel for the fluffy marshmallow because Aggie has to be the nicest man we know.

It’s a three-hour plane ride home, and I pass the time decompressing by listening to music and filling out crossword puzzles.

Yep, I’m a big old geek, but only those close to me—like the two big guys sitting next to me and my older brother who also plays professional football—know the full extent.

My brother Darren, who plays for Seattle—our only real competition this season—fostered my love for strategy games when I was a kid.

I frequent our local game shop to play DnD and other multiplayer games with a couple of groups when I’m in town.

While most of my teammates get together on XBox and play PvP and other first-person shooter games, I’m logging onto WoW in my limited free time as a level 60 paladin, a level 55 Druid, or a level 65 shaman.

I’ve been playing since I was a kid, and although I don’t have the time right now, I’m a pretty damn good DM. My basement is a testament to my geekdom, to include a custom-made gaming table and a collection of hand-painted miniatures.

Yes, I painted most of them.

As the plane touches down in Spring City and cell phones beep with incoming messages, Declan leans across me and smacks Aggie on the forearm. “You guys want to go out tonight?”

I raise my brow in Aggie’s direction, but he shakes his head. “Nah. I’m going to lie low, just in case.”

He’s always worried he’s going to run into Ellen somewhere out on the town and she’s going to cause a major scene. I don’t blame him one bit for being worried. The woman is crazy.

Declan sighs. “What about you?”

Locking eyes with Aggie, I shrug. “You want to chill out tonight and watch a movie, or do you need some time alone?”

Aggie shakes his head again. “You guys should go out and have a good time. I’ll be fine at home.”

I don’t know why, but I can’t stop myself from glancing a couple of rows back at the Rex. I wonder what he’s doing tonight. Probably going to Diamonds and Pearls Cabaret, which I know for a fact is Jepson’s stomping ground.

I smile at Declan. “What club are we going to?”

Spring City has an interesting vibe. Just under three-quarters of a million people large, it’s a small town that grew quickly, but it’ll never be as large as its big brother Denver.

Most people don’t realize that we have a bit of everything from evangelical churches to tech companies, military installations to professional sports teams. The ski slopes are two hours away, hot springs are one hour away, a decent size lake is forty-five minutes away, and one of the largest international airports in the country is ninety minutes away, and yet anyone who doesn’t live here treats us like we’re still the same small town we were fifty years ago.

They’d never believe we have our very own underground kink club.

“We could go to the Pleasure House,” Declan offers, as if he’s reading my mind.

Personally, I’m not into kink—not that I know of—but the club is new, and I’ve been dying to check it out and Declan knows this.

Plus, we could never take Aggie there. The poor man would catch the vapors seeing some submissive tied up and flogged for an audience. He might Hulk-smash and try to rescue the damsel.

“The dungeon isn’t open on Sundays, so we’d only be checking out the top floor, the main club access.”

Damn . I shrug. “Probably for the best.”

Declan chuckles because he knows me so well. “I bet we can get a private tour of the facilities if the owner is there.”

“That’d be cool.”

The plane rolls to a stop. We all grab our shit and wait to deplane. Declan slaps me on the shoulder as we make our way down the aisle. “I’ll pick you up at nine.”

“Sounds good.”

Declan pulls into my driveway just before nine. “Where’s Aggie?” He tilts his head to my missing limited edition Bronco, the one Aggie’s been driving, considering Ellen somehow confiscated the keys to both of their cars.

“Ellen called, emailed, texted and WhatsApp’d to ask him to come over and pick up his suits and other clothes. It was too tempting an offer for him to ignore.”

“Shit, we should probably go as backup.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

As Declan and I debate our plans, Aggie pulls into the garage looking like a drowned beaver. “Jesus Christ, what happened to you?”

He shakes his head. “She tried to seduce me and when I refused, she set all my clothes on fire in the driveway.”

I suck in my breath. “You can’t go over there anymore, man. That chick is unstable.”

“Yeah, I know,” Aggie sighs and looks at the Bronco. “Your car smells like smoke right now, but I’ll detail it in the morning.”

I slap my hand on top of his shoulder and squeeze. “It’s okay.”

Aggie looks from me to Declan and back to me. “I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”

As we watch Aggie—all formidable three hundred pounds of him—walk into my house as a completely defeated shell of a man, Declan and I make a silent decision. We follow our best friend into the house, kick off our shoes, and raid my fridge for snacks.

“What are you doing?” Aggie asks.

“We’re chilling at home tonight, man. I’m thinking we will continue bingeing the Dawn of the Dead franchise, maybe gorge ourselves on pizza, and relax after a long day.”

Declan nods his head. “Sounds good to me.”

Aggie purses his lips as if he’s going to argue, but then shakes his head slowly and slaps the wall. “You guys are good friends. Thanks.”

I call the pizza place and put in our order while Declan makes the three of us a round of drinks. My thoughts drift back to Rex, and I wonder what the suicide squad—dammit, Declan, now I have that stuck in my head—is up to tonight.

I cannot start crushing on one of my teammates and yet, I have no one else filling my head.

Shit, this could get complicated quickly if I don’t rein it in. At least Aggie has enough drama to keep me occupied for now.

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