Page 77 of Only for Me

"Nigga fuck you." He laughed. "My reaction times are just fine and I've been protecting you for the past four years."

"Hayes…" I glanced down the hall to find Coach Williams standing halfway between his office and the corridor. "I need to see you after you're done with conditioning."

I nodded and he stepped back into his office and Ryland pushed off the wall. "Let me hit these weights though."

"Aight." We dapped and he went one way while I went the other. I made it to the throwing station and dropped my bag near the wall and brought one of the mobile racks with me. I positioned myself about ten yards back and started with the basics, making sure I kept my elbow up and drove through with my hips. Each pass spiraled with a perfect rotation so I moved back another five yards and repeated the throws.

My release point felt good and the rotation was tight so I moved on to my next set with my elbow up before I stepped into the throw, making sure to follow through across my body.

I smirked when each one launched with a perfect spiral. For the next twenty minutes I kept up the same rhythm in one spot then eventually added some footwork. I worked through twenty-five passes, keeping my release point consistent, which was pretty much muscle memory for me.

My last set was three-quarter. With my elbow just below my shoulder and my arm bent at a forty-five degree angle, I positioned my stance to throw the ball with a small tilt of my torso. The ball cut through the air with another perfect spiral but with a lower release point. After working through two more cycles, I started from the top and did ten back to back of each set before I wrapped up. My arms and shoulder ached and my shirt was drenched, but the familiarity of having the ball in hand grounded me.

I wrapped up my session, hit the showers, dressed in a black and gray Sharks wind suit, and headed to see Coach so I could get this over with and head out. I had a feeling if I was late Vanessa would hit my pockets for an inconvenience fee.She loved making shit up when it came to me not valuing her time, but I always made sure she was generously compensated, because regardless of what she thought, I fucked with her heavy and I did value her time.

Coach was in the hallway when I rounded the corner on my way to him. He had a phone to his ear and held up one finger, asking me to give him a minute. Once he finished the call, he dropped the phone in his pocket and gave me his attention.

"Walk with me. These idiots don't understand what basic formations are. I'm about to go meet with the offense coaches," he mumbled, taking off. I fell in step with him.

"Gotta love rookies."

"No I don't." He cut his eyes at me. "How are things? You seem locked in with training."

Williams took over as Head Coach the year before I was drafted. He witnessed my entire career and had seen me through a lot of personal shit. There were only a handful of people who could read me and he was in that small group.

"Figured you'd be happy about that since they're offering me sixty to stay for another four years."

He snorted. "What I would like is a salary cap so I can get some quality wide receivers but you're eating up all the money."

I chuckled, not even offended. He was talking shit but partly meant that. He also understood that I was well worth the money and I personally knew he went to bat for me to make sure my offer was solid.

"I haven't signed it yet. There's still time for me to change my mind."

He grunted something under his breath. "Your conditioning numbers are decent but not your best. How about you earn that damn money?" He paused and glanced at me. "You good? You just came out the other end of the roughest time of year for you."

Losing my brother…

"I'm good, Coach. Locked in."

"We're counting on your leadership out there, Omiri. I need you to lead us to another championship so I can retire."

I barked a laugh. "The fuck you mean retire? They're going to have to drag you up out of here."

He cracked a smile. "Not if I can't get one of these rookies trained to catch the ball."

"They came out of the SEC with good numbers, that should be enough."

He frowned at me. "This is a different level of play, but you know that." He frowned harder. "I needthemto know that."

"You'll get ’em right."

He grunted again. "The new concepts I'm implementing are designed around you, Hayes. I need a full commitment from you because I already have my hands full with these idiots."

"You got that, Coach. You already know."

He nodded. "That means more than just a physical presence. You'll have to have your head right and be fully engaged. No distractions. Can you give me that?"

Makari and Avi were the first thing that came to mind. I was going to have to work through balancing my time but also didn't believe Makari would be a problem. I just didn't want to miss shit with my baby girl. Unfortunately there wasn't going to be much I could do about that.