Butch shook his head. He’d watched her kick in the last few games and she was good. Good enough to play in the Warrior Sports Football League. He still wasn’t convinced she was as good as Mark, but she was doing the work and consistently making field goals. Couldn’t fault her for that. Too bad she was off limits, she was beautiful, she was funny, and she could kiss. Dating her would not be a hardship.
The room had emptied while he was thinking about Rocky, he’d better get a move on before Coach came looking for him.
He caught himself watching Rocky make some practice kicks. After that disastrous first game where they’d lost due to her missed field goal, she’d worked hard. Harder than he did.
He remembered when he’d first started out, how committed he’d been to practicing and getting better as a player. Somewhere along the way he’d lost that commitment and it had become a job. A job he loved, but a job instead of something he enjoyed. Returning his focus to the play they were running, he vowed to himself that he would try to find his love for the game again.
Standing on the sidewalk in front of the stadium, he looked up into the clear blue sky that mirrored his attitude. For a change, he’d focused on improving his game during practice instead of obsessing over the fact they had a girl for a kicker and it felt good to focus on the game he loved. Focusing on the game had given him some ideas he wanted to share with CoachAlbertson. Their defense was good, but it could be so much better.
The next day he walked in the player entrance at the stadium thirty minutes before he was supposed to report for the team meeting. He strolled down the hall toward Coach Albertson’s office, his mind on the ideas he had for changes they could make to improve their defense.
After a deep breath to settle his nerves, he knocked on the doorframe of Coach’s office. “Got a minute, Coach?”
Coach Albertson looked up and then checked his watch. “Butch? You’re here early,” he said as he motioned for Butch to come in and sit. “Is something wrong?” He folded his hands on his desk. “You usually slide in to the meeting at least five minutes late.”
He deserved that. Being on time hadn’t been a priority for too long. “I, uh, I had some ideas that I wanted to talk over with you.”
“I noticed you were more involved at practice yesterday.”
“Well, I made a deal with myself to try and find my love for football again. I’ve been coasting for a couple of years and I decided that needed to change.”
Coach rubbed his chin. “That’s good to hear.” He got up and grabbed a water from the mini fridge next to his credenza. “Want one?”
“Yeah, that’d be great.” His throat was dry with nervousness.
“So, what are these ideas?”
He pulled his notes out of his pocket and started explaining.
Twenty minutes later, Coach stood. “These are some good ideas. Let me talk to the defensive coordinator about them.”
“Thanks, Coach,” Butch said as he stood. Contributing to the team as a whole instead of only worrying about himself was new to him, but it felt good.
Rocky
There was hope for him yet. He’d finally defended her in front of his teammates. Sure, he’d agreed to not bad mouth her and to stop the hazing, but to have him actually sorta defend her. All he’d said was every kicker missed sometimes, she felt like it was a turning point. Not that it made them best buddies or anything.
She let her mind wander during warm-ups, did he kiss all the women like that? Her body flushed at the memory of losing herself in the kiss, as his lips and tongue had…
Gah! It was time for practice. She needed to focus.
She walked out of the stadium and watched as Butch stopped and stared up into the sky. Did he hear a plane or something? There wasn’t anything she could see, not even a cloud. Why was she worried about what he was doing?
Shaking her head, she went to her car and drove home listening to her favorite station on the radio.
The apartment was quiet, Kylie wouldn’t be home for another couple of hours. Great time for a yoga session. After a shower she got out her mat and put on some soothing background music. Going through her poses, she let her mind wander.
Practice had been good but it had felt, not strange, but different. Usually, she could feel Butch’s eyes on her as if he was just waiting for her to screw up, but she hadn’t felt that today. A couple of times she’d looked over to see him concentrating on what he was doing instead of her. She was thankful for it, maybe he was finally getting used to the idea of her being the Legends kicker.
Chapter Ten
Rocky
The wind blew snowflakes around her as she stood frozen in place. A piece of paper under her wiper flapped in the wind. Shit. Her stalker was back. It had been a couple of weeks since Butch had convinced her to report the notes to the police. She thought they’d stopped but now, here was another one.
Grabbing the pepper spray her father had insisted she carry, she slowly walked toward her car, her eyes scanning the almost empty parking lot. The parking lot lights flickered on, the low, dark clouds bringing dusk on early. Relaxing slightly when she didn’t see anything else amiss, she pocketed her pepper spray and plucked the paper from underneath the wiper.
‘You didn’t listen,’ was scrawled across the paper in the same handwriting as the other notes. Focused on the note, she didn’t see the person slink around her car and come up behind her.
