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“It’s nothing,” he says. “Just a minor disagreement.”
Hank turns to Ryder. “Well?”
Ryder pauses for a moment and nods. “Yeah. It’s nothing. Like he said.”
Hank’s eyes dart from Ryder to Carter then back again. “Fine. Then get out of here. And let’s not have any more of these disagreements. Sort your shit out and get over it. Now, go.”
Carter cuts a last glance at me before he and Ryder scurry out of the room, leaving me alone with the walking mountain of a man. Hank reaches down and, with his enormous hands, lifts me to my feet more gently than I ever would have believed a man his size could.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice soft.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Thank you, Hank.”
“No sweat. Just… I’d stay away from those two if you can. Too much testosterone, not enough common sense.”
I nod. “Probably good advice. Thank you.”
He offers me a smile and walks out of the room. My legs shake so hard, they nearly dump me onto the floor again, but I manage to keep my feet. I walk over to a chair and drop heavily into it, burying my face in my hands as I breathe deeply, taking a few minutes to gather myself.
Eventually, my pulse begins to slow, and my stomach stops churning so wildly. My insides are awash in emotion, raw fear among them. I don’t know how far Ryder would have gone had Carter not stepped in. Thank God he did. Thank God he saved me from that monster… again.
Thinking of Carter sends a flutter through my heart and makes me flush warmly again. Seeing him handle Ryder so easily and put that arrogant little shit in his place the way he did makes me want to laugh. I’m as surprised as Ryder that Carter put him down like that.
It just proves to me yet again that there is more to Carter Cole than meets the eye. Much, much more.
10
CARTER
The tension between Ryder and me has carried over from the training room out onto the field.
He’s spent the entire session silently glowering at me. He’s pouting and pissy. It’s more than obvious he didn’t expect that I’d be able to handle him so easily. He’s a big, strong guy, but he thinks his brawn gives him an advantage. More than a decade of martial arts training taught me to use that against him. It’s tough to keep from smiling at him just to remind him that I got the better of him and we both know it.
Originally, I started taking martial arts classes to work on my balance and coordination. Fighting was the last thing on my mind when I started those classes. My thought was that if I could improve my balance and be lighter and more coordinated on my feet, it would help me escape sacks and lessen my chances of injury. Learning how to fall and keeping your head from slamming into the turf can reduce the chance of concussions, which can have short and long-term consequences. But those lessons sure came in handy for something else today.
Ryder takes a snap, drops back five steps, and fires a pass across the middle. It's offline and sails well wide of the receiver, and I stifle the laugh that bubbles up in my throat. In a game that likely would have been picked off, it's not hard to see that he's rattled. That his emotions over what happened in the training room are spilling over onto the field. That's yet another reason he's not ready to be a starter in this league. Using those emotions to fuel your play is a good thing. But Ryder's emotions are eating away at him and negatively affecting his play.
I stand back and watch Ryder overthrowing, underthrowing, and throwing wide of his targets and keep myself in check. His showing during this session has been poor. He’s barking at his receivers, not taking any of the blame for missed connections, and there’s no way Coach B isn’t seeing it. Maybe, just maybe, this will give me an edge in the competition to be the starter. But that means I’m going to have to perform when I get my shot this session. I need to be able to show the stark contrast between me and Ryder. Which means, I need to get my head on straight.
I do my best to push my thoughts of the confrontation with Ryder out of my head. As I do, images of being with Cami in the car the day before fill the void in my mind. A small smile flickers across my lips when I remember the feeling of being deep inside of her.
My skin tingles, my every nerve ending feeling like they’re on fire as I recall the feeling of her hand on my cock, of sinking deep into her, and then erupting inside her tight walls. I shudder as I recall the way she milked every drop of my come out of me with her inner muscles and the look on her face as she did it. For being a virgin, Cami knows how to use her body.
I’ve been doing my best to figure out the emotions she stirred up in me but still can’t get a handle on them. I’m not a relationship guy. Never have been. I’ve been so focused on my goals and my career that I honestly have never had time for them. But the more I get to know Cami, the deeper our connection grows, the more I feel for her. I find myself thinking about her when we’re not together. Find myself wanting to be with her again. She makes me feel more alive than I’ve felt in a really long time. And it’s only because she makes me feel this way that I even noticed the absence of that fire in the first place.
What’s got me so twisted up is that I want to be with her for more than just sex. This isn’t just a physical thing. I enjoy being in her presence. I enjoy talking to her. She’s easy to talk to, and she makes me laugh. I can’t say that I’ve ever really felt so comfortable or at ease with somebody before. Back in the day, when I was Ryder’s age, I was all about the party and having a good time, but as I’ve gotten older, the more I enjoy the quiet. I don’t go out often and have found I’m not as into hanging out with fake people who glom onto celebrities and athletes as I used to be. But I enjoy hanging out with Cami. A lot.
“Cole, pull your head out of your ass! You’re up!”
Coach B’s bellowing voice pulls me out of my head and snaps me back to the moment. Everybody stares at me, most of them laughing. All except for Ryder who stands off to the side with a sour look on his face.
“Sorry,” I say with a grin.
I take my place under center, and as I do, Cami’s face floats through my mind. Rather than a distraction, I feel a sense of peace and calm descend over me. I hear her words echoing through my head. Hear the sincerity in her voice as she expresses her unfettered belief in me. Between that and the memory of yesterday flashing through my head, a torrent of adrenaline shoots through my veins.
“And go!”
I take the snap from the center and drop back three steps, quickly firing over the middle and hitting my receiver in stride. I steal a glance at Ryder, whose glower only deepens, and wink at him. And so it goes for the next forty-five minutes of the session. My footwork is on point, my release quick, and my passes crisp and accurate. It’s the best session I’ve had since I first stepped onto the field here. Coach B notices. And I know Ryder does too.
