One more day until the big game. Coach wants to ride me hard, but he knows he can’t today. Even the toughest athletes need a day before competition to recuperate.

All week, he’s had me been doing the most insane drills, practicing footwork over and over, until there are blisters on my feet and there’s nothing in my head except footwork and plays.

People think football is simple. They think it’s just big guys running into each other. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It’s insanely complicated. Some people have compared it to chess, but in reality it’s even more complicated. Unlike in chess, in football, there are always layers of strategy, layers of movement and thought. For instance, Coach and the assistant coach handle the plays, with some input—it’s really like analyzing history, with strategic innovation thrown on top of it. But it’s not like he can just command a play and that’s it. He’s got to have us, his players, able to execute the plays. And no play ever goes fully as planned. We always have to innovate and invent on the field.

It’s as much of a mental game as it is a physical game. And there are many components to the mental aspect of it.

I’m tough though, I know that. Tough physically, but tougher mentally.

Today we’re supposed to be just resting and bonding with the team, hanging out together, but not drinking, at least not too much. Myself, I stay sober at least a week before the game, and that means not a drop of alcohol, as well as a clean diet. The all natural food, including plenty of protein, makes me function better.

Chloe’s supposed to be bringing her daughter into the city today, and they’re going to be straying with me at my somewhat empty suburban house, despite how boring it is.

“Dan!” shouts Coach, during our meeting to go over the plays. “You going to keep checking your phone all day or are you going to listen to me for once?”

“Sorry Coach,” I say, putting my phone away.

Chloe didn’t call yet. Only a couple more hours to go until she gets here. She did send a text message saying she’s on her way.

“Get your damn head in the game,” shouts Coach at me.

But it doesn’t matter. He’s always shouting at everyone.

My mind isn’t on the game though, even though it should be. Instead, it’s on Chloe. I just can’t get her body out of my head. I can’t get the way she looked on the computer screen out of my head as I stroked my cock to her. She made me come so hard, and so fast, even though I was trying to go slowly.

Of course, in person, I can last longer.

Finally, the lecture is over, and Coach shuts down the projector that’s been displaying plays on the wall. I already have them memorized by heart anyway.

My cock’s partially hard from thinking about Chloe and all the things I’m going to do to her, so I stay seated for a minute.

“What’s the word, Dan?” says Jim, one of my teammates, and probably the guy I’m closest to on the team. Although I’m not one for having close male friends. That’s just how I am. Sort of a lone wolf, I guess, by nature. It wasn’t always like that. Back in college, I had a ton of friends, and we’d party and all that. But something changed, especially after college, and I’ve been going the solo route… with just woman after woman, that is until I reconnected with Chloe, of course. “You there, Dan, man?”

“Yeah,” I grunt. “Same as always, I guess,” I say. “You ready for the game?”

“Don’t try to front with me,” says Jim. “Front” is a big Philly expression that we all use from time to time, meaning “don’t put on an act.” “You seem different, like you’re distracted or something.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I say.

“Well, it does matter,” says Jim. “If it’s going to be messing with your playing. Shit, man, this is one of the most important games of the season.”

“I know, I know,” I say.

“What is it, Dan?”

“A woman,” I say.

To my surprise, Jim starts laughing, a deep laugh that echoes all around us. The rest of the room is cleared out now. Even Coach has packed up his presentation gear and left to brood over plays in his office.

“You’re getting all hung up on some woman?” says Jim, barely able to speak from his laughter. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

“It’s not like that,” I say. “She’s someone special…”

“I bet she is, Dan,” says Jim, getting up and continuing to laugh as he walks out of the room. He’s actually holding his stomach because he’s laughing so hard. “Get this, guy,” he calls at some of the other players. “Dan’s all hung up about some chick…”

I hear their laughter and I frown to myself as I get up and head into the hallway, keeping my distance from them so that I don’t have to confront them.

I head home, and on the way I give Chloe a call.

“You close yet?” I say.

“We’re already here,” she says, her voice sounding nervous.

“You sound nervous,” I say.

“I’m OK,” she says. “I guess we just beat the traffic and I wasn’t expecting to get here so soon.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I should have left a key out or something for you. I just didn’t realize you’d be here so soon.”

“It’s OK,” says Chloe. “I’ll see you soon, OK? Scout’s really looking forward to meeting you.”

It sounds like she swallows hard as she says this and I wonder why. Maybe she’s just nervous about her daughter meeting a new boyfriend.

Then again, am I her new boyfriend? We haven’t talked about anything like that really, but in the back of my mind that’s now what I’ve been hoping for. Hell, I haven’t had a girlfriend, since… Who knows when. I don’t know if I’ve ever really had one. I’ve had women that were friends with benefits for as long as a month, but usually things just didn’t work out that way.

“Tell her I’m looking forward to meeting her,” I say. “I’ll see you both soon.”

I don’t want to keep them waiting for long, and I figure that Chloe’s daughter is probably hungry, so I put my foot to the gas and merge into traffic on the highway.

My phone rings and I pick it up without looking at it, thinking that it might be Chloe.

“You resting tonight?” says Coach’s gruff voice.

“Sure thing, Coach,” I say, not really paying much attention. After all, I’ve got to pay attention to the road.

“I heard some talk about you and some woman.”

“That’s my private business, Coach,” I say, a little bit of anger rising. After all, what’s it his business if I’m going out with Chloe.

“Just don’t want anything to distract you from the game tomorrow,” says Coach, a bit of a threat in his voice.

“Don’t worry yourself too much about it,” I say, knowing this is going to sound pretty insubordinate and not caring in the least bit. “I want you getting plenty of sleep before the big game.”

With that, I hang up the phone.

I laugh to myself. That’ll show him.

My phone rings again and I check it and it’s Coach. I can picture him red in the face over me hanging up.

I swipe right, answering the phone, but I don’t bother holding it up to my ear.

I can hear him screaming at me from where the phone is on the passenger’s seat.

Whatever. I hang up the phone. It rings again but I hit “ignore.”

That’ll show him. What’s he going to do, anyway? He knows he can’t run the team without me. Yeah, I know it sounds cocky, but I really am indispensable.

I pull into the driveway and see Chloe and her daughter sitting on the front stop.

My heart feels like it’s rising in my chest.

I jump out of the car in my workout clothes, probably smelly as hell, because I did run a few laps today even though we’re not supposed to be doing anything physical.

My phone beeps at me, and I look down. A text from Coach that reads, “At the very least, no sex tonight.”

I laugh that one off. He can’t run my life, no matter how much he tells us “no sex before a game,” I’m sure almost no one follows that rule. After all, football players in general get as much ass as they want.

“Hey there!” I yell out, waving at them.

Chloe gets to her feet, a smile on her face. Her daughter is about five years old, looking like she’s in kindergarten. She looks up at me briefly, then looks down at the ground. She looks nervous and holds her mother’s hand.

“Hey there,” I say to her. I give Chloe a kiss on the cheek and bend down on one knee to say hi to her daughter. “You must be Scout. Your mom’s told me a lot about you. I’m Dan. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” says Scout, finally looking up at me a little.

She’s a cute kid, especially when she smiles. She’s got her mother’s eyes and mother’s hair. There’s something very, very familiar about her. It’s almost like that feeling you get when you meet someone again that you haven’t seen for a long, long time and you don’t recognize them at first.

“It’s so nice of you to host us,” says Chloe, giving me a hug as I stand up. “Scout’s never been to Philadelphia before.”

“That so?” I say, winking at Scout, who looks down shyly at the ground again. “Well, we’re technically inside the city limits right now, although most people would call this the suburbs. But we can be sure to take you two girls into the city tonight to a nice restaurant, and maybe we can even see the Liberty Bell. Have you heard of that, Scout?”

Scout nods her head. “In school,” she says, her voice quiet and shy.

“Well I’m being a bad host already,” I say, trying to play the part of the good host. “I haven’t even let you in the house yet. Where are your bags?”

Chloe shows me where the bags are in the car and I haul them all in, unlocking the door and letting Chloe and Scout enter first.