At six in the morning, it was already so hot and humid, I was sweating. We hadn’t had a rainstorm in a while, and the earth needed it, gasping for relief.

We stood on the field. It was early, and I could think of a few places I wanted to be right now, one being my bed. But I was on the field, ready to train because football was my dream, and if I wanted to be a first-string for the Florida Sharks, I had to make sacrifices. I would do anything to get where I belonged.

Coach Daniel called us together, and we huddled around him. He had coach Rudi, the first-string coach, with him. It was the reason we were here so early. After a pep talk with us, Coach Rudi would return to training his own team for practice. Coach Daniel folded his arms over his chest, making eye contact with each of us.

“We need to work on a few things to get you boys in shape. We can’t replace the Sharks with any of you when they need you if you’re not on form, and I noticed a few of you lagging a little during our practice yesterday.”

Coach Rudi nodded. I respected the hell out of the man. He was a great coach, one of the few who had been assigned to a football team for as long as he had. He seemed laid back in his sweats and T-shirt. He could be a soccer dad for all the general public knew, but he was a gold mine of experience and information. I knew the team played the game, but the coach was as responsible as the players were, and Coach Rudi took his role very seriously.

“That’s right,” Coach Rudi said. “We work hard and play hard, but if someone gets injured, they go down hard. We need to know that everyone single one of you has what it takes to fill the Sharks’ shoes once you step onto that field as a replacement.”

We all nodded. We weren’t playing games anymore. It was serious.

“I have a list of names here,” Coach Daniel took over from Coach Rudi, “and I want each of you to focus on the areas that need work. For most of you, it’s stamina. We need to bump that up. But Maddison, Cotswold, Whittaker, and Bruce, strength training. Harper and Lopes, agility and Blake,” he lowered his clipboard, “learn your left from your right.”

We all chuckled, and Will Blake shrugged his shoulders. Coach Daniel carried on, and I was happy when I realized my name hadn’t been called, that I didn’t have anything I particularly needed to work on. I had worked so damn hard the past couple of weeks, I would have been disappointed in myself if I hadn’t shown improvement.

“Coach Rudi video recorded training yesterday, including the game we played at the end. I want to show it to you so you can see yourself, so you know what you have to fix.” Coach Daniel looked at Coach Rudi to find out if he had anything to add. When Coach Rudi shook his head, we walked toward the training center.

We piled into a meeting room where a projector had been set up. Someone hit the lights, and the room plunged into darkness with the moving images appearing on the white wall.

We watched as Coach Rudi ran through everything he had recorded, pointing out where he noticed mistakes or great plays, criticizing and complimenting as we went along. He understood the value of positive feedback along with the criticism.

It was great seeing the men in action. Being on the field with the dirt and the sweat, with bodies colliding was a dream come true, but seeing us from the outside gave perspective. We understood who we were as a team this way, what we looked like when push came to shove. And we were spectacular. We needed work, but we were like animals in peak physical condition and ready to eat the opposition for lunch.

“Right,” Coach Daniel said, clapping his hands together when the recording was finished. “Coach Rudi is off. Divide into offense and defense. We need to talk strategy.”

“What do you think?” Ryan asked, coming to me before going to the defense group.

“I think this is great,” I said. “We’ll be moving on and up in no time.”

Ryan nodded. “Coach Rudi is awesome.”

We went to our respective groups, and we were called to silence. Coach Daniel stood with us while Assistant Coach Michael handled the defense team. Coach Daniel talked to us about game strategy, about our role in the game, about staying in formation and taking advantage of another team’s weakness.

The meeting wrapped quickly, and we were sent out to the field to start our practice runs. We ran drills, focused on agility and speed and stamina. I pushed as hard as I could. I wasn’t only pushing during the games when I could prove myself, but out here when I trained as well. I wanted to prove how hard I was working.

I loved playing on the offense. I had always been a go-getter, and to sit and wait for trouble to come to me wasn’t in my character. I wanted to get out there and charge and as the wide receiver, it was exactly what I did. When I got that ball, I gave it my all, and as the fastest member of the team, my all was a hell of a lot.

Was I arrogant? A little. But only because I knew I was good. Good enough to be a part of the first-stringers, to be a fully-fledged Florida Shark. It was only a matter of proving myself to them, and that would take time.

But I had time. All the time in the world.

Finally, our first session ended. I was drenched in sweat, and my muscles trembled slightly, exhausted. I joined up with Ryan. His cheeks were flushed, and he limped slightly.

“Knee to the thigh,” he said. “It will pass.”

We walked to the change rooms together to get out of our dirty gear and shower up. We had a three-hour lunch break, a time where we could recover before we headed to the gym and coach ran drills with us to build strength.

In a restaurant near the training center, a waitress brought us plates loaded with pasta with red meat sauce, grilled chicken, salad, and fruit. We could have gone to the cafeteria at the center, but sometimes, it was good to get out.

“She’s hot,” Ryan said when the waitress walked away.

I shrugged. “I guess,” I said.

Ryan frowned at me. “What’s up with you?” he asked. “Normally, you would be all over that. God knows I would.”

“I went on a date with Hailey,” I said, not answering Ryan’s question.

“And? Did you fuck her?”

It hadn’t been about that with Hailey, even though it usually was for me. But I didn’t say that to Ryan.

“Of course,” I said. “It was good too.”

Ryan high-fived me across the table. “That’s my boy,” he said, proudly.

I pulled up my shoulders. “I think I want to take her out again.”

“Are you in love?”

I laughed. “What? Why?”

“Because you never want to see them again. Or was the sex that good?”

Again, it wasn’t about that, but I wasn’t going to tell Ryan how I felt, that I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I had a reputation to protect—Ryan and I were always competing about who got the most ass.

“She is a great lay, but I do know I want to see her again.”

Ryan teased me, carrying on about how this never happened to me, and I zoned out, not really paying attention to his banter. The thing was, I didn’t know why I wanted to see Hailey again. Something about her drew me in a way I had never experienced before. The attraction alone made me want to pursue it, to find out who she was.

“She’s visiting, isn’t she?” Ryan asked.

I nodded. “She’s staying with Carly and Brad.”

“Where’s she from?”

I laughed. “You know what? I don’t know.” I hadn’t asked Hailey where she was from. Trivial questions had seemed pointless. Everything about her was deep and meaningful.

“So, you don’t know anything about the woman?” Ryan asked.

I shook my head. “Not little details like that.”

“That’s more like the Nick I know,” Ryan said, looking pleased again. “You had me worried there for a second.”

I laughed and let Ryan believe what he wanted to believe about my intentions with Hailey. If he thought she was just a quick fuck like all the others had been, let him believe it. I wasn’t about to tell him there was more to her, that I wanted more than I had already gotten. Until I figured out what I felt, I would keep it all to myself.

A murmur rippled through the restaurant, and Ryan and I both looked at what the fuss was about. Brad and Liam had walked into the restaurant, and everyone recognized them for the famous football players they were. God, to have that kind of reaction walking into the place had to be amazing.

Brad and Liam spotted us and walked toward our table.

“Can we join you guys?” Brad asked, and Ryan and I nodded, shifting over to make space. Liam and Brad sat down, and our waitress hurried over to serve the two famous players. When she took their order, she hung around for a little while, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling at me.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked. “Like my number, perhaps?”

The men around the table laughed, and she blushed. She was hitting on me in front of everyone. I should have been flattered, but I wasn’t in the mood for meaningless flirtation.

“Not for me, but Ryan here thinks you’re pretty damn hot,” I said.

Without skipping a beat, she turned her fluttering eyelashes to Ryan and scribbled down the number on a napkin for him.

“Call me,” she said before shimmying away.

“Well, that was weird,” Ryan said.

“You can’t think it’s weird. Women go after you,” I said, clapping him on the back.

He shook his head. “No, you turning down the woman was weird.”

Brad and Liam both laughed.

“I have to agree,” Liam said. “This is not how we know you.”

I shrugged. “I wanted to play wingman for Ryan. Nothing wrong with that.”

Brad and Liam glanced at each other.

“Are you sure it’s nothing to do with Hailey?”

I shook my head, but Ryan and Liam both laughed, commenting they didn’t believe me.

“Friday’s date had to be something, huh?” Brad said. “I heard from Carly she only came back on Saturday morning.”

Liam was still laughing, and Ryan waggled his eyebrows. I shook my head and looked out the window, irritated that they were putting me on the spot. But they were right. It was strange for me to push a woman away, to want to see someone again when I was always such a player. Well, who said I always had to do the same thing?

“Well, now that Ryan has her number, I want to know how he’s going to go about it.” I turned to Ryan. I was putting all the attention back on him, unwilling to talk about my unexpected feelings for Hailey. “I got you the number, so you’re going to have to play the game.”

“Watch me,” Ryan said, and we started talking about his reputation with women, laughing about the times he’d been rejected. I didn’t care what the conversation was about as long as the attention wasn’t on me anymore.