stared at him for a moment. “Lord knows, I want this championship. It’s been fifteen years since I led a team to a Super Bowl win. I want you to bring that home to me.” He pointed in Gideon’s face. “One time. Mess up once, and I’m pulling you. Got that?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Gideon smiled to assure his coach. “And sorry for interrupting you earlier. I’m passionate about playing. I can’t get this far only to be benched.”
“Understood. But know that if I know, the other guys know.” He patted Gideon. “Watch yourself.”
Gideon nodded. “Understood.” He grabbed his jersey from his assigned locker. He slipped it over his head but kept his cell phone. Win or lose, the first people he wanted to talk to after the game would be his family.
“Play hard, son.” Brick patted Gideon on his back.
Gideon grabbed his helmet and ran out of the locker room. He reached the rest of his team at the end of the hall. Through the double doors, he heard the full stadium of fans screaming. He listened to the stadium announcer.
“Introducing the Virginia Beach Wolves!”
The double doors opened. Fireworks shot off, white and blue sparklers erupting on either side of the doors. The screams and howls from the crowd blanketed the entire place until it sounded like late night in the middle of a rain forest. When Gideon looked into the stands, he saw a mixture of fans wearing the colors of his team and fans wearing the Sharks’ traditional blue and gold colors. In his mind, more fans wore his team’s colors.
The She-Wolves cheerleaders jumped around, waving their pompoms as the team rushed through the hallway.
“And the quarterback for the Wolves, Gideon Wells!” the announcer exclaimed.
Gideon ran from the hallway. Before he could join his team, one cheerleader jumped in front of him. He managed to catch her before he knocked her down.
“Whoa. Easy there.” Gideon set her back on her feet.
“Sorry, Gideon.” She wrapped her arms around his neck after the collision and didn’t act ready to release him.
Gideon gazed at her and recognized her as the cheerleader who had been running into him during practices and team events. Through the padding and his gloves, he couldn’t feel her body, despite her best efforts to wriggle herself against him.
Even if dating cheerleaders hadn’t been against the rules, Gideon wouldn’t have gone for this woman anyway. He had to pry her arms from around his neck before he could keep going.
He met up with the team on the sidelines.
Dennis leaned over to Gideon. “Pay up.” Then he released a big belly laugh.
“I knew she was crazy. Who does that before a Super Bowl?” Gideon shook his head.
Before the National Anthem could be sung, Dennis elbowed Gideon in his side. When Gideon looked at him, Dennis asked, “For real, are you good?’”
Gideon dropped his gaze to the ground before answering. “Yeah. Why?”
“The streets are talking, man.” Dennis shuffled in his spot before he spoke again. “You hurt?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Gideon gazed around to see if anyone could hear him. Nowadays, everyone had cameras and microphones everywhere.
“You want us to run the 300?”
Like the movie the name came from, Gideon and Dennis called the method to protect the quarterback 300 because they liked the strategy of funneling the opposing team toward the quarterback in smaller doses to handle them better.
Gideon shook his head. “Stick to my plays. Don’t deviate.”
“Whatever you say, man.” Dennis nodded. “As usual, you want to do things your way, right? Got it.”
Gideon ignored Dennis’s sly remark. Dennis had never had to be the glue to keep things from falling apart—families, friends, businesses. Gideon managed to hold everyone together. No one ever had to worry about him.
After the coin toss, the game started. Gideon got in a zone like he always did during a game. As long as he could see Dennis, he could get the ball to him. They worked like a machine.
As expected, the team looked out for Gideon, keeping the Sharks’ huge defensive line from crushing him. The Hawaiian team had brute force. They couldn’t account for the Wolves’ speed and Gideon’s tactical game play.
Before halftime, Gideon threw a pass to Dennis. He watched the ball barely spiraling in the air before his friend caught it and hauled ass down the field. Gideon didn’t expect to be hit from the side, sweeping his legs from under him as he crashed to the ground. The reserve of air he had in his lungs expelled from his body, leaving him limp and gasping.
Gideon heard a crack in his knee before crashing to the ground, but he could still move it. Good. That meant it couldn’t be broken. He brought his foot close to his body to prop up his aching joint.
He gripped a handful of grass as he lay on his back like a hapless turtle. Touching the blades of grass helped him slow down his breathing, to focus on the here and now. In his reclined position, he attempted to catch his breath as he gazed up at the sky starting to get a dusky-pink appearance. Even though no one stood around him, it felt like that 300-pound lineman sat on his chest.
Get up, Gid. Christ, stand up. Don’t let people worry about you. Get. The. Hell. Up.
Gideon sat up in time to peer up at the scoreboard. Dennis must have made the touchdown. His team led by six points, but he couldn’t get excited. Not yet. He had watched and participated in plenty of games that had been turned around after halftime.
As soon as Gideon stood, he knew his knee had taken far too much abuse from the hit. After the field goal had been made, he walked off the field without limping or wincing, a feat considering how bad the joint felt.
Dennis managed to catch up to him as they funneled their way back down the hall. “You good?”
Gideon kept his gaze straight. “Those are some big guys, huh?” He smiled before turning to his friend. “I need a quick ice pack and I’ll be good.”
“Are you sure? I mean, we can get—”
“Drop it.” Gideon didn’t mean to snap at his buddy, but a lot rode on this game. “I apologize, man. It’s the game.”
Dennis put his big hand on top of Gideon’s helmet. “Get out of your head and get into the game. Keep getting the ball to me and all will go great.”
Despite getting the team to the Super Bowl, he knew all too well that owners and coaches liked cutting players with too many injuries. He’d come too far to get dropped now.
During the halftime show, Gideon found a quiet corner of the locker room and put an ice pack on his knee. He sat back, closed his eyes, and envisioned winning this game with his team. Once they did that, he could go home.
Going to see his mother consumed his thoughts. If he could see her, he
