19. Preseason Begins

CHAPTER 19

PRESEASON BEGINS

Other than texts and a brief wave at Drew before or after practice, Lee didn't have time for social gatherings the rest of the week. They had their first preseason game on Sunday, away in Atlanta. East Coast, but too far from Jersey for his mom and aunt to attend.

It felt surreal. Sure, he'd taken a few plane trips to other universities with Rutgers, but business class took a backseat to a private catered airline painted with their team colors and logo. Every seat was first-class luxury. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off, half the team was standing and moving around the cabin. The airline attendants stood ready to answer any calls for drinks or snacks, but otherwise stayed out of the way.

Lee hooked up to the plane's Wi-Fi and snapped a couple of pics of the plane, the team, and a selfie of himself all dressed up. He sent them to his family, Drew, and Mac. He was undecided about the fact that Drew wasn't with them, but the time away would have added too many hours to his internship, plus something to do with school insurance.

Drew sent:

**wolf whistle**

Mac added:

What he said.

"No sexting with your boy on the plane, Lee," Yowie teased from across the aisle.

"Boys, and they like suit porn," Lee sassed back. "Unlike you, with your glowing white sweatsuit with gold trim and ten pounds of bling. Do the ladies like that?"

Yowie and Jakes, sitting beside him in a black and gold-accented tracksuit, ran their hands slowly over their matching braids, then peered at him and said simultaneously, "Yes."

"Wait." Anders stood up from his seat behind Lee, looking down at him. "Did you just say boys… as in plural… two boyfriends?"

Lee rolled his eyes. "Two friends who happen to be men. I—we—don't have time for romance."

Anders shrugged, folding his arms on the seatback and leaning casually. "We all know Drew. Who's the other? You got a picture."

Nodding, Lee clicked on their media attachments, where earlier Drew had sent a ridiculous picture of Mac lounging in a grocery cart, his long legs dangling over the side. He stared at the silly pic, at Mac pulling down his sunglasses, lips pursed in a kiss.

"Cute." Anders said before getting crowded out of the way by Jakes and Yowie.

"Two hotties, you lucky dog," Yowie crowed. "Bow-chicka-wow-wow."

"Fuck off, Yowz." Lee flashed him the middle finger.

"Sit down, sit down," Addy said, pushing through. "I wanna see. Oh, nice. Cute. Tell me all about him."

Lee shook his head, laughing at the idiocy of his teammates. These were smart people. Nearly every one of them had a college degree, yet talking about boyfriends or girlfriends reduced them to horny teenagers. But the laughter had done the trick. Any lingering nervousness he'd felt getting on the plane had disappeared. Sure, it would return once they landed, but Lee was glad for the reprieve.

With the shorter flight of three hours, it being the first preseason game and a nighttime game to boot, GM Fitz and Coach Oliviera opted to do a same-day travel and play. It required Lee to be up and out early, but they'd landed by noon, hit the training facility for lunch and a brief tour, then geared up for a light practice and medical check, all before the 8:15 kickoff.

"Defense! Bring it in," Yowie shouted above the drone of voices in the locker room. Lee met his line of veterans, rookies, and undrafted players in a corner. They huddled around Coach Mike.

"Not gonna lie, guys. There's a full crowd tonight. Atlanta has a solid team, but you know that. We've watched plenty of video. I'll be rotating the rookies and undrafted in after the first quarter, but nobody better slack off." He looked around their circle, meeting everyone's gaze. "Coach O has no problem telling me to bench somebody for not pulling their weight. Those of you with double duty for special teams should expect to play on and off for the entire game. Coach J wants to narrow down who's playing."

"You heard Coach," Yowie tacked on at the end. "Let's bring our A game and knock these guys down a peg. Hands up."

Lee stuck his left arm into the teepee, protecting his best asset—his right arm—from getting jostled. "Hoo-rah!"

Around the room, other groups cheered, and before Lee could think, he was grabbing his helmet and filing down the tunnel toward the field. The stadium was slightly larger than ATEX, but not by much.

Bright lights and loud music blasted his senses as they double-timed it to the visitor's sideline. Jakes and Anders stuck close to him and Lee was grateful for the support, even though he knew they were probably feeling as overwhelmed as he was. And this was fucking preseason!

"Go run off some of your energy," Yowie suggested.

"Let's do it," Lee said to his friends, and they took off running for the end zone, away from where the home team was warming up. They stopped on the goal line, staring at the line of media, then spinning in a slow circle to take in all the fans. The seats were only half-filled, but Lee suspected that with kickoff only fifteen minutes away, nearly every single one would have a body in it.

"Go Troopers!" someone yelled from the stand. They turned and waved at the family wearing replicas of their bright yellow jerseys, then headed back in a slow jog to where Yowie was standing talking to Coach Mike.

"Matty, you're in with special teams, and then I want you to rotate offensive plays with Anders."

"Got it, Coach." Lee fist-bumped Anders before they took their spot on the sideline for the National Anthem.

Lee was all nerves for the first four and out, not actively engaged in any of the plays which all seemed to go to his side of the field when Anders was on. That changed on the second punt when he raced downfield and made a solid tackle on Atlanta's receiver, keeping him to only a five-yard gain after a deep kick by Garrett.

Pinned at their fifteen-yard line, Lee bounced on his toes on the sideline as Anders went in for Atlanta's first play, a run that only netted them one yard. As they changed up, getting a hand-slap by Anders as they passed, Lee could practically read "pass-play" for the second down.

He lined up against their best wide receiver, who… looked a little winded after having gone long for nothing on the previous play. The guy kept looking at the QB, too…

Mine. Lee repeated the word again and again; even started muttering it in time to the quarterback's call.

"Hike."

Lee backpedaled a few steps, then ran alongside the receiver, his head on a swivel, watching both the player he was covering and the QB. The moment the ball was launched, Lee knew it would fall short of the receiver, but not for him. Spinning on the ball of his foot, he rotated and dashed forward, making a diving catch on the sideline. Two feet down and then out into the cheering arms of his teammates.

His head, shoulders, back, and ass were thumped amid shouts of congratulations and Hoo-rah s. Coach Mike finally pushed through as the offense took the field. "Well done, Matty. You want the ball?" Lee nodded. "Give it to Eddy. He'll bag it for you."

"Okay. Thanks, Coach."

Coach Mike laughed as he shook his head. "Nah. Thank you. Look at that grin on Coach Oliviera's face. You did that."

Hell, yeah . Coach O's pearly whites glowed against the deep black of his skin. If Lee hadn't already felt ten feet tall, seeing Coach happy lifted him higher. His cheeks hurt with how big his own smile was.

Yowie dragged him to the bench, taking the ball and handing it off to their equipment manager. When Yowie tapped Lee's helmet, he popped his top, raked his palm over his head, and took a deep breath.

"You all right?" Yowie fell onto the bench beside him.

Lee glanced over at Yowie, then at the field, watching as Addy threw a pass to veteran Logan Foster—AKA Gunner—that moved the chains. "Yeah, just… I don't know."

"Adrenaline, man. It's a crazy thing."

"Yeah." Lee chuckled. Addy and the offense worked their way toward the goal line. Inside the red zone, Yowie and Lee joined the rest of the team along the sideline, adding their cheers to the others.

Addy dropped back, looked right, left, right again, stepped, and threw. Touchdown! Holy shit. Lee had a conversion that resulted in a TD. Yowie threw his arm around Lee and side-hugged him, shouting nonsense in his ear.

"You ready to do it again?" Yowie asked as they drifted back to the bench after the kick sailed through the uprights, giving them a 7-0 lead.

"Yeah." And Lee was. He snapped his helmet in place, tucked his mouthguard between his teeth, and jogged onto the field with the special teams unit for the kickoff.