Chapter 48

David
David woke to Ella running her fingernails over his chest. He could deal with a handsy, horny, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer woman. The problem was she acted like a sex kitten, and hell, this girl could act. Another problem was that Mr. Happy was a method actor and began to get stiff. What should have been a simple turn-her-down had caused him to go rogue.

Ella crooked a finger to indicate that he should kiss her. David groaned inside. It was time to act as if he was as dumb as a cinder block.

He looked over his shoulder as if she must have pointed to someone else. It couldn’t possibly be him, the guy Ella promised she wouldn’t make a move on if she could sleep in his bed. But there was no one behind him, so his clueless act wouldn’t work.

At some point, he’d learned that if he made a fool out of himself, it was best to just own it. So he persisted, acting like he didn’t understand what she was trying to communicate. Ella wasn’t giving up. She mimed reeling him in.

David flopped on the bed like a carp trying to wiggle back into the water. He managed to slide out of bed and winked at her.

“Someone wants me,” Ella pouted.

David looked down at Mr. Happy, trying to break free.

“Most times when I listen to him, it’s trouble. You deserve to be more than a notch on my bedpost,” David said to scare her off.

“Ever think you might be a notch on my lipstick case?” Ella shot back.

“Nice,” David said with a smirk as he realized Ella was a bad girl.

“What do you say, big boy?”

“I’m saying not today because I have to go meet with Coach Mason. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but if the stars align and we have some free time ... maybe once we get back to LA. Just don’t count on it.”

“What was yesterday about?”

David shrugged.

“I was caught off guard, Kylie and I are friends, and my brother told me it was okay to go for it. Like I said, the perfect storm.”

“Stars.”

“What?” David asked.

“You said the stars had to align.”

“Oh my, a hair-splitter. I’ll be careful what I say around you.”

“Take your shower. You missed your chance,” Ella said and got out of bed, leaving David shaking his head.

Frustration churned through him, and David rolled his neck because he knew if she got into his head, he’d end up doing something he regretted. Right now, he should focus on football. A shower was the best option.

“Today is going to be a great day of practice. Greatness is a decision. Make that choice today and have a good practice,” Coach Mason said before they got started.

“Time is precious to me. Everyone has the same amount of time each day; you only get to choose how you allocate yours, not how much you get. Eventually, you run out of time. I’m going to make sure I get a full day ... and I mean a full day,” David added.

“Practice like you play. No half measures. Be fast and finish,” Coach Mason encouraged and then told them the first play he wanted them to run.

“Why do we have to do that again? We finally figured it out yesterday. I want to learn something new,” Colt complained.

Before Coach Mason threw his clipboard at the boy, David intervened.

“We don’t practice until we get it right. We practice until we can’t get it wrong.”

“But...”

“Humor me. You’ve yet to show these clowns what you’re capable of,” David said, referring to the scouts and coaches in the stand. He turned to the other quarterbacks. “And I know you all can do much better. Today is about doing things you’re comfortable with so you can shine.”

“Knowing something and believing it are entirely different. Now run the damned play,” Coach Mason barked. “Plant that back foot and rip it.”

The play was a post pattern where Coach Mason would move the safety to force Colt to make the correct read. On this play, the safety was outside the hash marks, which dictated throwing into the middle of the field.

Colt threw the football in rhythm, making by far his best toss all camp. The ball was like a laser-guided missile that gave the defenders almost no time to react. It was the type of pass that had made Colt the top quarterback prospect in high school football.

David saw every coach in the stands lean forward. They’d all seen what had just happened.

“Good ball,” Coach Mason called out to give Colt some rare praise.

“You said you wanted to learn more. I think you could have done better,” David announced.

Bo Harrington laughed from the stands. He knew what a perfectionist David was and laughed because all the other coaches thought they’d just seen the textbook definition of a post route.

“Your receiver had to slow down slightly because you threw the ball to him. As you advance into higher levels of competition, that half step could be the difference between making a nice gain and scoring. What I want you to do is lead him. Make your receiver go get it, then all he has is green grass between him and the goal line. Throw to the green grass, and he’ll score every time,” David said to explain the nuances of throwing a long ball.

“You heard the man! Do it again!” Coach Mason barked.

That meant Coach Mason agreed with his assessment. With David’s coaching, Colt ran the play again. This time, he led his receiver a bit too much, and the guy couldn’t get to it. But on the subsequent attempt, Colt hit him in stride, and his receiver walked into the end zone.

“Okay, Phil, you saw what he did. Show us you can do better,” David challenged.

He watched as his brother confidently took Colt’s place. He had more swagger than David had seen to this point. Phil dropped back and threw a perfect ball. David had to admit that he’d rarely seen two quarterbacks look that good in back-to-back plays, even at USC.

If Phil were a few inches taller, he would be on every coach’s wish list based on that throw alone.

“Hell, yes!” David yelled as he bounced around in excitement. “Do it again, so you can show everyone it wasn’t a fluke.”

Phil did just that.

David had an indelible smile on his face at the end of the morning session. All four of his quarterbacks were showing vast improvement from the beginning of camp. Colt was the clear leader, but Phil had made an excellent showing. David had no doubt his offer list would explode come Monday.

The other two guys showed they had a significant upside.

“Did we get everything right today?” Coach Mason asked. “No. Do you know what we did? We had energy, and we got better. There’s the standard. Good luck.”

David did what was now his habit and had lunch with the four guys.

“To give you a heads-up, we’re done practicing. You’ll get a chance to talk to the press and scouting guys after lunch,” David said.

“What should we say?” Axel asked.

“David made me watch an old movie called Bull Durham. Was that in black and white?” Phil turned and asked. David flipped him off, to the amusement of their tablemates. “In it, the crusty old catcher teaches the rookie pitcher how to talk to reporters. It was a lot of old clichés, like ‘I’m just happy to help the team,’ or ‘I want to give it my best,’” Phil shared.

“Don’t forget to thank the Lord,” David added.

“My brother taught me to use tried-and-true phrases. That keeps you from saying something controversial that’ll either be used by your opponents to get motivated or...” Phil looked at David as he trailed off.

“You might say something now that’ll bite you in the ass when you finally make it. Even at your age, you have to be careful not to say something that might offend someone, or the cancel-culture mob will be on your ass.”

“I get it,” Colt said. “The quarterback that was supposed to go top five in last year’s draft dropped to the middle of the first round because of some homophobic text messages in high school. He claimed it was just guys busting on each other, but it offended a loud minority, and it ended up costing him a lot of money.”

“No college wants what they consider a problem child. Figure out a few phrases and stick to them, and you’ll be fine,” David suggested.

“Like what?” Max asked.

“For something like this, I might say, ‘I came to this camp to get better, and I feel I’ve improved. I can’t wait to get home and share what I learned with my teammates,’” David said.

“He’s all about the team,” Phil said.

“Hey. You can’t do it alone, so it never hurts to talk them up. Piss them off by being cocky and taking all the credit and see how bad you look the next game,” David said.

“Please. You never look bad,” Colt teased.

“That may be, but I would never tell them that. I like my left tackle blocking my backside instead of him allowing a defensive end a straight shot at blindsiding me.”