Chapter 9

He didn’t wake up right away; it took quite a long time. It felt like pushing up through an endless ceiling of water—heading toward that tapestry of light above. Slow and agonizing.

Then he heard the pounding noise again.

David came fully awake. He looked over at Crystal; she was sound asleep. The pounding happened again. Someone was at the door of the suite.

He pulled on a pair of boxers and went out to see what was going on. He’d almost reached the door when Chloe came out of her room.

“I’ve got it,” he assured her.

He looked out the peephole and saw Emily and Rachel, so he opened the door. They both shivered like wet dogs locked outside on a stormy night. The two of them surged toward him and wrapped him up in bear hugs.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” David said as he fell into dad mode.

When he got them inside the suite, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a ghost in our room,” Emily said shakily.

Rachel simply nodded.

Chloe snorted her amusement and went back to bed.

He wanted to laugh, too, but stopped himself because it was apparent they were both scared. Reports of The Driskill being haunted had gotten into their heads. He’d learned in his critical thinking class that if someone believed something, such as the existence of ghosts, they tended to rationalize events to support their belief. That meant that, at this moment, it was a waste of time to try to explain to them that it was probably something other than a ghost.

“It’s three in the morning, and we all need to get some sleep. Why don’t you come to my room, where there’s an extra bed? If there are any ghosts, I’ll chase them away,” David said.

When they entered his and Crystal’s room, they found she’d awakened.

“They have a ghost in their room,” David explained. “I told them they could sleep with us tonight.”

Crystal rolled her eyes, then buried her face in her pillow while David got the girls settled. He crawled into bed and realized that even when they went off to college, girls needed a dad to protect them from the monsters under the bed—or, in this case, ghosts.

“You little hussy,” Crystal said.

David was confused because Crystal was on the wrong side of the bed. His arm was wrapped around her, and her butt was pressed firmly against ... Then his mind caught up. Crystal’s voice came from behind him!

David’s eyes snapped open. Emily must have joined them sometime during the night. David tried to jerk his arm back, but she’d trapped it in her armpit. She giggled as David finally got himself free.

Crystal glared at the two of them, so David gave her his best innocent look, which he felt he nailed. It might have worked if his morning wood hadn’t made his boxers look like he was smuggling a beer bottle out of a convenience store.

He got out of bed with as much dignity as he could muster and went to take a shower. He’d stuck his head under the water when Crystal joined him.

“You fell for ghosts?” she asked, stepping in front of him so she could get wet.

“They looked terrified, and I just wanted to go back to sleep,” David defended himself.

“And they both want you,” Crystal pointed out.

“It’s a good thing I want you,” David said, stepping into Crystal’s personal space.

She gave him an appraising look.

“And what do you plan to do about that?”

David had a few ideas and let Mr. Happy take charge of his decision-making.

Crystal wanted to have a word with Emily and Rachel alone, so David went downstairs for breakfast. He joined Chuy, Big Cat, Lars, and Jim.

“Why didn’t you come out and join the fun? After she did everyone else, Wren wanted to go a round with you,” Chuy said.

“You all slept with her?” David asked.

“It wasn’t actually sleeping,” Lars said.

“She has a hot bod,” Big Cat added.

“I told them about some of the stuff you instigated in high school. Remember that away game where the ref shit himself? The night before was classic,” Jim said.

David chuckled. That was the night he’d first gotten with Pam. It felt like a hundred years ago.

“I was torn, but Crystal and I haven’t talked about stuff like that yet.”

“Talked? What’s there to talk about? Some naked women were willing? It’s like the old saying: when pie is being passed around ... you eat pie,” Lars said.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Chuy said as he high-fived Lars.

“And the one I really wanted to be with snuck off to your room. Did you at least spend some quality time with Emily?” Lars asked.

“David will never tell, so don’t waste your breath,” Jim advised.

“Crystal told me I couldn’t get with Emily because she’s my little sister. I figure it’s like porn, and she’s my little stepsister,” Lars said.

Even David laughed at that.

“So, you can’t bang your sorority little sister?” Big Cat asked.

“Have you met Crystal? If she tells you something, you better listen. One word from her and our whole frat will get blackballed. Trust me, my brothers would strip me naked and feed me to the Tri-Delts if I did that,” Lars explained.

“Why is that so bad?” Big Cat asked.

“Because they would end up fucking me to death,” Lars said.

“Maybe we should visit them,” Chuy said.

“We’ll need plenty of condoms and more guys than just us,” Lars predicted.

David worried that Lars might be a bad influence, but what the hell? This was college.

Going into Darryl K. Royal Memorial Stadium was like walking into the big top at a circus. The Texas faithful were all decked out in their orange gear and in high spirits. They were expecting a capacity crowd for the nationally televised game. It had been hyped as two legendary programs going toe-to-toe in an early game to define national championship aspirations.

Texas got the ball first and ate up about three minutes on the clock before punting.

On USC’s first possession, Bill was lined up on the outside, and Matt hit him for a long gain to the Texas twenty-three-yard line.

Matt lined them up in an unusual formation. USC moved their three receivers wide of the left hashmark and put their tight end on that side, too. The whole right side of the formation was open. Texas countered by lining up man-to-man on USC’s receivers and putting their safety just inside the right hashmark to cover half the field.

Matt came to the line and looked the defense over.

“They’re going to score,” David said excitedly, hoping Matt saw what he did.

Mainly that the safety was sneaking up to support the run defense.

On the snap, John, their left tackle, let the Texas defensive end go, leaving Nolan, at tight end, to block him. That freed John up to lead the run. Matt handed off to Marcus, who followed John’s broad backside three yards up the field, where John found a linebacker to block. Marcus saw a crease between the remaining linebackers and burst into the secondary.

The three defensive backs were too far away to lend run support, and the safety had come up to the line, so there was no one nearby to tackle him. Marcus walked into the end zone untouched to give USC a 7–0 lead with ten minutes left in the first quarter.

David could see Matt’s confidence rise. If he kept it up, USC might have a chance in this game.

With a minute and a half to go in the first quarter, Texas managed a field goal to make the score 7–3.

USC had second down on the Texas forty-three-yard line when Matt dropped back to pass. Bill was well covered on the outside, but Matt threw one up long, and Bill outraced the defensive back to catch the ball at the two-yard line.

The Texas defense stiffened on first and second down. On the next play, Matt handed the ball off to Marcus, who ran it around the left end for the score to put USC up 14–3.

The Longhorns’ offense caught a break on the next possession when Todd totally whiffed on the tackle on a pass to the tight end. The big kid rumbled down the field for a forty-seven-yard score, making it 14–10, still in favor of the Trojans.

Later in the second quarter, after a Texas field goal, USC punted and pinned the Longhorns inside their ten-yard line. On third down, Texas decided to pass the ball. As Todd blitzed from his outside linebacker spot, Percy pushed the tackle into the backfield. Instead of dumping the ball, the Texas quarterback tried to run. Todd caught him in the end zone for a safety, giving USC a 16–13 lead.

Or so everyone thought. The referee reviewed the play and ruled the quarterback had gotten outside the end zone, so the score reverted to 14–13; USC retained a one-point lead.

The next time Texas got the ball, they drove the field and kicked another field goal to take a 16–14 lead into halftime.

“What do you think? Do we have a chance in the second half?” Lars asked David.

“If Matt continues to throw deep, we should win this.”

On the first possession of the second half, USC went three-and-out.

Texas moved the ball to midfield, where on first down, one of the linemen moved before the snap, making it first and fifteen from their forty-five-yard line. Expecting a pass, Percy and Todd came from the Texas quarterback’s backside. Just as he released the ball, Todd laid him out, causing the quarterback’s helmet to come off and roll fifteen yards.

“Todd’s gone,” Jim predicted.

Sure enough, they called it targeting, giving Texas a first down, and Todd would miss the rest of the game.

Two plays later, Texas went long down the center of the field for a touchdown pass. They were now up 23–14.

On the next drive, USC got within field-goal range. Coach Merritt sent Alex in to attempt a forty-nine-yard field goal. John missed his block, and the guy on the end of the line flew in and blocked the kick. Texas picked it up and ran it in for the score. Suddenly, USC was in real trouble, now down 30–14.

Matt looked rattled on the next drive. He threw three straight incompletions, forcing USC to punt.

Texas marched straight down the field to the three-yard line. Their quarterback kept the ball on a designed run and scored, making it 37–14 in favor of the Longhorns.

USC didn’t give up. Matt nearly killed USC’s slot receiver, Tyrell, when his pass led Tyrell right into a waiting linebacker in the next series. The kid leveled the Trojan receiver and caused the ball to pop straight up, but it somehow landed in Tyrell’s hands to prevent the turnover.

It was determined that their linebacker had led with his head, so it was targeting, and Texas was a man down.

Texas ended up getting the ball back and just ground it out to eat up the rest of the clock, giving them the 37–14 win.

It was troubling that USC’s defense was supposed to carry the team this year, and they looked terrible at times. It also didn’t help that Matt, who’d played well enough in the first half, looked awful in the second.

If the fans were grumbling about who should start, they’d be howling for Matt’s head this coming week.

“USC can hold its head high,” Jim quipped on the way to the airport. “So far, we’ve outscored our opponents 87–78.”