Love, Ally by Hannah Gray

twenty-five

Cole

“Run it again,” I yell to my teammates, who all groan in obvious aggravation.

“Dude, I think we’ve got it down. We have run the same play ten fucking times now,” Dex calls to me, wiping sweat from his brow.

Turning toward him, I march up into his space, holding my finger up. “What the fuck did you say to me?”

He grits his teeth, and his nostrils flare. “I said, I think we fucking got it, Storm.”

“Oh, do you now?” I laugh. “Well, guess what. Coach left me in charge today, not you. Which means we can run it ten more fucking times if that’s what I say we need to do,” I growl like a fucking animal.

Looking around at my team, I hold my arms out. “Any other pussies want to cry about the plays I want to run? Speak now.”

I’m being a dick. I know I’m being a dick. I’m in a shit mood today. As a matter of fact, I have been for the past nine fucking days.

Nine days. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve seen Ally.Why I let her back in so easy is my own fault. The crazy part is, I’d do it over and over again too. And I’d do it with a fucking smile. Which is absolutely pathetic. But she’s going through something, and all I want is to be able to help her.

The boys can call me whipped, the world can call me dumb, but I don’t give a fuck. When you love someone, you love them through the bad times, and you love them through the good. You don’t give up on them. Good or grit, if your dumbass loves them, you need to stand by their side. Even if it’s in the shadows. Watching like a fucking creeper.

I know about most of the lowest points in her life. If you ask me, the girl is doing good to even get out of bed in the morning. I’ll never give up on her. But this being apart, it wears on me. And apparently, it turns me into a dick for my teammates.

“Hey, man,” Knox whispers, gripping my shoulder. “You good?”

“I’m fine. Why?” I shrug him off.

“Well, uh, you’re being a tad overkill. Actually, you’re being a dick.” When I send a glare in his direction, he holds his hands up. “And I can tell you that because we’re best friends.”

“Sorry, buddy.” Weston appears at my other side. “I respect the hell out of you, and you know that. But I have to agree with Knox on this one. These guys are busting their asses out here. We’ve run that play flawlessly all ten times. What’s going on with you?”

“I’m fucking fine. This next game isn’t going to be easy. We need to be prepared.”

Weston eyes me over before his mouth opens to speak. “And we are prepared, brother. If you want to run it ten more times, we’ll do it. But only if you think we need to.” He drops his voice lower, so only I can hear him. “And not just because you’re in pain.”

“I’m not in pain. I’m fucking fine,” I snarl at him.

Leaning into me, he pats my shoulder. “I know a man in pain, trust me. Just because I don’t talk about anything of substance doesn’t mean I haven’t felt some of the same shit you have. Man to man though, punishing your teammates isn’t going to help.”

I look around at my teammates and at Coach, who’s eyeing me on the sidelines, no doubt about to step in and take this practice from me. I’m sure this was a test, and I likely failed. He wanted to see how I’d lead my team solo during practice, and I ran them damn near into the ground.

Jerking my chin at my team, I wave them over. “Everyone, huddle up.”

They make their way over and form a circle around me, their body language far different than usual, and I can tell I fucked up.

Looking around at their faces, I pull my helmet off. “I’m sorry, boys. I know practice sucked ass. I know I was hard on you all. I can be intense when it comes to this game.”

I get a few snickers and a few grumbles.

I roll my eyes. “All right, you win. I was a complete dick.”

“That’s more like it,” mutters Dex.

“Yeah, yeah.” I look down at the grass and back up at the eyes on me. “The game this weekend, against Texas”—I shake my head—“I won’t lie; we have our work cut out for us. So far this season, a lot of the wins have come easy. This team won’t be like that. I promise you,” I tell them the truth.

This team was my dream school. They have a quarterback who’s a junior this year. One of the best I’ve seen. He’s part of why I didn’t go to Texas. I knew I wouldn’t get any playing time. Of course, there were other reasons. But that did play a small part in my decision.

“Anyway, get your ugly asses on out of here,” I joke. “See you tomorrow, bright and early.”

I’ve got to get my shit together for the game in a few days. Coach chose me to be his starting quarterback, and I can’t let him down. Not after he trusted me to do this job and I promised him I could handle it.

I told him I’d help him lead this team to a championship, and that’s what I’m going to do.

I just need to figure out how to get my mind off of Ally.