After The Fire (One Pass Away Book 3) (17 page)

“No.”

“Again, short and to the point.” Claire stood back,
surveying her handiwork. “It’s going to hurt, but you should be fine. Just don’t
let anymore big, bad men fall on you.”

With a little help, Gaige dressed, this time with a special
pad around his ribcage. Just before he left the locker room, Violet handed him
three painkillers and a bottle of water.

“When we win this game, I’m going to hold you to that
promise.”

Violet stood on her toes, her mouth taking his in a
lingering kiss. Her eyes said it all. The faith she had in him. And the love
that had started in the heart of a nineteen-year-old girl and finally bloomed
all these years later.

“So, you want to join us on the field?” Riley asked as they
watched Gaige run out of the tunnel.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll go back to my seat.”

Violet knew the second the crowd became aware of Gaige’s
return. The roar grew, rippling across the stadium. She swore the building
shook with their jubilation. She entered the elevator, and just as the doors
closed, she heard the chant begin—and Violet joined them.

“
Gaige. Gaige. Gaige
.”

“IT’S ABOUT TIME, slacker. While you were taking a nice little
break, we’ve been keeping the ball warm for you.”

“I appreciate it.” When Sean tossed him the football, Gaige
caught it with ease. “I see nothing has changed while I was gone.”

“Like I said, we were waiting for you.”

As if on cue, Baltimore turned the ball over on downs. Gaige
looked at the clock. One minute, forty-seven seconds. Well, shit. In football,
that could be an eternity. Or it could pass in the blink of an eye. He warmed
up his arm while the return team ran onto the field. As he tossed the ball to
his QB coach, Gaige watched the action play out.

The punt returner for the Knights caught the kick at the
fifteen-yard line. Go, Gaige urged him. Go!

“Good field position,” Coach Coleman told him. “You know
what to do, Gaige. This one is in your hands.”

“Don’t worry, Harry.” Gaige shook hands with his longtime
coach. “I won’t let you down.”

Gaige blocked everything from his mind but the task at hand.
He didn’t remind himself what was at stake. The goal was the same as every time
he stepped onto the field. Orchestrate a drive to the end zone. For most of his
life, he had excelled at doing just that.

One more time,
he told himself
. Make it count.

“I CAN’T LOOK,” Violet said, hiding her face in her hands.

“You’ll never forgive yourself if you miss this.” Her father
pulled her hands away. “Watch. It’s a moment that will never come again.”

Knowing he was right, Violet straightened, her eyes seeking
out Gaige.
You can do this,
she sent the thought to him. Just before he
stepped into the huddle, Gaige looked into the stands—at her. Violet swore she
could hear his answer. Short and to the point.
I know.

THE CLOCK TICKED away every precious second, showing them no
mercy. Logan burst through the defense, giving them a much-needed first down.
But they had no timeouts left. Twenty-five yards to the end zone, Gaige had no
choice but to throw the ball into the turf. It burned a down, but it also
stopped the clock.

There was no need to hurry his teammates into the huddle.
They knew the stakes.

“You know I hate clichés.” Gaige looked around the circle.
They were tired and worn down, but to a man, there wasn’t an ounce of quit. “But
I have to say it. The end zone is only one pass away. This one is for all the
marbles. Are you with me?”

“Hell, ya,” they yelled as one.

“Then let’s do it.”

Gaige gave them the play. His side was on fire, but he
blocked out the pain. He took the snap. The clock started ticking down the
final seconds. Baltimore tried to break through, but his line held. There wasn’t
a clear path to Sean. He had defenders on both sides of him, giving Gaige a
narrow window to deliver the ball.

There wasn’t time to think. Gaige cocked his arm, the laces
right where they were supposed to be, Gaige waited for a second longer until he
saw a sliver of daylight, then let the ball go.

As one, every person in the stadium watched as Gaige made
what would later be called one of the most amazing passes in Super Bowl
history. Threading the needle right into the hands of his favorite receiver.

The gun sounded. His teammates lifted Gaige onto their
shoulders, forgetting about his injury. It didn’t matter, he didn’t feel
anything but elation. They set him down in front of Harry Coleman. The grizzled
old coach had tears in his eyes and didn’t care who saw them.

“Thank you,” Harry said as they hugged.

“No, thank you, Harry.”

Gaige’s eagle eyes searched the crowd. It was chaos. If the
fans weren’t celebrating, they were pushing their way toward the exits. Finding
Violet in all that mayhem should have been impossible. It took him exactly ten
seconds. She was the lone still figure in a sea of movement.

From twenty rows up in the stands, Violet met his gaze. She
didn’t jump up and down. She didn’t flap her arms or blow him big, exuberant
kisses. She stood there, her light brown hair pulled back from her face—the
blue and gold Knights’ scarf wrapped around her neck—and smiled.

If he lived to be a hundred, Gaige knew he would remember
that moment for the rest of his life.

“Can we get a few words, Gaige?” A network reporter asked.

“I’ll be right there.”

He looked again, but Violet had disappeared. No doubt swept
away in a sea of excited bodies. It didn’t matter. He would find her. No matter
what. He would always find her.

FIVE YEARS LATER

IT WAS A sight Gaige never tired of seeing. His backyard filled
with friends and family. The number grew every year. Ex-teammates. Current
players. Sean and Riley. Logan and Claire. Their children. And his Violet.

Life after football had been an adventure. Gaige did what
interested him and said no to what didn’t. Speaking engagements. A little
broadcasting. He even made a movie. It was a small but pivotal role. The
reviews had been kind, and Gaige would consider doing it again if the part
interested him.

Violet’s transition to Seattle had been a smooth one. Her
reputation made it easy for her to consult at several of the local hospitals
while maintaining her private practice. They worked together on his foundation,
expanding its reach. His passion project had become hers and with her at his
side, they helped more and more people every year.

At the moment, the love of his life was chasing down a
three-year-old with the speed of a wide receiver and the shiftiness of a
running back. Violet insisted their son would be a doctor. And Gaige was fine
with that. Whatever made his boy happy was fine with him.

“We’ve gotten domesticated.” Sean handed Gaige a beer,
leaning against the deck railing. “Who would have thought it possible?”

“I knew I had it in me.” Gaige tapped his bottle against
Sean’s. “You were the wild card.”

“It took the right woman. At the right time. I’m retired. I
have two healthy, beautiful children. And my wife is the sexiest owner in the
NFL.”

“That isn’t saying much.” Riley swatted her husband on his
fine behind. “You can do better than that.”

Sean wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. “I
have the sexiest wife in the world.”

“Except for me,” Gaige winked at Riley.

“And me,” Logan joined them, his arm around Claire’s
shoulder.

“They are so competitive we could be here all night.” Violet
took Gaige’s outstretched hand. “Let’s call it a tie.”

“I’m good with that,” Logan nodded. He was the only one of
the three men still playing for the Knights. Two more years and he would
happily call it a career. But for now, he still loved the game. “Let’s get you
some food,” he patted Claire’s growing waistline.

Claire laughed. Following Logan, she said over her shoulder,
“The
you’re eating for two
line never gets old.”

“Sean,” Riley nuzzled his cheek. “Would you find Dougie? If we
let him, he would chase that puppy until he fell down with exhaustion. Tell him
if he takes a break for his dinner, he can play with Digger for another hour.”

“I love my boys, but they can wear me out.”

Riley had more energy than anyone Gaige knew. Last summer
she took her place as president of the Knights, fulfilling her grandfather’s
wishes. Her boys, Douglas, and Benjamin, were the spitting image of their
father. Something she lamented with good humor. They already had learned to
wrap the female population around their little fingers.

“Those boys are going to be heartbreakers, just like their
father.”

“Look how he turned out.” Gaige gave her a sympathetic hug.

“She’s right,” Violet said when Riley was out of earshot. “Women
are going to fall at their feet.” She turned into Gaige’s arms. “And Dylan will
be right beside them.”

“Are you worried?”

“No,” Violet smiled, recalling what he had said to Riley. “Look
how you turned out. The woman who marries our son will be very lucky. I know I
am.”

Gaige looked into her beautiful blue eyes, so familiar. So
filled with love. It had taken a long time for them to get here, but it had
been worth every ounce of heartache.

“I’m the lucky one.” He touched her lips with his, deepening
the kiss when he heard Violet sigh with pleasure.

“Where is our little linebacker?”

“Surgeon,” Violet corrected. She knew that he was teasing.
But when he was ready to make a career choice, football, medicine, or something
completely different, she wanted Dylan’s options to be left open.

“Our son is telling Grandpa about his trip to the zoo.”

Violet’s father had moved to Seattle a few months after the
Super Bowl. He loved the city and even more, loved being near his grandson. It
had been love at first sight. And Dylan felt the same.

“Are you happy?”

Gaige asked Violet that question every so often. Not because
he was worried. He could see it in her eyes. But he liked to hear her say it.

“I wake up every day, happier than the last,” she rested her
head on his shoulder. “Are you?”

Gaige smiled. Just like he did, his Violet liked to hear the
words.

“I have you and Dylan. Damn straight I’m happy.”

They had their whole lives ahead of them. New dreams. New
memories. New fires that fueled his waking hours.

Gaige looked forward to every twist and turn. Right here, in
the arms of the woman he loved.

HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS

DREAMING AGAIN (Book Four) coming in July

DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS (Book Five) coming in December

HART OF ROCK AND ROLL

FLOWERS ON THE WALL (Book One) coming in August

FLOWERS AND CAGES (Book Two) coming in September

FLOWERS ARE RED (Book Three) coming in October

FLOWERS FOR ZOE (Book Four) coming in November

PROLOGUE

LOGAN. LOGAN. LOGAN.

Logan Price closed his eyes, taking it all in.

“Hear that, kid?” Starting quarterback Gaige Benson slapped
him on the back. “Two games under your belt and you’re a star. Now let’s go out
there and add super to the front of it.”

The announcer for the team set them in motion down the
tunnel with his familiar introduction.

“And now, let’s hear it for your division champion
SEATTLE
KNIGHTS
.”

The roar of the crowd. There was nothing like it. A packed
stadium. Fans chanting his name. Few people would ever experience what it was
like to take the field in a professional football game.

Logan Price had been working for this his entire life. He
could still remember in exact detail the first game he ever saw. Too small to
climb onto the stool in his father’s bar by himself, his old man had lifted him
onto the seat.

Stay and be quiet
.

Not an easy order to follow for an active, inquisitive
little boy. One look at the game and for once, Logan had no problem following
his father’s command. The old TV transported him to a foreign world filled with
bright lights and shiny helmeted warriors. Logan didn’t know what he was
watching. He did know he wanted to be one of those men.

A Sunday afternoon in rural Oklahoma.
Lefty’s Pub
was
filled with after-church drinkers who figured they had done their duty to God
and family. The rest of the day was their time. A beer. Or two. Or six. Cronies
who understood a man’s need to unwind before the start of another workweek.

And football.

If the Friday night high school game was their true
religion, the Sunday afternoon games were a close second. As Oklahoma boys,
they hated anything Texas. The men of Denville gathered every week to root for
whichever team was playing the Dallas Cowboys.

No matter how the games ended. Whether the crowd was happy
or disgruntled. It meant more drinking. Hours later, husbands, boyfriends, and
sons would stumble out, pile into beat-up trucks, and weave their way home to
frustrated wives, girlfriends, and mothers.

As he grew older, Logan’s view changed. He moved from the
stool to behind the bar. And he promised himself one thing. He would never
become one of those men. He wouldn’t spend the week at a job he hated. His home
wouldn’t be a semi-wide trailer filled with hand-me-down furniture and a wife
to whom he couldn’t face going home.

His Sundays were going to be spent playing football, not
watching it.

“Ready to take down this vaunted Arizona defense?” Gaige
yelled at him, butting helmets.

Vaunted
. Good word, Logan thought. His QB liked to
use what his granny called highfalutin talk. Must have been that Ivy League education.
He knew that Gaige Benson didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He
came from the mean streets of Brooklyn. He had the scars to prove it.

Like Logan, Gaige had vowed to get out of the life into
which he was born. In the process, he polished himself up like a new penny. He
took advantage of his full-ride scholarship to Yale. He didn’t spend all his
time on the football field. Fancy vocabulary. Fancy clothes. Fancy women. They
were all part of the package Gaige purposefully fashioned for himself.

Seventeen years after clawing his way out of the tenement
that he grew up in, very little of that borough-rat remained. Until game time.
No one was tougher than Gaige Benson. Three-time league MVP. Considered one of
the best ever to play the game. No one stood in his way when he was playing the
game. He had the scars to prove it.

“Gather round.”

Knights head coach Harry Coleman gathered the team close. He
had to yell over the crowd, but he had the voice to do it. Booming was putting
it mildly. The first time Logan heard it, he stood right beside the man. The
ringing in his ears didn’t go away for three days.

“Divisional game. If I have to say any more than that, you
shouldn’t be out here. Go kick some ass.”

The defense took the field to start the game. Arizona had a
rookie quarterback drafted in the second round from a small college in the
Midwest. The only reason he was out there was because the regular starter
suffered a concussion in last week’s game and the regular backup had food
poisoning. Thrown into action at the last minute, Logan swore he could see the
guy’s hands shaking before he took the first snap. When the ball went sailing
between his legs, Logan shook his head.

The moment was too big for some people. For Logan, it wasn’t
big enough. He aimed for the biggest stage of all. The Super Bowl. It wasn’t a
matter of
if
he would get there, but when.

“Three and out.” Gaige grinned, pulling on his helmet. “Come
on, kid. Let’s go show them how it’s done.”

Logan ran onto the field.
Kid
. He shook his head,
grinning. From the first day of training camp, Gaige had hung that moniker on
him. Ironic since he was almost twenty-five, a good two years older than most
of the other rookies. However, he supposed when someone had been in the league
as long as Gaige, all the new guys seemed like kids.

“We’re starting on the ground,” Gaige instructed them in the
huddle. “Sweep out left. Basic. Got it?”

Lining up as he had a thousand other times, Logan checked
the defense. He knew he was fast. One of the fastest in the game. What set him
apart was his anticipation. He had the uncanny ability to read the guy covering
him. He knew when to fake left or when to fake right. Stutter step or flat out,
in your face, catch me if you can.

His speed got him out of Denville, Oklahoma. His brains and
determination got him to the NFL.

The sounds of the game were as familiar to Logan as the back
of his own hand. The call from scrimmage. Each quarterback had his own unique
cadence. Gaige was a master of mixing his up. Study him all you want. Good luck
figuring it out. His teammates knew. A signal just before they broke the
huddle.

Pay attention, you were golden. Slack off even once? Gaige
could ream a guy out with the best of them. And he had no problem doing it in
the middle of the game.

An entire YouTube channel had been devoted to Gaige and his
rants. They were as legendary as the man himself. With a ball in his hand, he
was cool as ice. The rest of the time, watch out.

No one would ever accuse Logan of lacking focus. Today was
no exception. They were driving down the field. First and ten from the Arizona
twenty-yard line. He already had three carries of thirty-five yards. It was
going to be a good day.

“Ready to take it in?” Gaige asked.

“Always.”

“Then show them what you’ve got.”

A quick snap later, Gaige handed the ball to Logan. The
offensive line created a seam. Not a big one. Just big enough. Using the push
of his powerful legs, Logan surged through. One more step. They wouldn’t catch
him. No one could.

Like everything connected with the game, Logan heard the
snap of the bone with total clarity. The agony that surged through his body was
so intense he almost passed out. In the next few minutes, he was going to wish
he had.

“Get back.” Logan heard Gaige through the haze of pain. “Goddamn
it. Move the hell off.”

The three-hundred-and-fifty-pound linebacker didn’t get off
by standing. He rolled. Crushing Logan’s broken leg as he went. He would never
know if the move had been deliberate. Now, it was the last thing on his mind.
He only cared about two things. How bad was the injury and when would he be
able to play again.

“Hold on, kid.” Gaige took his hand. “They’re bringing the
stretcher.”

The team doctor checked his eyes. Logan knew he was asked
some questions. What they were and how he answered, he would never remember. By
the time they carted him off the field, Logan knew the break was bad.

“Gaige.” Logan reached for him.

“I’m here, kid.”

“Is it over?”

“The game?” Gaige walked with him, his head bent toward
Logan. “No. But I promise we’re going to win the bastard.”

They loaded him onto the open cart. They had him secured and
the vehicle rolled away before Logan had his answer. He wasn’t wondering about
the game. It was his career.

To no one in particular, he whispered the question again.

“Is it over?”