Page 20 of The Linebacker

“Pretty superficial reason to switch sports,” Broderick said with a laugh. “But I have no regrets. I love this game.”

Then he mentioned he was originally from out east.

“Me too,” Amil said between grunts. He was trying to keep up with Broderick, which was no easy feat.

“Yeah? Let me guess. Boston,” Broderick said.

“The accent?”

Broderick laughed. “Hard to hide that accent, bro.”

What he didn’t tell Broderick was how he’d never felt at home there, despite having lived there until he was recruited by the University of Maryland. His parents had kept moving him to new schools every time he had a situation—usually a fight with a kid who was bullying him, despite his size. Amil tended to be quiet, which somehow gave bullies permission to harass him.

So he’d never found his comfort zone. Even when he was on the football field. He did what he was supposed to do and he went home afterward. Never bonded with his teammates.

It got a little better in college. He made friends with a couple of guys on the team, discovered that girls liked him—his looks at least. Well, and the things he did when they were naked together.

It was in college that he learned he had a tendency to smother a girl if he really liked her, and that turned a lot of girls off after a while. So he recalibrated, learned how to be standoffish. Got quiet again.

Fast-forward almost ten years and Diana coming into his life, and his smothering tendencies were surfacing again.

He needed to check himself. Especially now that she’d told him about her fear of commitment. About her reasons for it.

They were legit. Her grandmother, her mother, her sister all having the same relationship woos—hell yeah, he could see why she’d be gun-shy.

Sucked for him, but he understood.

“Earth to Amil. You in there, dude?”

Amil shifted his focus to Broderick, who was standing over him. Amil had grasped the weights but hadn’t actually lifted them yet. He’d gotten lost in his own memories there for a minute.

“Sorry. Ready.” He did twenty reps and dropped the weights on the holders with a growl.

“Damn,” Broderick said. “We’ll make you a tight end yet.” He laughed. Broderick laughed a lot.

Amil wouldn’t mind laughing half as often as Broderick did. The guy sure seemed to enjoy life.

“You dating anyone?” Amil asked when they switched roles.

“Yeah, my wife.” Another laugh.

“Oh yeah? How long you been married?”

Broderick did his reps before answering. “Celebrated six years in April. She was my college sweetheart. But then when I got drafted, she broke up with me.”

“How come?”

“She was worried I’d be more interested in cleat chasers than her. She sees herself as average, which is fucking crazy, because my wife is hot. But anyway, took me two years to convince her that fame and fortune would not make me love her less. Finally convinced her to marry me, and then I knocked her up two seconds later.” He laughed. “And two more times, even though we weren’t really trying. But I guess I have super sperm.”

Another laugh. Also, this guy was not afraid to tell his personal business.

They finished their last set of reps and headed toward the showers. “Saw Diana added you to the humane society thing later this afternoon,” Broderick said as they parted ways. “See you there.”

Yeah, Amil was looking forward to it far more than was necessary for a fundraiser involving animals that needed homes. It wasn’t like he could adopt any of them. Hell, he was currently homeless too.

The humane society was, unsurprisingly, packed with fans. Diana was there, wearing a fitted jersey with her own last name on the back, directing traffic. Well, telling everyone where to go and what to do.

Dante was there, along with Callahan and Broderick and Pedro. And Jalen. They were all clustered together at the moment, tucked into an area that was apparently off-limits to fans while Diana worked to get the event going.