Page 64 of Backup Plan

She shakes her head and offers a stilted chuckle. “How’d you get so smart?”

“All those years getting knocked on my ass on the football field.”

Her chuckle turns to a genuine laugh, and I lean over the console and press my lips to her cheek.

“Look, Pen, I don’t know what this is or what it could grow into, and I’m not worried about making any decisions right now, okay? There are a lot of variables up in the air, and we’ll take things as they come.”

She turns and catches my lips with hers. She nods. “Okay. We’ll take things as they come.”

There’s just a kind of big thing right around the corner that I never in a million years saw coming.

CHAPTER 19: Liam Bradley

Loyalty Program

I head back to San Diego for OTAs in the second half of the week. I spent a lot of time with Tanner and Jonathan Thomas, the third-string quarterback, in meetings with Coach Quentin, the quarterback coach affectionately nicknamed Coach Q.

We talk plays and watch film. We review formations and offer feedback on what we’ve done in the past. We do some walkthroughs as the coaches call plays, and we practice timing and passing. It’s not quite where we show what we’re made of, but it’s a start. There’s no contact, but this is where we study and learn the playbook and start to see what the team chemistry will look like going forward.

And it’s where I start to get to know my teammates. I spend a lot of time off the field with Clayton Mack, one of the wide receivers who is close with my older brother, Madden, and one of the few players on this team who’s single.

Although I’m not really sure if I’d put myself in that category anymore.

We scrimmage without pads on Thursday, still with no contact, and stepping onto the field, lining up behind the center, taking snaps…it feels like I’m home again.

Even though it’s a new team. Even though I’m living out of a hotel.

I’m starting to find a rhythm here, and I can’t wait for the season to begin.

Except…I don’t want to be a backup.

I’m so goddamn sick of being a backup.

It’s hard to be ready to go at any given moment but know I might not take any snaps. It’s hard to be a leader on the team when I never get to play. It’s different when you’re slotted as QB1. It’s your team. You’re in control.

I’m just the understudy, and I have to be ready to step in at any time.

I’m ready.

I just don’t know when I’ll get the chance.

I return to Chicago with plenty of time to spare before Everleigh and Maverick’s wedding on Saturday.

The wedding isn’t until sunset, and I don’t need to get dressed for another couple hours. Madden, Dex, and I are meeting at the bar around the corner from my house for a late lunch, and I arrive first.

I’m sure Madden will have some news about our father since Dad is staying at Madden’s place for the time being. To be honest, I was kind of shocked that he offered his place up for dear ol’ Dad, but with the mansion under construction and his trial set to start next month, he needed a place to live. Despite Madden’s anger over our father’s alleged crimes running underground casinos that he tried to pin on his children, he felt a sense of compassion toward our father.

I’m lost in these thoughts as Izzy stalks across the bar toward me.

She’s the girl who served Penny and me the night we first connected here. I remember it was twenty-four days until the wedding back then, and I couldn’t have possibly known how much my life would change in those twenty-four days.

I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Penny.

I signed a contract with San Diego.

I’m moving there next week. We’ve tentatively agreed to try the long-distance thing.

It’s been a whirlwind twenty-four days, but we’re at the tail end of it as we celebrate the wedding tonight, and it’s going to be a difficult evening keeping my hands off the maid of honor and pretending once again in front of my family.