Page 6

By the time the final whistle blew, the scoreboard had flipped. We were up, not all the way, but close enough. I slowed as the play ended and allowed the noise to wash over me as my teammates moved in. Some of them slapped me on the back while others shouted over each other.

“Where the hell did that come from?” Lucas asked with a huge grin.

“No idea,” I admitted.

Malik gave me a firm nod and squeezed my shoulder. “You stepped up, man.”

I let out a quiet breath as the adrenaline started to settle. We turned toward the sideline, and I saw Dylan was being helped off the field. His weight shifted carefully as Tara and another trainer guided him toward the tunnel. He looked frustrated, with a tight jaw and tense shoulders. I watched him for just a moment and then pulled my gaze away. The team was moving to the locker room with high spirits, driven by our win.

“Prescott.” The voice wasn’t loud, but it stopped me in my tracks.

I turned and saw Frank Delaney standing just off the path. His hands were loosely clasped in front of his body, and his expression was measured.

“You’ve got the makings of a star.”

I didn’t answer right away because, quite frankly, I was too stunned by what was happening.

Delaney held my gaze, and a small smile played on his lips. “Keep playing like that and people are going to start paying attention.”

His delivery of the words made them seem different from their intended meaning. More like expectation instead of praise. And that rubbed me the wrong way.

I smiled politely. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Of course you are,” he said smoothly. “We’ll discuss it again some other time.”

My gaze lingered on him for a moment longer, then I turned and headed to the locker room. The noise from the team swallowed me again, but his words stayed with me long after the locker room chaos had died down.

3

Dakota

I hadn’t even made it halfway into the newsroom before Penny’s thunderous voice had me stopping in my tracks.

“Dakota!”

I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping it was just a figment of my imagination, but sadly, that wasn’t the case. So I tightened my grip on my notebook and turned around. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t expected this to happen. The moment I woke up this morning, I knew I’d be walking in here without any notes about the last game, and I was well aware of the consequences it would have.

The truth was… I couldn’t bring myself to care. And in the last few hours that hadn’t changed. I had other, more important things going on. Things that Penny wasn’t aware of and probably shouldn’t find out about either.

She stood near her desk, foot tapping to some unheard, erratic beat. Her expression was sharp enough to tell me she wasn’t going to fall for any excuse I planned on bringing to her table. So I walked over to her, nerves raging, but my expression didn’t give anything away. I looked steady and my features were completely controlled.

“You wanted to see me.”

She held my gaze without flinching. “Where were you on Saturday?”

“Not that it’s any of your concern, but I was working.”

Okay, maybe I was pushing it there. I shouldn’t have been so cocky, but I was trying to get her off my back as quickly as possible.

Penny narrowed her eyes. “What were you working on?”

I shifted uncomfortably, but still tried to keep my tone even. “Research. I was looking into some different angles, and I think I might’ve found something that could give us a stronger season.”

I bit my lip as the hours I had spent hunched over my laptop flooded my mind. My time belonged to several open tabs and countless reports as I dug through archives and half-buried scandals. Once I’d started down the rabbit hole, it was impossible to climb back out. I had completely forgotten about the Highlanders’ game. It had been reduced to background noise that didn’t seem to matter in the moment.

“Research…” Penny repeated, sounding really annoyed. “For what exactly? Because I hired you to focus on the Highlanders and you didn’t even bother to go to the game.”

“It has to do with the team and the sport, but it’s another way of looking at the world of football. I don’t want to just hang around and summarize games for an entire season.”