“He’ll have to pay if he wants anything other than a conversation,” Nyx said.
“I’ll make sure he knows,” Matt said.
John met them in the lobby. His eyes got big when he saw Nyx, and he clammed up as they crossed the street.
When they walked in, the smell of corn dogs wafted their way, and Matt’s stomach made a happy growl.
As Matt sat down to eat, he lent John fifty bucks so he could take Nyx to the bathroom. The big lineman came back with a big smile, but no Nyx.
“What happened to my girl?” Matt asked.
“Two other guys paid her. They’re double-teaming her in one of the stalls,” John said as he bit into a corn dog. “I guess we can eat hers, too.”
He and John ate six corn dogs each before returning to the hotel. Right after Coach Thomas checked on them, they both fell sound asleep.
Matt’s shitty day had turned out to be okay.
◊◊◊
At four in the morning, Matt was woken by moaning. It sounded like John might be dying in the bathroom. Matt’s stomach rolled over, and water began to form in his mouth.
He was going to throw up.
He found John leaning over the toilet, dry heaving.
“Out of my way!”
He had to physically shove John to the side as his stomach turned inside out and purged the corn dogs. An hour later, when his other end joined the fun, Matt prayed he would just die and get it over with.
◊◊◊
Oregon State was the worst team in the Pac-12, and USC was heavily favored to win. The Beavers had allowed an average of 48 points per game against FBS teams and an FBS-worst average of 4.5 sacks allowed per game. The lowest anyone had scored on them was 35 by Arizona. USC
should win if they came out and just played an average game.
But David felt it might not be easy if they played like they had in their last game, even though they were getting most of their starters back. And, thanks to the corn dogs, Matt was sidelined, which meant that Jaden would start in his place.
This game was a must-win for the Trojans because it would put them within one game of being bowl eligible.
Their remaining schedule was against a Cal team that had beaten Washington the previous week and played number 10 Washington State tough; a rivalry game against UCLA that was playing better than their 2–7 record would suggest; and their other rival, an undefeated number 3
Notre Dame.
With a win, the Rose Bowl was still within reach.
Running scenarios, USC could get there with anything from a 7–6 to a 9–4 record. Or they could end up with an 18-year worst record of 5–7.
◊◊◊
The Beavers’ defense got picked apart on slant routes as Jaden became comfortable and hit his wide-open receivers.
Oregon State repeatedly pulled to within seven and had the potential to tie it several times. In the end, USC prevailed 38–21 as the Trojans scored ten unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Marcus looked like his old self at running back. He ran the ball eighteen times for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Bill caught four passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.
After the game, David found some interesting stats. Up to that point, USC had gotten eighteen sacks in eight games, and against OSU, they’d accumulated six more.
Another rare stat was that Oregon State had less rushing yardage than runs: 31 yards in 32 attempts.
The final stat was that by the end of their first drive, USC had earned fifty percent more third-down conversions than they did the entire game against ASU the prior week.
The sad part was they’d gotten three in the first drive, which smoked the two they’d gotten all last game.
With this win, USC still had its destiny in its own hands.
◊◊◊
Chapter 36
On Monday, David had slipped into the trainers’ area, hoping to get a massage after lifting. His lower back had tightened up. That was when he heard Matt in a hushed conversation with Bryce, the head trainer.
“Yes, I’m sure. You and John both have a sexually transmitted infection.”
David gave them a generous quarter of a second, then stepped into the room and said brightly, “So, your cock is diseased.”
“David. Matt and I are having a private conversation,”
Bryce said.
David glanced at the wide-open door and back as if confused.
“My bad. I’ll come back later,” David said, acting contrite, but then he stopped and held up a finger. “And John?”
“Hang on. It’s not what you’re implying,” Matt said, clearly worried David would run off and tell everyone that John really was his butt buddy.
David grabbed a chair and flipped it around so he could straddle it and have a front-row seat to this little drama.
“We got with a hooker,” Matt said to explain.
“Dude! Seriously?! And you forgot to wrap it?” David asked and then turned to the trainer. “We had a meeting about this during fall drills, didn’t we? I think you said something along the lines of our dicks would fall off if we didn’t use condoms.”
Matt looked at his shoes, and David could see he was doing the mental calculations for how many punches he could get in before they pulled him off. Finally, he said, “We ran out.”
“I can see that,” David said to console Matt. “Not! Dude!
Again, seriously?! Did you think that since you did it once
with a condom, the next one wouldn’t count?”
“You can’t say anything,” Matt panicked.
“Only if you make me a promise,” David said, holding up two fingers like he was a Boy Scout.
He figured he wouldn’t get into trouble with the Scouts because their salute was three fingers.
Matt got a hooded-eye look that didn’t bode well.
“What is it?”
“That when you can’t piss anymore because your dick begins to rot from the inside, and they have to shove one of those bottle cleaners in there and give it a twirl … I mean, it wouldn’t be all that big, maybe a small pipe cleaner because both you and John are less than half a ruler … Just promise me that I get to watch,” David said eagerly.
He might have gotten away with it because Matt was focused on getting a pipe cleaner shoved up his dick. He’d played a similar prank on his brother in high school, so he knew what mental gymnastics Matt was going through. But the fricking trainer burst out laughing.
David leaned back so that the first big roundhouse just missed his head. He laughed as Matt chased him into the locker room. When Matt saw a bunch of their teammates, he stopped and glared at David before stomping back into the training room.
“What’s that about?” Bear asked.
“Just guy stuff,” David said to dismiss it.
If it were David, he would just man up and tell the team because he wouldn’t want to be Matt’s bitch for the rest of the season. The thought of Matt worrying that he would spill his shame put David in an amazingly good mood.
◊◊◊
Karma bit David in the ass when he got a call from his agent on his way to practice.
“They’re writing you out of the soap,” Kendrick announced.
“Is there a chance I could come back in the spring and summer? They aren’t like killing me off, are they?” David asked.
“Well, you get shot in the back of the head by Bec’s jealous husband, and I was able to get Zak Verwood to play your nemesis. They’ve agreed to make Bec and Zak regulars on the show, so I’ll get a steady paycheck out of this,” Kendrick said.