Patton Cooper won three national championships as the starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Marauders, but that didn’t stop them from trading him to Phoenix without so much as a warning. At thirty-two, he finds himself weighed down by old injuries and forced to start over again as a backup quarterback for an untried rookie. Deeply hurt by the betrayal of both his team and his ex-lover, Patton keeps to himself and takes what solace he can in football.<br><br>Cornerback DeShawn Jones has loved two things in his life -- football and Patton Cooper. It seems like his dreams have come true when he’s drafted to play for the Phoenix Wildcats, until he realizes the coach has no intention of letting him start, and his childhood hero is a withdrawn, wary man. But DeShawn refuses to give up on his dreams of playing, or his hope of reaching Patton.<br><br>A tentative connection forms between the two men, but the pressures of the game may be too much for the relationship to withstand. Especially when DeShawn is given the chance of a lifetime while Patton struggles not to relive the mistakes from his past.

Mr. November

“We were a team. All of the wins, the championships, everything. It was the two of us and I didn’t think anything could ever touch us. They always gossiped about us, but nothing ever serious. And I knew it’d be bad if people ever found out, but we were careful and what did they care as long as we kept winning, right?”


“Right,” DeShawn agreed softly because Patton expected him to.


“But we started fighting after the end of last season. Frustration from not making it into the playoffs. I don’t know. I let him down. I only had one job and it reflected badly on him and the whole coaching staff, and if I couldn’t keep up with everybody else, I should just retire. Stop embarrassing myself.”


Chapter 24