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the Phoenix Wildcats, until he realizes the coach has no intention of letting him start, and his childhood hero is a withdrawn, wary man.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

They managed to stop the hemorrhaging in the third quarter, with the defense making two very impressive goal-line stances, and Patton holding onto the ball and not turning it over. Patton wasn’t exactly optimistic by the fourth quarter, but at least they’d cut the deficit by a touchdown, and if he could just make something happen, they might be able to pull through bruised, bloody, but ultimately victorious. He wasn’t going to give up on the team, and they weren’t going to give up on him.


Chapter 36