A/N Happy National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day! Haha There were several more, Mom & Pop Business Owners Day, Palm Sunday, Smoke & Mirrors Day? but that one was my favorite. And it sounds yummiest, so there you go.

In sports news, we're narrowing down the Final Four today. I believe. I actually watched the end of the UK/ND game last night, mainly because I saw all these tweets that the upset may occur and bc I have great dislike for Notre Dame and picked Kentucky to win. I'd like to think they pulled it out because I flipped over there. hehe I like to think I have a lot of power and control that I clearly don't, but that's the beauty of sports. You get so involved and feel like part of the team. My mom's Spartans are trying for another upset today. We'll see what happens!

As I post, ABC Family is airing Twilight. I can't believe how long ago it came out, and that I've been part of this fandom for what? Six and a half years? Time flies! I actually got into the books right about the time that movie came out, from a rec from a friend on a sports site that had a lot of the same taste as me. I can't say that I've read the books in a long time, but I still stop on the movies now and then :) How did you get into the saga?

Okay, enough yammering. It's time for some football, and a few other things. I've been asked recently if we're near the end, and while we're past the halfway point, I imagine, I still have plenty to do. There's a baby to be birthed after all! So I don't have a count of how many chapters this will be yet (I'll keep you posted) but I'd say confidently that chapters will be in the 40's at that time. Plenty left to do! Thanks for coming along for the ride! Have a great week and I'll see you next week, same time, same place!

Getting Blitzed Chapter 29

I have to say, having a friend and teammate like Sammy didn't suck. I'd always been buds with my teammates, but with the exception of Jasper, it had always been surface relationships. We'd hang and party and shit, but I'd hardly confided in the fuckers. Or wanted them to do that with me. But Sammy kept me company all night and didn't give me shit when I'd walk away to call my wife or when I sent her some texts during the Monday Night Football game. He crashed in the guest room, and we went in together to start the work week.

"I'm telling you, man. Everywhere we went, people asked about you. And did I tell you that Kylie lives in a sorority house?"

He had. Only about a hundred times. And judging by the shit-eating grin on his face, he wasn't going to stop telling me anytime soon.

"Which one?" I'd been in most of them before I met Reed Girl.

"Tri-Delt."

"Tri-Delt. Everyone else has." I ducked out of the way when he took a playful swing at me. "Hey, I didn't make that shit up. It's common knowledge."

"Yeah? Do you have firsthand knowledge?"

I did, but I sure as hell wasn't commenting. Past conquests didn't mean shit to me now that I had Reed Girl in my life.

"Are you planning on seeing her again?" I asked as we headed into the workout room. I needed to get to work. I hadn't been in the gym since I'd hit Tally. Of course, I'd had a much better way of working out during that time. The best way. Fuck, I missed my wife.

"I don't know. I'm sure we'll talk and text now and then, but neither of us is head over heels. We both knew it was just some wedding fun." He held out a hand to stop me from continuing on. "Speaking of wedding fun, there's your dad!"

I followed his gaze, and sure enough, there was Colin doing some leg lifts.

"Fuck that noise. Don't even suggest that shit."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. But we have got to hear what went down!" And he dragged me over to the weight bench.

"How's it going…shit, is there a name for younger dudes who bang older women?" Sammy asked me, like I fucking knew.

"Cubs," Colin said with a grin. "Or you can just call me Lucky, if you want."

Fucking gross. "I do not want. I don't even really want to hear this. Why am I here?"

"You know you're curious," Sammy told me.

Was I? I wasn't sure. Part of me was disgusted, for sure. The other part was-damn it, I was curious. Why the fuck was I curious?

"It's only normal. Colin actually got a girl. Well, woman in this case. An older, admittedly pretty damn sexy, woman."

"My mother-in-law. As in mother of my wife. It's fucking weird. I don't want to think of Renee and sex."

"If it bothers you any less, she would love for us to talk about it. She asked if we compared notes."

"Probably so she could solicit future business." Shit. That was terrible. Thank fuck Reed Girl wasn't here to catch that thought. "I don't mean that she's a hooker or anything. I just meant that she'd probably like to hook up with some of the others." And that wasn't any better.

Sammy chuckled. "Dude, that's just wrong."

"No, it isn't. She asked about both you and Paul." Colin shrugged. "I gave her your number."

"What?" Sammy yelled, reaching for his phone as if he could change the number through his touch or some fucking thing. "Why would you do that?"

He burst out laughing. "Chill, bro. I'm just kidding. Trust me, you guys were the last thing on her mind once I got done with her."

Fucking hell. "I really don't want to hear this."

"Relax, Cullen. I don't fuck and tell. All night long. All you need to know is your mother-in-law still has it going on."

I leveled him with a stare. "And why the fuck would I need to know that?"

"Duh. She's your girl's mother. And she looks just like her. I can assure you that when Bella hits her forties, everything is still going to be in excellent shape."

He did not just fucking say that. He was a dead man. I took a step toward him, ready to brain him with one of the free weights lying on the floor, but Sammy stepped in front of me.

"Now, now, you don't need to kill the guy who covers your blind side," Sammy murmured to me.

"Colin, you prick, you don't talk about what a man's wife is going to look like when she's naked. Especially not his new, faraway wife. Got it?" Sammy kept his eyes on me, addressing Colin without looking at him, just in case I was going to attack.

"Dude, I was mostly kidding." Colin held up his hands. "I was just giving you shit, seriously. You did ruin my car, after all."

I rolled my neck, working on relaxing. "I didn't do shit to your car."

"No, but your girl did. And I fucked her mother. Not that revenge was my motivation, but we're even now, right?"

"Not cool, man." Sammy shook his head. "Colin, cut the I'm a stud bullshit. It's not who you are, and it's only the three of us here right now. You don't have to put on a fucking show for us."

Colin let the leg bar go with a loud clang. "Okay. I'm sorry." He looked down. "The truth is…I didn't hook up with her."

I did a double take at that news. "What? You two left together right after I introduced you. And Renee seemed to be all into you."

He snorted. "She was, or I thought she was. But her ex, who I'm fairly sure is younger than I am, was outside the ballroom. He begged her to take him back, and she went off with him." He let out a bitter laugh. "But not before asking for my number, so we could get to know each other better and maybe hook up sometime."

Damn. "Sorry, man. That fucking sucks." Although a part of me was relieved he hadn't banged her. That would have been just all sorts of awkward.

"Tell me you didn't give her your number," Sammy pleaded. "Seriously, I will kick your ass myself if you did." It was hilarious because Colin outweighed Sammy by a good hundred pounds or so. But he meant it.

"Fuck no." Colin grinned. "I gave her Jennings' number."

We all started laughing at that.

"You're kidding! That's awesome," Sammy complimented.

Even I had to admit it was pretty damn funny.

"He had way too much fun teasing me over the whole Brandy thing. If she latches on to him, he deserves it."

"I hope she does. That would be great!" Sammy smacked him on the back. "Good job, man. Enough gabbing, though. Time to work up a sweat."

He headed over to the rowing machine to warm up, but I stayed behind.

"What? Still want to kick my ass? I haven't lost enough face?"

I sighed. "We both know that I couldn't truly kick your ass. And that's not what I wanted anyway." I ran my hand through my hair. "Look. I'm glad you didn't hook up with Renee."

He nodded. "No joke."

"Not because of her, because of you. You deserve better than that. All she wants is a fat wallet, and maybe a fat cock to go with it." I held up a hand. "Don't even respond to that last part."

He laughed, for real this time.

"I know you want what I have. And who can blame you? My girl is awesome. But Renee is not the answer. Bella is nothing like her." Thank fuck. "Even if they do share DNA. If she'd hooked up with you, it would only have been until something better came along. You need someone who puts you first."

"I know. I just thought that she was a sure thing, so why not? Stupid, I guess."

"Not stupid. Human. But it would have been a temporary thing, and you would have wanted something real eventually. It'll come. Probably when you least expect it." I grinned. "I sure as hell didn't expect Bella to crash into me, pick a fight, seduce me, and worm her way into my head and then my heart. And I'm married to her now." It was still mind-blowing.

"You want a quality woman? Stop going to the clubs and bars and shit. I'm not saying that there might not be a good one there, but you stand a better chance meeting one at like, I don't know. Where you volunteer and shit."

Colin shook his head. "I get what you're saying. Maybe I'll start going to the library or something."

I laughed. "Bella worked at the library when we first met." She was the sexiest band geek librarian that ever existed.

He chuckled. "Go figure. I'm going to get a library card."

"You do that. And stay away from my mother-in-law."

"Gladly! Tell Bella I didn't touch her mom, okay? I don't want her to hate me any more than she already does."

"She doesn't. She was more worried about you than her mother, I think. Don't sweat it."

"Yeah, well, speaking of sweat, we'd better bust some ass."

He was right. I had a lot of work to do before we played the Cowboys again this weekend. I had no intention of losing to them again. Not here, in my house. I nodded at Colin and headed over to get to work.

A while later, the gym was full of my teammates working out. Everybody was into it when Jennings let out a yell.

"What the fuck? How drunk was I the other night?" he demanded of JPP.

"You were semiconscious. Why?"

"Because this chick keeps on texting me that she's sorry we got interrupted before we got to the good stuff. She keeps sending me pictures. Do you remember her?" He held out his phone.

My eyes met Colin's and I would tell he was doing everything he could not to burst out laughing. Sammy wasn't even trying to conceal his laughter.

"Nah, I don't know her. She's kinda hot, for an older woman."

"Yeah, but I swear I've never seen her before. Wh-" He broke off with a choking sound when his phone chimed again. "Holy shit."

"What?" Colin asked eagerly.

"Nothing." He quickly tucked his phone away. "Don't worry about it."

"Did she send you another picture? Was it sexy?" Sammy asked between laughter.

"Don't worry about it. I'll just talk to her later." He stomped off to the other side of the room.

"I think he just got spank-bank material," Sammy told us.

Even I had to laugh. I was grateful as hell that he hadn't shown us whatever Renee had sent him, but Sammy was more than likely right. Reed Girl had told me some stories. Stories I'd done my best suppress in order to maintain my sanity.

"I think I dodged a bullet," Colin decided.

"You did," I assured him. "Whatever she's sending, I don't think we want to know."

"I do." Sammy grinned. "I'm going to get him to show me that phone if it kills me. You coming?"

"Fuck no." I'd dodged a bullet of my own. None of my teammates had hooked up with Renee. It was a relief.

"Nah." Colin shook his head. "She had her shot. I don't want to know what I'm not missing."

"Good for you." I was proud of him, in a weird way. Maybe he was going to listen to me this time.

"You guys are no fun." Sammy sighed. "But I guess I get it. We'll leave her to Jennings. Let's go get some food before practice."

That sounded like a much better plan. "Let's do it."

Xoxoxoxox

Later in the week, I came out of practice and saw I had some texts from Danny.

Hi, Edward! Are you getting ready for the game?

I don't know if you have plans, but Dad said that I could ask you over for Thanksgiving since you don't play that day. Do you want to come over?

It's okay if you don't. You might be busy. But I wanted to ask. We could play football if you come over.

It was actually a cool idea, if it was really okay with his parents. Before I responded, though, I needed to talk to my girl.

"Hi." She sounded so fucking sexy. "I missed you. How was practice?"

"Not bad. I missed you, too. I'm getting ready to grab dinner with the guys, but I wanted to check in with you on something."

"What's up?"

"Me."

That made her laugh. "What else is new?"

I grinned. When it came to her, I was always up. "I got a text from Danny, asking if I wanted to come over for Thanksgiving. I know we don't have anything planned, but I didn't know if you wanted to stay home or whatever."

Her warm laugh filled the line. "If I'm invited, I'd love to go. Saves me from having to cook."

Like I'd have her do that. "I could get the housekeeper-"

"No. I really want to meet Danny and his family. They made quite an impression on you."

"Okay, baby. I'll give them a call and let you know."

"Who are we calling? Hi, Bella," Sammy called as he came up behind me.

She laughed. "Tell him hi back. Go eat. I need to do that and study."

"All right, baby. I'll call you when I get home."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you, too. Bye."

I disconnected. "I'm calling Danny back. His family invited me to Thanksgiving. I have to see if it's cool to bring Bella."

"That sounds fun."

"Yeah. Do you have any plans?" Danny wanted to play football, after all. I needed a team.

"Nah. My mom was supposed to come out, but she's working instead. She refuses to quit, even though I can afford to pay all her bills and then some."

"My family is the same way. We certainly don't have to have jobs, but Em's working at FSU and Dad works long hours as a doctor." I got it. "Let me call them back and then we'll get dinner."

I dialed the number, and Steve answered. "Hello."

"Hey, Steve. It's Edward. Edward Cullen."

He laughed. "I know. You're programmed into my phone."

Duh. Of course I was.

"I take it Danny extended our Thanksgiving invitation? I hope you don't think it's too much. We just figured that would be a good time since you have a home game and presumably have the day off as well?"

"He did. And I appreciate it. I'd love to take you up on it, but my wife is going to be in town. I was wondering if I could bring her?"

He laughed again. "Of course! We'd love to have her come over as well. Danny will be beside himself."

"It'll be fun. Can we bring anything?"

"Just yourselves. We'll have more than enough."

I glanced at Sammy, who was texting someone while he waited for me.

"I know Danny wanted to play football. Is it cool if I invite a couple teammates to stop by? They don't have to eat or anything-"

"Are you kidding me? We'd love it. And of course they could eat with us. It would make all our days, not just Danny's. Just let us know the weekend before so we can get enough food."

That was insane. "I'll give you a count, but the food is on us. Text your address, and I'll make sure there's plenty on hand. Some of these guys can eat an entire turkey themselves probably."

"Are you sure? We don't mind."

"Of course I'm sure. I'll talk to a few of the guys and let you know."

"Sounds great! I'm going to tell Danny. He'll be so excited."

"Tell him I can't wait to see him, and to get practicing. I expect him to bring his A game."

"I will! Thanks so much, Edward."

"Thanks for thinking of us. We really appreciate it."

"I'll see you in two weeks."

"Sure thing. Bye, Steve."

I disconnected and turned to Sammy.

"Do you want to go to Danny's house for Thanksgiving? Play some football and hang with the kids?"

"Sure. Sounds good. I was totally going to try to mooch off you and Bella anyway."

I laughed. "I wouldn't let your lonely ass disrupt our first holiday as a married couple."

He threw an arm around me. "Yes, you would. At least until dinner was done."

True. "Then I'd kick you to the curb."

"And I'd get it. But now I get to play football and hang with a cool family. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me, too. Should be fun."

Xoxoxoxox

The pressure in the first half had been insane. I'd swear the Cowboys had more than eleven men on the field. It felt like all my receivers were covered and the line wasn't blocking for shit. I was under pressure or down on just about every play. I clearly wasn't the only one who felt that way, because Coach was losing his shit all over my linemen.

"Do you think you could try to fucking block someone? Turner, you're named perfectly the way you're playing out there. You're like a fucking turnstile, letting anyone pass through if they've got a quarter."

A quarter? Coach was definitely old as shit. Brady looked like he wanted to say something, but he really had no defense for himself.

"And Davis? Do you have a thing for Melton? Because you're holding the fuck out of him on every play! And the refs are noticing! If you want to dance with him, do it on your own time."

Now that was actually pretty fucking funny. I knew better than to smile though, because once Coach got through ripping my line, he turned to me.

"Did you forget how to throw a pass while you were off getting married? Are you still on your honeymoon? Because that's about the only reason I can think of why you threw that pass to Maddux when he was triple-covered."

First of all, he hadn't been triple-covered. Double, yeah, maybe. But he'd just finished telling the line they weren't giving me any time to throw. What did he expect?

"Cat got your tongue, Cullen? Literally? Where is your cat? She could probably play quarterback better than you have the first half. You're all pussies anyway! Protect the damn ball! I don't care if their entire team is in the backfield; you throw the ball away, or you take the sack. You don't throw it right to Claiborne! Is that too fucking hard to understand?"

"No, Coach." I wanted to say more, but what was the point? He was on a roll.

The receivers got their turn, and then he ripped into the defense. You'd think we were down by about three touchdowns, instead of just one.

"Is your ass bruised?" Sammy murmured as we made our way back onto the field. "Because I'm pretty sure Coach did some permanent damage."

"Shake it off. We've got another half to play, and we're damn well going to win." No way were the Cowboys beating me twice in the same season.

Paul and Embry walked up to join us.

"Look, guys, they run the Tampa 2 defense. That means there are soft zones to the left and the right. We're going to exploit that shit, dink and dunk them for the third quarter. Then? We're going to burn them with the long ball once the safety starts playing up. Embry, I'm coming at you on the slant over and over until they lean coverage your way. Then, whichever one of you two burns your corner is getting the ball. Got it?"

"Sounds good to me, man. I'm sick of these fuckers. Skandrick is all up in my ass, and he didn't even buy me dinner." Paul shot me a grin. "A guy likes a little romance first. Guess we need to teach him a lesson."

"Count on it."

I headed over to my quarterbacks' coach and told him what I wanted to do. He was on board, thankfully.

"If you do a bunch of quick releases, they'll back off the pressure a bit and you might get enough time to throw a bomb or two."

"I'll have enough time."

I went over to my line next. "We're gonna start off hot. I'm talking three step drops and the ball will be out of my hands quick. I'm going to get them to back off a little. But once I do, you guys have got to block them. We'll be going long to Sammy and Paul once the safety starts playing in. Give me time!"

"You'll get it," Brady promised.

Colin nodded and the others gave their word as well.

We had the first possession and, after a decent kick return, started at our own thirty-three. I went with a hand-off to Jennings first, just to see what the line could produce. Two yards, that was about it. They had eight in the box and were blitzing a corner about half the time. They were going to pay for that.

I fired off a slant to Embry in the open zone over the middle. He managed nine yards and a first down. I had Paul run the same play from the opposite side for a gain of fifteen. We mixed in some runs but mostly just dinked and dunked our way down the field. I saw an opening when we were in the red zone and threw a fade to my tight end. Touchdown! Right in the corner. He tapped both feet in before falling out of bounds. The game was now officially tied at twenty-four.

Whatever Coach said to the D had given them some fire. They managed a sack and two pressures, causing Dallas to go three and out. The next drive, I started the same way, with little checks and slants to Embry and my backs. We were at midfield when I saw it. The safety was biting. He was playing up. I gave Sammy and Paul the signal before calling for the ball.

I took a seven-step drop this time, keeping my eyes on the line, letting my boys make their move. The line held. I faked the slant again, just to keep the safety on his heels. From the corner of my eye, I could see Sammy come open just as Melton burst through the line. I planted my foot and let the ball fly. Melton got a hand on me, but it was too late.

I watched as the ball sailed right into Sammy's waiting hands. He didn't have to break stride at all. He zipped right into the end zone.

"Hell yeah! That was a beautiful throw!" Colin clapped me on the back. It really was.

Sammy hugged me when I reached the end zone to congratulate him. "Thanks for that throw, man. Easiest catch I've ever had."

"Get used to it," I told him, making him laugh.

"Works for me. The less energy I have to expend out on the field, the more I have to celebrate later."

"Save up, man. We're going to celebrate soon."

And I was right. I threw another long TD to Paul in the fourth, and we won thirty-eight to twenty-seven. Dallas went down. The first of many times, if I had my fucking say in matters. And I did. It was a new season as far as I was concerned, and I was going to turn it around. My professional life was going to be as successful as my personal one. Well, as close as I could get. Nothing could beat my life with Reed Girl. Not even a Super Bowl. But one day soon, I planned on finding out just how close it could come.