Free Faster (The University of Gatica #2) by Lexy Timms Page A

on the twenty-yard line after the fourth down. Gatica’s offense took the field and brought the ball up to nearly midfield. Aileen cried out when a Syracuse player intercepted the ball and scored a touchdown. Then they also scored the extra point to tie the game.
    There were no points scored the remainder of the third quarter and as the game continued into the fourth quarter the teams seemed locked at twenty-eight, twenty-eight.
    Aileen blew out a breath, frustrated when yet another fourth down yielded no touchdown for Gatica.
    Sean patted her shoulder. “Relax girl.” He chuckled. “Syracuse is a really strong team. This year they’re expected to win the conference.”
    The timer counted down with nothing working in Gatica’s favor. With less than a minute on the clock, Syracuse was at the third yard line, just trying to run the time down and bring them closer to field goal range.
    The Syracuse quarterback must have decided to give one last ditch attempt for a touchdown before having to go for a field goal on their fourth down if the third down didn’t work. He set his team into formation. The Syracuse wide receivers managed to get open and the quarterback drilled the football to the one on the right.
    Tyler was heading to the left wide receiver and did a one-eighty to change his direction and sprinted toward the right wide receiver. He intercepted the ball.
    Everyone roared in reaction. He blazed down the field for a touchdown as the crowd continued to go wild. In the end zone, he high kneed it across and set the ball down like it was a teacup.
    The University of Gatica players rushed over to him, crushing and pounding his helmet. They threw him over their shoulders and carried him over to the football coach. They set Tyler down in front of him and made an enclosed tight circle around the two of them, screaming and chanting.
    The scoreboard flashed Gatica. The final score thirty-four to twenty-eight. No need to do a field goal kick as the clock had run down.
    Aileen screamed, her voice hoarse from all the cheering.
    Sean clapped his hands. “He’s the next Deion Sanders. Probably better than Deion. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Tyler.”
    As they slowly made their way out of the stadium, Aileen watched the football team head back into Lord Warriors. She strained to see Tyler one more time and tried not to show her disappointment when she didn’t. He was the best player on the team. She wondered what would happen if he played with the line-up that was in charge of getting the touchdowns. He would be unstoppable. She sighed. She couldn’t get him out of her head. She had been so busy with school and track this week she had managed to push him out of her mind – temporarily. Apparently all it took was seeing him from two hundred feet away, in a football uniform to bring his good-looking, hot body back into focus.
    “Want to go downtown for dinner? Then hit Red Coat’s?” Sean asked.
    Jani groaned. “Downtown is nuts after a game. We’ll be waiting for an hour before we even get a table.”
    What’s that? A distraction! “We could barbeque,” Aileen suggested. “Make homemade hamburgers.” She had seen a grill in their garage when they had dragged the old tin tub out of it for the party. It was in good shape. “We just need to pick up a propane tank.”
    “I can’t barbeque.” Jani shook her head and turned to Sean.
    “Don’t look at me.”
    Aileen laughed as they left the stadium and headed toward Jani’s car parked on a side street about half a mile away. “I can barbeque. And make burgers. My brother taught me. We just need to grab stuff and a tank at Walmart.”
    “Seriously?” Sean looked skeptical.
    “Yeah. It’s easy.”
    “Will you marry me?”
    Aileen rolled her eyes. “You and I both know that is never going to happen.”
    “I know.” Sean grinned and winked at her. “But you can’t blame a guy for trying.”
     

Chapter 9
     
    Aileen sat on her bed, books, her