The Finall Play novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Number Seven

Rory Kane found Tanner in the weight room at six in the morning, doing nothing at all.

"You look terrible," Rory said, and dropped onto the bench beside him.

Rory was six-five, with a red beard and shoulders like a door.

He had snapped the ball to Tanner for three years.

"Thanks," Tanner said. "I stayed up late."

"Doing what?"

"Throwing."

"You threw?" Rory's whole face fell. "Tan, the doctor said..."

"I know what the doctor said."

Rory shut his mouth and waited.

He was good at waiting.

Elliot, hidden behind the squat rack with a bag of resistance bands, was not.

He had come in early to set up the room.

He had not meant to listen.

He should have walked out, but his feet would not move.

"Erickson caught me," Tanner said, and rubbed his face. "Last night. He didn't report me."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. He said ask him on day ten."

"That's weird."

"He hates me, Rory."

"He's allowed to hate you."

Tanner's head came up.

"What?"

Rory looked at the floor for a long moment.

"You don't know, do you?" he said. "You really don't know what he was."

"I know he was the quarterback before me."

"He was the best one Halden ever had."

Rory spoke slowly.

"Before you. Number seven. A first-round arm, everybody said. The pros were already calling."

Behind the rack, Elliot's grip tightened on the bands.

"He was a senior," Rory said. "He was going to start in the league, Tan."

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