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He shrugged Went back to studying the screens
“Kyle”
With a grunt, he said, “It sucks to blow out a knee; I’ve told you that before I had a boatload of cortisone injections, rehab in the off-seasons, knee braces year-round, just to cover it all up I pretended it didn’t hurt like hell I—” He shook his head and turned away
“Hey, what about Aed
Kyle whirled back to face me “I popped pills, Ari That was the reason I spent sowinter and spring breaks I needed physical rehab, yeah But I also had an addiction to kick Exactly why I’ht nohen my biceps hurt like hell”
Because his shirt pulled tight against hishis stitches, high up by his armpit
“I took a ton of painkillers,” he confessed “All the tih my last two years on the field was natural talent—I can assess exactly where the ball needs to go and it’s there I just need the receiver on the other end to do his job As for itatedly
“What about your studies?” I i up about all of this “You had a fantastic GPA” I’d seen his résumé I’d been the one to submit it to HR at the Lux, behind Dane’s back, because I’d believed in Kyle and wanted hiet his foot in the door, without being stonewalled from the onset, since he was my friend and Dane was of the superalpha variety
“Ari,” Kyle said “I’ about this”
“Did you cheat?” I asked “Is that how you e?”
“I didn’t cheat,” he said, his tone adamant “I did my homework, I read the books I was supposed to read, did what I was supposed to do It was just that … I couldn’t quite forhts on paper because I was doped up I could verbalize the I could pontificate until the cows came home”
I laughed “Classy”
He flashed his rin But it faded much too fast “When I stared at a blank piece of paper or co crystallized in —the playbook, feedback froet the picture, instead of what I needed to be concentrating on I was obsessed hether I’d ame So written communication was pretty much my downfall”
“How’d you get through your courses, then?”
He went to the double, glass-door fridge and pulled out two bottles of FIJI water He set them on the counter, twisted the cap off one, and handed it to s