Except, Miami wasn’t allowing me the liberties I felt I was owed. Therefore, I found a team that would. I’d been playing ball since I was six-years-old, and I didn’t know anything else. Being a quarterback was who I was. It was how I was made, and I was tired of playing for a team I didn’t feel challenged enough in.

I wanted the notoriety of coaching, of taking a team and making it the best it could be. The Super Bowl ring and the Vince Lombardi Trophy was always the end goal, and I wanted to win it with a team who were the underdogs. A team that had great bones but needed a leader.

I spent the last hour at this damn press junket, and all I kept thinking about was the Morelli Christmas Gala. I needed to unwind and have a fucking drink. I attended it every year. For the next hour, question after question was thrown in my face. The more personal it was, the better the ratings were. I knew how this game was played, having a love/hate relationship with the press.

“Jax,” the same reporter called out. “Do you think you’re ever going to settle down?”

I grinned. “Not anytime soon.”

The same journalist added, “You just celebrated your thirty-fourth birthday a few weeks ago. Do you see yourself getting married maybe? Starting a family? A son who can possibly carry on your legacy?”

I resisted the urge to tell him to go fuck himself. I came from a broken family. My parents were divorced, and I didn’t have a relationship with either of them. We spoke over the phone for birthdays and holidays which pretty much summed up our relationship. I was the only child, so football was my life.

The last time I saw my father it ended with heated words I didn’t want to get into. It had been over three years. My mother, on the other hand, I saw her a few months ago. She showed up at one of my games, asking for money. I gave it to her. I always did.

“Any of the model’s you’ve been seen with this last month finally catch your attention enough to possibly become a girlfriend?” another reporter questioned, bringing my attention over to her.

“I don’t have time for any distractions that include anything more than meaningless fun.”

To be completely honest, I’d never been in a relationship that wasn’t sexual. I fucked, plain and simple. I liked it that way.

No strings.

No bullshit.

No expectations.