Ineligible Receiver

INELIGIBLE RECEIVER THE PACKAGE DEAL BOOK 5 RHELAND RICHMOND EMERSON BECKETT Copyright © 2023 Rheland Richmond & Emerson Beckett All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, is pure coincidence. As are any similarities to any businesses, events or locations. All products and brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holder and or company. I do not own the rights to these, nor do I claim to. Cover Art: Cosmic Letterz Editing: Jamie Piatt Sign up for Rheland & Emerson’s newsletter for exclusive content and to learn more about her latest books: https://www.rhelandrichmond.com/newsletter https://www.emersonbeckett.com/newsletter CONTENTS Content Warning Foreword Prologue - Part 1 - Cooper Prologue - Part 2 - Greg 1. Cooper 2. Greg 3. Cooper 4. Greg 5. Cooper 6. Greg 7. Cooper 8. Greg 9. Cooper 10. Greg 11. Cooper 12. Cooper 13. Greg 14. Cooper 15. Greg 16. Cooper 17. Greg 18. Cooper 19. Cooper 20. Greg 21. Cooper 22. Greg 23. Cooper 24. Greg 25. Cooper 26. Greg 27. Cooper 28. Greg 29. Greg 30. Cooper 31. Cooper 32. Greg 33. Cooper 34. Greg 35. Cooper 36. Greg 37. Cooper 38. Greg 39. Cooper Epilogue - Greg Sneak Peek A Letter From Rheland & Emerson Upcoming In The Package Deal Series Previously In The Package Deal Series Also by Rheland Richmond About Rheland Richmond Also By Emerson Beckett About Emerson Beckett. CONTENT WARNING This book contains instances of homophobia, mention of conversion therapy, and heated verbal arguments between parents and their adult children. There is no physical violence whatsoever. FOREWORD Ineligible Receiver is the fifth book in The Package Deal Series. Cooper and Greg have been with us since the first book, The Quarterback Keeper, so their story covers three years. Along the way through Pass Interference, Unnecessary Roughness, and Illegal Motion, we’ve dropped proverbial breadcrumbs about them. For you to get the most enjoyment out of their story, after the Prologues from both characters, we have written their backstory, starting from when they first met. We’ve given you all the details and answered the questions that have driven readers crazy over the first four books. Their story is too eventful and emotional to leave to conversational dialogue, and we wanted you to know it all! With that said, the present-day story starts in Chapter 19, with the edited prologues and additional content. It’s our hope that you will read through it as if meeting them for the first time in QK. We’ve added some date and event markers to help you keep track of where the story is in relation to the first four books. As always, thank you for loving our men from Portland. Emerson and Rheland “In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.” – Maya Angelou PROLOGUE - PART 1 - COOPER NEW YEAR’S EVE How did I let Christian talk me into this? It’ll be fun, Coop, he said. You can hang out with us, he said. You’re not a loser because you’re alone on New Year’s Eve, he said. Okay, maybe that one was me trying to be positive. Maybe if I got wasted and just sat in the corner watching the countdown on TV it would all pass quickly and I wouldn’t feel a thing. But I knew that wouldn’t happen. And I also knew this wasn’t like me. I was the happy one. I made everyone laugh. But ever since the day before Thanksgiving, my world had been turned upside down. All I knew was I missed Greg with every fiber of my being, and now I was left with a gaping hole in my chest where he’d taken up residence. Sure, he was hot as fuck in his uniform and I’d been attracted to him the first time I saw him at the Pirates season opener with Christian. Then when I talked with him after the game, I knew he was going to be someone important to me. I had no one to blame but myself for what I was feeling. Hey, Alex, introduce me to #88, and we’ll be even. When I walked into the private party wearing my best black jeans and the camel-colored cashmere sweater Christian had given me for Christmas, I was fairly confident I could make it through an hour unscathed. Maybe he wouldn’t even be here. A man could hope. But one scan around the room and there he was, looking as uncomfortable as I felt. He leaned against the bar as some girl talked his head off about who knows what. The half-smile on his face told me he wasn’t interested in her. She was probably a jersey chaser looking for a way to become a WAG. And why the fuck did I care? Because it hurt. And I felt like I’d lost everything I ever wanted. I’d lost him. While our mutual friends were busy with their boyfriends and husbands, we’d spent the last three years getting to know each other. They had no idea that we’d been spending a lot of time together. We played video games at my place and bar-hopped our way through Portland. Back up, it was more like I dragged him along by force. And he was the only person who knew about Adam, the guy I’d met in Seattle. Greg never liked him. Guess I know why now. Our friends thought we’d avoided each other since late November because we’d had a falling out. But they couldn’t be more wrong. An argument would never keep me away from a friend. I simply