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Concussion.
June.
Dallas’s words from last week come screeching back to me, and tears sting my eyes.
“You’re my favorite person in the world,” he tells me, just like he does every night. He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, and he hooks his fingers around my chin. “But I need you to promise me something. Can you do that, pretty girl?”
“It’s hard to agree to a promise if you don’t tell me what it is first.” I trace the outline of his abdominal muscles, and his skin is warm under my touch. “Or is it a secret?”
“No. It’s just not what I’d prefer to be talking about when you’re naked.”
I smile and push up on my knees. I throw a leg over his thighs and straddle his hips. “What would you prefer to be talking about?”
“How badly I want to bend you over the bed.” Dallas leans forward and kisses my chest. “How I want to fuck you into the mattress and keep you here forever.”
My breath catches in my throat, and I cup his cheeks with my hands. When his eyes meet mine, I swear the brown twinkles.
“You can talk to me about that as much as you want. I’m not going anywhere, Dallas.”
His soft smile turns into a full-fledged grin. “I’m glad you’re not going anywhere, because I might give you my last name one day. Might put a shiny ring on your finger, too, and tattoo your name on my leg with all my other favorite things.”
“You’d never,” I say, and I let out a squeak of surprise when he lifts me off his legs and spins us so my head rests against the pillows.
“I would. Which is why I need you to promise me something. If I get hurt in a game, I need you to take care of June.”
“What?” I sit up and meet his gaze. “What are you talking about?”
“You saw what happened last week in San Diego. Their safety, J.J. Hanson, went into cardiac arrest on the field after a brutal hit. That could just as easily happen to any of us. If it does—if it happens to me—I need you to promise me you’ll look after June. I love Maverick and Reid, but I trust you the most, Maven. I know you’ll take care of our girl.”
I wait for him to laugh. To say he’s just joking around, but he doesn’t, and I start to cry. He’s as serious as can be, and that terrifies me. I can’t imagine a world without Dallas in it, and I never want to.
“Okay,” I whisper. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him close. His body rests on top of mine and I can feel his heartbeat, a reminder that he’s very much alive. That he’s okay, and that he’s always going to come home to us. “I promise.”
“Thank you,” he says, then kisses me.
His cheeks are wet, and there’s more behind the press of his lips and the way his hand shakes as he holds the back of my head. He doesn’t say anything else and neither do I. We stay like that, in the quiet, still night, just the two of us, until the sun starts to creep over the horizon.
The memory fades to reality, and I wonder if it was all a dream. I’ll blink and Dallas will be on his feet, laughing with his teammates and winking in my direction. I wait. I wait and I wait and Iwait, but he’s still there on the ground, and my heart cracks in two.
I know you’ll take care of our girl.
I pull my camera off my neck and hand it to Cassidy. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the players from both teams dropping to their knees and lowering their heads. There’s an AED in someone’s hands, and I turn my back on the field.
If I look, I won’t leave.
And Ihaveto leave.
I sprint to the tunnel and hit the button for the elevator a thousand times before it arrives. When I get to the doorway of the nursery, I find June playing with dolls with Benny, Jett’s younger brother. She’s oblivious to what’s going on, and I’d do anything to keep it that way.
“Maven?” Ms. Ann, the head of the nursery, asks. “What are you doing here?”
“Dallas,” I say, and it’s difficult to talk. “I need June.”
Her eyes widen in understanding and she nods. “June, it’s time to go,” she calls out.
June looks up and sees me. Her face breaks into an ear-splitting grin, and she dashes my way.
“Mae Mae,” she says, and I lift her up. She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses my cheek. “Hi.”
