AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, gross. Keep the make out session to yourself,” Maverick says. “Dal, call me whenever. Maven, you know I love you. Take care of my boy. He’s fragile.”
“I will,” I say, and take the phone from Dallas’s hand. “Bye, Maverick.”
“We have a couple days to figure this out. Shawn said he’d give me to Thursday to see if my idea can pan out,” Dallas says when I end the call.
“Are you going to tell me what it is?”
“No.” He rests his forehead against mine. “Not yet. I don’t want to get our hopes up.”
It’s my turn for my phone to chime with a notification, and dread settles in my stomach.
“Can you get it?” I whisper.
“Sit up,” he says, and pulls my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. His hand lingers for a second, and he hums when I arch my back into him. “I just wanted an excuse to touch your ass. I’m glad the universe gave me one.”
I laugh despite the tension I’m feeling. “Will you read it for me?”
“It’s from Shawn. ‘Maven, attached you’ll find a meeting request to discuss the disciplinary action for your violation of team and league rules. Next steps will be discussed, which, upon review of evidence, could lead to termination. Please be in my office by 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. Thank you for your time. Shawn Holmes.’”
“He couldn’t have made that more formal if he tried. The man has seen me in diapers and he’s acting like I’m some nameless employee he’s never met.” I groan, frustrated. “So much for your plan. Guess my fate has been decided.”
“Fuck.Fuck.”Dallas stands up and walks around the room. “Maven. Please, baby. Don’t go there tomorrow. I can’t live with the thought of you giving up your job for me.”
“I’m not giving it up.” I stand and join him in the middle of the room. “It’s just a pause until the league can get their shit together with these outdated rules. But now that I know I’mgoodat photography, I can do other things with it, too. It doesn’t have to be sports.”
“This is my fault.” He hugs me and rubs his hand down my back. “I should’ve stayed away from you. I should’ve behaved.”
I hold my breath, afraid of what he might say next. “Do you regret it?”
“No,” he whispers, and I melt into him. “And I feel like an asshole because of it.”
“The only way for me to keep my job is if we break up.” I pull back to look at him. “Do you—is that?—”
“Never.Fuck, no, Maven. I told you I’m all in, and that includes right now, when things get hard. What if we both quit? Maybe that will get the league to listen to how fucking stupid it is that we can’t be together and both keep our jobs.”
“Your contract isn’t guaranteed. You’d lose out onmillions, Dallas.”
“So? I can have ten bucks to my name, but as long as I have you, I’ll be happy.”
I laugh and my eyes sting with tears again. “You’ve been reading too many books.”
“Never enough romance books, I say.”
“I love you. I love how willing you are to help, but this is something I need to do on my own. Maybe I can get Shawn to see it from a different side. Maybe it doesn’t have to end in termination.”
“Maybe,” Dallas agrees. “Maybe it doesn’t. But we can’t control that anymore. Tell me again how much you love me instead, sunshine.”
And I do. For a minute, we pretend. We slip into a fantasy world where no one gets in trouble. Where we get to keep being coworkers and partners and everything isperfect.
FORTY-NINE
MAVEN
I don’t sleep.
Dallas doesn’t either. I felt him tossing and turning next to me all night. Every time we drifted too far away from each other, he’d reach across the mattress and pull me back to him, like the tide to the sand.
It feels like a cloud of dread has been hovering over my head since I got Shawn’s message last night, but the second I’m in Dallas’s arms, I’m calm.
