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“Morning,” I whisper. I touch his face and he smiles slowly under the morning light. “How did you sleep?”
“Morning, pretty girl.” He kisses my forehead and rubs his hand down my arm. “Not well, but I love waking up to you.”
“Me too.” I roll onto my side and look up at him. The bruise on his cheek seems to have dulled overnight, and there’s a twinkle in his eye. “What time do you need to be at the stadium?”
“One. I figured I’d stay here with June until…” he trails off and clears his throat. “Reid is on standby for babysitting duties if today goes to shit and you want the afternoon off to clear your head.”
“I think it’s a matter ofwhenthings go to shit, not if.” I bury my face in his bare chest and sigh. “June is the highlight of myday, and after my morning with Shawn, I’m probably going to need some cheering up. I thought about it all night, and I don’t even know what I’m going to say to him. There’s no way to defend our actions, and I think the easiest thing to do is just take the punishment and move on.”
“There might not be a punishment.”
“Come on, Dallas. We both know there’s going to be a punishment. He held you against a wall and tried to choke you.”
“I think that was less because we work together and more because of who you are to him.” Dallas brushes the hair out of my face and traces the shell of my ear. “He’s going to be fair. He loves you, and he’s not going to hurt you. He knows how much this job means to you. It’ll probably be a suspension at most. You and I don’t have any direct interaction on the field. It’s totally different from our old assistant coach; she was with the guys every day.”
“You’re right,” I agree, but it brings me little comfort. A huge unknown is looming on the horizon, and I hate that I can’t skip ahead to the ending. “I should go get ready.”
He kisses my shoulder and smiles. “Whatever happens, you’re going to come home and June and I will be waiting for you. We’re going to love you more this afternoon than we do right now. And that’s how it’s going to be every day, Maven. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sports photographer or temporarily unemployed. We’re still so proud of you, and we’re still going to cheer you on, no matter what.”
“Thank you.” I squeeze his hand and throw back the sheets. My heart thumps in my chest, but the longer I’m next to him, the more relaxed I feel. “How lucky am I to not have one love of my life, but two?”
“We’re the lucky ones, honey. Call me as soon as you talk to him.”
“I will.” I give him the best smile I can muster and head for the closet, all the while feeling a lot like I’m heading to my own funeral.
UPS Field is empty.
Twelve hours ago, this place was alive with confetti and screaming fans. Reporters were asking for interviews and the players were celebrating. Now it’s eerily quiet. There’s no music or cheering. There’s no applause from the crowd. The only sound is my shoes echoing down the hall as I make my way to Shawn’s office.
I try to walk slowly and delay the inevitable, but my feet move on their own accord. It’s like they know what’s coming and they’re ready to get it over with.
I wait outside Shawn’s door and try to take a deep breath. I roll my shoulders back, and when the clock on my phone turns to nine, I walk inside.
“Hi.” I close the door behind me and lean against it. “You wanted to see me?”
“Sit,” Shawn says, gesturing to the seats in front of his desk, and nothing about his tone is friendly.
I take the one on the left and familiarity hits me. It’s the same one I took the day I interrupted his meeting with Dallas. The meeting that kickstarted what got us tothis point,all those months ago.
It’s a full circle moment, and as I get comfortable on the leather and brace myself for the news I don’t want to hear, I can’t help but remember how different Dallas looked back then.
His hunched shoulders and the exhaustion on his face. The defeated look in his eye and the sadness that exuded from him,like all he wanted was for someone to tell him howgoodof a dad he is and ask how they could help.
“How are you?” I ask, trying to make casual conversation. Shawn narrows his eyes, and I know he doesn’t want any of my pleasantries.
“What were you thinking, Maven?” he asks, and I guess we’re diving right into this. “Youknewyou weren’t allowed to get involved with anyone on the team. You signed a contract stating you understood the team and league rules, didn’t you?”
I swallow. “Yes.”
“But you violated them anyway.Why?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I guess I wasn’t thinking about those things when I was with Dallas off the field. He’s not the football player everyone loves when he’s around me. He’s just himself. A dad. A good friend. That’s all it was at the start—friends.One thing led to another and we started to fall for each other. If I matched with him on a dating app or met him at a bar, it would’ve been the same thing.”
“Except, in this version, he’s the coworker you were supposed to stay away from. Goddammit. I’m really fucking pissed off by this. By the lying. By the secrecy. By the blatant disregard for the rules. I’m the one who went to bat for you and recommended you to the media staff. And don’t even get me started on him. I want to fucking kill him.”
“Don’t,” I say sharply. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“He sure as hell did. This is after watching me deal with the fallout of an assistant coach doing the same fucking thing years ago. Dallas does it, and, what? Thinks he can get away with it because he’s the best kicker in the league? Like the rules don’t apply to you two because of who you are to me? There’s no special pass for being two idiots, no matter how we might know each other.”
