A wave of dizziness. Fast. Brutal.
The whole room tilted.
My boot missed the rung and I slipped.
The weight slammed out of my arms, ladder rattling as I lost grip. The fall wasn’t far, but it stole the breath from my chest, knocked my skull into a jolt of white. By the time I blinked, I was flat on my back, dust swirling, Jerome hovering.
Daddy’s face loomed over me, his brown eyes wide and stricken like he’d just seen a coffin closing.
“Hospital,” he barked.
“No.” My voice was thin. I pushed up too fast, the world still spinning. “I’m fine.”
“The hell you are,” Daddy snapped, his voice raw with something I’d only heard once before—when Mama left.
But I wouldn’t go. Hardheaded as always. My pride felt heavier than my body.
Finally, Daddy shook his head, jaw tight. “Go home, Rayna. Now. I’ll finish the day. Don’t argue.”
I didn’t. My body ached, but my pride hurt the worst. And underneath both, something quieter, something I refused to name yet—like my body had just tried to tell me a truth I wasn’t ready to hear.
By the timeI stretched out on the couch, the afternoon had sunk low. My head throbbed, stomach unsettled, but Itold myself it was nothing. I wasn’t about to sit in an ER for hours just to hear the worddehydration.I hadn’t been drinking enough water. That much was true, and Mama always told me that was a dangerous thing.
The knock came heavy, and certain.Quentin.
He stepped in before I could even lie. His eyes swept over me—messy hair, blanket half covering me, a sweating glass of water on the table—and landed on my face like he’d already read the whole story.
“Why didn’t you call me?” His voice was low with something deeper than anger.
I opened my mouth, ready to fuss, but he cut me off.
“Uncle Leon told me. He got my number from the tournament signup.” He ran a hand over his jaw, breath rough. “Rayna, you could’ve been hurt bad. You think I want to hear that secondhand?”
My chest tightened. I wanted to say I didn’t need babysitting, that this was just the job. But then he crouched down so we were eye to eye.
“When shit happens with you, Rayna… you can call your Daddy. Call your brother. But call me too.” His voice softened, his gaze pinning me in place. “I’m here for you. Let me be here.”
Something cracked open inside me, and the small part of myself I always kept tucked away split wide. Tears burned hot and sudden. I pressed my lips together, furious at myself for being this soft, for letting him see me unravel. But he reached anyway, pulling me into his arms. His heartbeat pounded under my ear, steady and present, his palm wide on my back like he wasn’t letting go.
I sank into it. Against every instinct to hold myselfapart, I let him hold me. My chest shook, my eyes stung, and all I could think was:what the hell is happening to me?
I wasn’t the woman who cried in a man’s arms. I wasn’t the woman who leaned. I’d built my whole life on never needing anyone to catch me.
But Quentin didn’t just catch me—he refused to let me fall alone.
And maybe—just maybe—that was the scariest part.
“The closer you get to the goal, the harder the heart beats.”
Chapter 21
The RedZone
Quentin’s hand pressed light at the small of my back as we stepped onto Daddy’s porch days later. To anyone else it was nothing, but I knew better. He always needed that point of contact. And maybe, even if I’d never admit it, so did I.
Nerves ran through me like live current. Him here.On Steelers Sunday. Daddy in his apron. Darren with his towel. Uncle Leon with his beer and too-loud mouth.
“You good?” Quentin asked, his mouth close enough to graze my ear and made me shiver from the needed contact.
