I didn’t expect her to come running back immediately, but I was beginning to think I should have known better.
That I couldn’t atone for my behavior; that maybe I’d read it wrong and she didn’t care. I’d spent fourteen years thinking about her daily, and now the reality was dawning on me that perhaps she hadn’t thought about me at all.
But the slap…
I hadn’t been a hundred percent sure she’d be in the boss’s office when I’d headed straight up after the game, but since I’d woken up that morning, my body had buzzed with a latent energy I’d never felt before.
Some might have said it was simply Opening Day excitement, but that wasn’t it.
I’d known.
I don’t know how I’d known, but I had.
Marnie Matthews had finally arrived in the city.
I hadn’t bothered to shower. I came straight off the field and ran up the five flights of stairs to Penn Shepherd’s office, still covered in black and gold glitter from the canons going off after our win.
I stalked down the corridor and then stopped dead. The door to his office was ajar, and the second I heard her voice, I nearly fell to my knees. Still the same soft, lilting tones, but with a new sound; a delicate gruffness like she was getting over a cold. It coated my skin, covering me with the same protection it had done back in high school, or before any game when she’d told me she loved me.
I’d stood outside for thirty seconds, absorbing the sound of her voice, quenching the nerves I’d never felt before in my life.
Or a handful of times before.
I chuckled quietly. Of everything I’d done in my life, Marnie was the only one who could get my nerves spinning like a fastball.
I pushed open the door and there she was.
Even though I’d known she was on the other side, I’d still been shocked into stillness when I’d seen her. Even if she wasn’t burned into my soul or tattooed on my body, I’d recognize her anywhere.
She hadn’t changed a bit.
She spun around at the sound of my voice, thick dark hair flicking into her face as she did. My fingers itched to run through it again, just like I used to.
It had once been my favorite thing in the world… it probably still was.
Yet one look at her face and I knew I had my work cut out for me if I ever wanted to do it again. Fourteen years, and the fire that burned in her eyes could have been lava if I didn’t know better.
Then came the slap.
Another thirty seconds of being the recipient of her death stare, and she’d run off. I’d been left alone in the boss’ office, standing there with a grin you could have seen from space.
That was six days ago, and I hadn’t figured out what to do next.
My mind was still firmly on Marnie when I picked up the remote and turned off the TV. It was still on her as I took a hot shower and fisted my cock. And just like every other night, Marnie Matthews, owner of my heart, was the last thing I thought of as the tiredness I was drowning in engulfed me.
It dawned on me as my eyelids closed that I was nothing more than a lovelorn teenager.
Icounted twenty-seven billboards with my face on them between my apartment and The Lions Stadium. No wonder the Yankees were pissed.
Penn Shepherd had taken over the entire city with the black and gold team colors.
I avoided Times Square at the best of times, but until the giant screens played something other than Lions interviews, andLions social media on loop, not to mention the official team photos, I would be avoiding it forever.
It wasn’t like all the images were of me. My twenty-five teammates were also included, but if I didn’t know better, I’d say all mine had more airtime. If I could be bothered to prove it, I would. The New York Lions PR juggernaut was hurtling down the highway, and heaven help anyone who got in the way. This included said billboards, as well as social media presence, print interviews, and interviews across broadcast and network television. I’d had a request to go on The Tonight Show, but responded with a hard fucking pass.
Billboards were my limit, and that’s only because I could hide among the rest of the team.
I was also plenty used to billboards and ad campaigns featuring yours truly. I could handle billboards. But since I’d moved to this city and my face was somewhere new, the interest in it had dialed up somewhat, to put it mildly.
