Page 27 of Fearlessly Us

I scoff. “Such a rule follower. Catie, I’m a famous football player, which means people let me do any damn thing I want, and what I want to do is make sure you don’t have to spend the next few hours on this bathroom floor.”

“I’m fine,” she mutters. “You can seriously go. Like I said, I’ve dealt with this a million times before. It looks worse than it is.”

I can see the lie all over her face, pain still swimming in her eyes. “No way, baby. Athletes never let the team down. I walked in on you heaving your guts up while kneeling on a bathroom floor, which means we’re teammates now. Bonded like glue. You’re stuck with me.”

“How delightful for me,” she says dryly, voice dripping with sarcasm, but I can see something like relief in her eyes at the knowledge she won’t be alone, and I swear to god she won’t be. Not as long as she’ll let me be with her.

That, at least, is a promise I can try to make.

“So, it’s settled. I’ll pilfer a wheelchair from the nurses’ station and whisk you out of here like we’re fleeing a heist. You can wear my hat if you want to go incognito, and I’ll have you behind the tinted windows of my truck before you even realize we’re on the move.”

Caitlin rolls her eyes again even as she winces at another wave of pain. “It’s not pilfering if it’s something of actual monetary value. What you’re planning on doing is legit stealing. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania frowns on that.”

I sigh dramatically. “Talk more smart lawyer to me. That’s hotter than the pink lace.”

“Erase that from your memory,” she orders. “As a matter of fact, erase this entire interlude from your memory. No one has ever—” She cuts herself off, slamming her mouth shut, but I hear the words she doesn’t say.

No one has ever seen me like this.

I understand without her having to say it. No one knows this is what she deals with, month after month. I wonder how she’s kept it from all the women in her life. From her twin brother, knowing how close they all are. How much it must have taken from her to face this alone for all these years. Looking at Caitlin’s still slightly pale face, the dimness shrouding her gray eyes, the way her body hunches slightly in on itself, like she’s waiting for the pain she knows is still hovering in the distance, just waiting to strike, the need to make sure she’s never alone again is overwhelming.

It’s a sacred thing, I realize, to be let into this guarded woman’s inner world, even if it was just by accident and I know for certain she would prefer to bounce me right out of there if she could.

I make a silent promise to do whatever I can to make myself worthy of that gift.

Pasting a smirk on my face, I lean in and press a kiss to her forehead, smiling against her skin when she stiffens and then relaxes as I linger there, somehow unable to make myself pull away. Being this close to her reminds me of the other kiss we shared and how much I want my lips on hers again. Soon. “Never. I’m going to remember that pink lace until the day I die.” Easing back, I catch her gaze and then slowly, deliberately run my knuckles down her cheek, keeping her eyes on me with a hand under her chin. “Your secret is safe with me. Any of your secrets. All of them. I’ll keep every one of them safe.”

That same relief flashes in her eyes, and for the briefest of seconds—so brief I would miss it but for the fact that I can’t tear my eyes away from her—she leans into my touch, and for reasons unknown, that feels just the tiniest bit miraculous.

“So what do you say? You ready to bust out of here?”

Caitlin blows out a sharp breath, the relief in her eyes replaced by a haze of pain. “I’m not sure if this is such a good idea,” she says, uncertainty in her tone. “This can all be a little unpredictable. I can’t guarantee I won’t throw up in your car.”

I shrug, unbothered. “During Tyler’s rookie year after his first NFL win, Cam and I took him out and he drank so much we had to carry him back to the car Weekend at Bernie’s style. He threw up all over the backseat for the entire fifteen minutes it took to get from the club to my house, and it took six detailing appointments to get the whole thing cleaned. My truck has seen some things. Come on, Catie. Let me take you home.”

“Can you go back and get the paperwork I left in the room? Maybe tell them I’ll have to reschedule?”

The fact that she thinks of the paperwork despite being in so much pain feels exactly in character for her, and maybe it’s a small thing, but it feels monumental she would ask for help with it. I nod. “Of course. Anything.”

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, studying me intently like she’s seeing me for the first time. And when she nods and says, simply, “Okay,” it feels like I’ve won the most important prize in the world.

CHAPTER TEN

CAITLIN

Smart Bitches

Sarah

I’ve never done this before, but SOS BITCHES THERE’S FUCKERY AFOOT.

Me

Who is this?

Maya

OH MY GOD CAIT DID A JOKE.