Page 53 of Lowering His Guard

I growl. May isn’t cute. She’s sexy. And irresistible. And funny. And more than a bit crazy.

“Ah, it does. Be careful.”

He’s right. I need to be careful. I push thoughts of how sexy May is out of my mind.

I shove my bag in my locker and sit down to remove my shoes and shirt. I shouldn’t need to go full nude this time. I weighed myself at the resort before I drove over. I was two pounds under my goal. Thank fuck.

I stand on the scale. Knox checks the numbers and nods. “Good job.”

I wait until he writes my weight down on his chart before digging a protein bar out of my bag. I rip it open and bite off half of it.

“It’s a shame you’re retiring.”

I shrug. It’s a done deal. There’s no sense discussing it. There’s no sense thinking about how football is my whole life and I’m losing it. And my identity.

“You’re still young. You have a few good years left in you.”

A few good years and Jace will be out of the house. I’ll have lost my chance to spend quality time with him before he’s a man. I’ve lost enough years with him.

I finish chewing my bite before answering. “Decision is made.”

I love football but I love my son more. I’ll figure out what to do with myself without football. My career was never going to last forever.

Nolan enters the locker room. He glances between us. “Good. You’re not running around the field in a rubber sweat suit.”

“Rubber sweat suits aren’t effective for losing weight.” Although I seriously considered one yesterday.

He slaps my shoulder. “Just kidding. Glad you made weight.”

Tanner peeks around the corner. “Is it safe to come in?”

Gage shoves past him. “Why wouldn’t it be safe? It’s a locker room, not a hostage situation.”

“Ha!” Tanner barks out as he enters. “A hostage situation would be safer than dealing with Coach Knox after not making weight two times in a row.”

He’s not wrong. Coach takes a player not making weight as a personal disrespect to him.

“Practice is in fifteen minutes. Don’t be late!” Coach announces before leaving.

Corbin hurries inside. His hair is a mess, and he has bags underneath his eyes. When Tanner notices, his eyes widen, and he opens his mouth to speak.

“Don’t,” Corbin grumbles. “I don’t want to hear whatever dumb shit is about to come out of your mouth.”

Tanner flutters his eyelashes. “Me? Dumb shit?”

Gage pushes him. “Yes, you. Goofball. The man who thinks pretending to date a woman is the solution to all of his problems.”

“I’m not pretending to date Alaia.”

I tune them out when Corbin sits next to me. “You okay?”

“Didn’t sleep well.”

Unlike Tanner, I have no desire to pry into Corbin’s private life. “Sucks,” I mutter.

Tanner groans. “You had the perfect opportunity to ask why he didn’t sleep well and you dropped the ball. Some fullback you are.”

I narrow my eyes at him until he squirms and scurries away to his locker.