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I grip my hair in my hand. “I’m at a loss. She’s not the kind of woman who’s into money, so I can’t just spend a bunch on a nice present for her or something.”
“Okay if I come in?” Shayna shouts from just beyond the turn into the locker room.
Lee tosses the ball back to me and looks around to make sure no one is undressed. “C’mon in, baby!”
She comes in wearing her Kingsmen football uniform and beelines it over to Lee. “Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt. I’ll be quick. I just wanted to give you this.” She bends at the waist and places a chaste kiss on his lips. “For good luck.”
Lee grins. “Get used to it, fellas. This is our new tradition this year. I need a good luck kiss from my girl for an injury-free season.”
“Can I get one of those too?” Darius shouts.
Everyone laughs and goes back to what they were doing.
“Babe, help us decide what grand gesture Brady can do to get Violet back,” Lee says, tugging her into his side.
She looks from him to me, her smile dropping. She knows something.
“What?” I ask.
“Violet was offered another job… in Florida. I’m pretty sure she’s taking it.”
My stomach lurches. “Florida?”
Shayna nods and looks at Lee.
“When does she have to leave?”
She thinks about it, seeming to do some calculations in her head. “My guess is any day now.”
“Fuck!” The ball drops from my hand and falls to the floor. “I can’t leave before the game.” I pace, and Chase and Miles continue to throw the football back and forth, saying the first who hits me loses. “If you fuckers hit me, you’re going down.”
I stop before the ball whizzes by me to Chase, and I give Shayna a pleading look. She has to have a solution. Then I go back to pacing.
Shayna steps forward. “I have an idea. What if I can get her here before the game? You can’t leave, but she doesn’t live far from here… assuming she’s still in town.”
I’m nodding before she’s even finished. “Yes, do that. I don’t care what it takes, you get her here.”
Fuck the grand gesture. I guess my words and my love for her will have to be enough.
Just like everything else in my life, Miles whips the ball and it hits my temple. “Motherfucker!”
They all laugh. “Just be happy it isn’t Burrows who threw it, then we’d be screwed for the game.”
I can’t think about the game. All I can think about is,Is Violet in sunny Florida right now?I feel like my body should have alerted me if the love of my life was miles away.
Thirty-three
Violet
I’m rushing through the security of the Kingsmen stadium.
When I saw Shayna’s text that Brady had been hurt before the game and that Theo was upset and asking for me, I dropped everything and rushed over.
An older man escorts me through the underground of the stadium. We take a bunch of turns and I have no idea where we are, but I can tell that this area is off-limits to the public because it’s all men in suits or people in uniforms with lanyards identifying themselves.
Eventually we come to the entrance to a hallway, and Shayna is there. I abandon the man with me and rush over. “Where’s Theo?”
She takes a big breath and, with a worried expression, says, “Come.” I walk with her until she stops again and takes both my hands. “Don’t hate me.”
