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“Just tell me,” I replied, not having the patience in me to play this game. Stalling wasn’t going to change a damn thing.
He cleared his throat while I held eye contact with Patrick, wondering why it was my phone that rang before his, seeing the fear in the swirl of different blues in his eyes and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do to take the fear away.
“After a thorough investigation, the league could find no evidence of cheating in any of the Rush vs Royals games.”
“No shit,” I cut him off before he could say anything else. Maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but none of this shit should have gone down. We should never have been accused of this.
“We had to be sure, Malik.” His voice softened. “You have to understand where the league is coming from. This is unprecedented.”
“Is it, though?”
He automatically referred to Houston and Cullen. “The league knew about them before Houston coached the Royals. They went into the deal with Houston with an understanding that Houston was with Cullen.”
Which I already knew, and Cullen had said there were stipulations in Houston’s contract. Larry might not know and wouldn’t be able to share that with me.
I sighed, understanding but still frustrated. “We would never cheat—not now, not ever. So what does this mean going forward?”
“It means you’ll be playing next week. Both teams and the NFL will make formal announcements tomorrow.”
For the first time since this began, my lungs were able to exhale fully, but the truth was, I knew this wasn’t over. It wasn’t something I mentioned to Patrick because I hoped I was wrong, but this would just be the beginning. The NFL might announce we hadn’t done anything wrong, but that didn’t mean the fans would agree. They would be brutal. It was incredible how fast people could turn on you, how everyone thought they had all the answers, were always right, and loved nothing more than sharing their opinions with everyone—especially on the internet. And it was going to be real fucking hard for me to keep my mouth shut when people had something to say about Patrick.
“This part is over, but be careful, okay? I hate to say this, but people are going to scrutinize everything the two of you do. They’re going to be watching you like a hawk, and accusations don’t need evidence for people to latch onto them.”
No, no, they didn’t. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
We ended the call, and I’d just finished sharing all the information with Patrick when his call came through. He responded to everything he was told as if he hadn’t just sat through it all with me.
The second Patrick set his cell down, I took his mouth, not wanting to think about anything but him. He opened for me, letting me explore his mouth and suck his tongue. I shoved him down to his back, slicked his cock, and rode him until we both lost ourselves to the pleasure.
We fell asleep, stuck together with sweat and cum, tangled up in each other’s arms like we both knew how much the next few months were going to test us.
In the morning, I woke up before Patrick did, brushed his dark hair from his forehead, and kissed the corner of his mouth. He was so fucking beautiful…soft features even though he was tough as shit. And as big of an asshole as he could be, there was only what I would describe as a sweet innocence to him that always made me come undone—this man who could be so cocky and was so fucking good at everything he did had a tender heart that I wanted to protect at all costs.
I fucking love you.
The way he’d said that last night tied me up in knots, made me feel like the luckiest bastard alive.
Deciding I would check out the damage online before he got up, I quietly snuck out of bed. I grabbed my cell and pulled on my underwear, then slipped out to the balcony in our room. There were missed messages from Ramsey, Atwood, Houston, Baby G, and Coach already. I ignored them all, but before I could get online, a video call rang through from my mom.
I answered, having a feeling I would need a little of her strength. “Hey, Mama.”
“Hey, baby. I see they made an announcement that you and Whitt didn’t do anything wrong. They said the NFL is supporting your relationship while also protecting the integrity of the game.”
“Fuck that. When they say shit like that, it makes it sound like we are doing something wrong.”
“I know… How are you holding up?”
“As good as I can. The team mostly has my back. A few of the guys are being assholes, but the rest are cool. I’m worried about Patrick, though. His team hasn’t given him trouble, but he takes the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’s so damn afraid I’m going to lose my career and blame him.”
“Wow, what a coincidence. He sounds a whole lot like you,” she replied, and I chuckled. “You’re both good men. You play the game we all know you can play and hold on to each other. Don’t let the drama pull you apart, and everything will be okay.”
I nodded. “I love him. He’s it for me.”
Mama smiled. “I can’t wait to meet him.”
There was a sound behind me, and I turned just as Patrick came outside. “Hey, what are you—” He looked down, noticing my phone. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll go back inside.”
“Don’t you take another step, Patrick Whitt,” Mama said, and Patrick froze, eyes wide like he wasn’t sure what to do. Laughter fell from my mouth because I was pretty sure Patrick just met his match in my mama.
