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I thought I’d gone crazy.
But then I saw her again. And I kept seeing her.
Around town. On the streets. At that cupcake shop. At parties.
Always around. Always with her eyes on me.
I’ve got a crush on you.
I mean, what the fuck.
What in the fucking fuck is she thinking?
Either she’s extremely stupid and naive.
Or really fucking brave, stalking the enemy.
Doesn’t she know how dangerous I am? Doesn’t she fucking know that I could do things to her?
Use her, abuse her. Goddamn ruin her just to fuck with her brother. Just to take out years and years of frustration that her piece-of-shit brother has caused me. Just to be the goddamn best soccer player in town. Which I already am, but it would be nice to crush the fucking competition.
Good thing I sent her home bleeding and crying.
Even though it still makes me want to punch something and then kneel at her feet so I can bandage her wounds, I’m glad that I scared her enough that she’ll keep her distance from now on.
Which again makes me want to punch something.
But whatever.
I’ll survive.
In fact, I’ll thrive. Now that this chapter has been closed, I can forget about her and focus on what’s important: the game. My career. Being the best. Being better than the best so I can get out of this shitty town and never look back.
When I return to the party, after making sure that she got home all right — something that I shouldn’t have done but couldn’t stop myself — I go in search of my targets. I find them by the pool, more or less in the same spot as before. Their eyes widen when they see me approach, almost ready to flee. But they’re drunk and hence slow, and I’m faster than the entire team put together. So I reach them before they can take more than two steps back.
Grabbing both their collars, I growl, “You ever talk to her, touch her, or even look at her, I’ll break your fucking body, yeah?”
Joe and Rocky nod instantly and vigorously like bobbleheads.
Fucking idiots.
“And you tell that to everyone on the team.” I shake them to emphasize. “Every fucker on the team here tonight. No one touches her. Or they deal with me.”
They both sputter and nod again, stumble over their own and each other’s words.
Satisfied, I let them go and they scuttle away.
Then turning around, I stalk out the way I came, completely over this fucking shitshow of a party. I need to get back home anyway. I’ve got an early practice tomorrow — earlier than these douchebags — and my coach, who also happens to be my brother, is going to fucking shit a brick if I’m late.
Actually he’s going to shit a brick if I’m not ten minutes early.
Because I’m the team’s captain and as such I need to work harder than the others.
I’ve got a crush on you.
I get in my truck, slamming the door loudly in the wake of her words.
Stupid, naive, annoying words.
Of the girl I saw last summer.
Made of cream and candy.
Who glows in the dark like a firefly.
My rival’s little sister.
Tempest fucking Jackson.
Part 2
Chapter Four
Present
If they ask me how I met the love of my life, I’ll tell them it was at a hospital.
Granted, it’s not a very popular meeting place. But fate is fate. And love is love, isn’t it? You never know when and where it’s going to strike.
In our case, it struck us at the most unlikely place. At the NICU ward. I saw her tiny little body — even tinier and littler than the usual babies because she was a few weeks early, a preemie — hooked up to wires and tubes and instantly fell in love.
The kind of love that I knew at the moment — still do actually — will last a lifetime.
The kind of love that’s massive and pure and absolutely life-changing.
A beacon.
Just like her name: Halo.
Halo Cora Jackson.
She’s five months old and she’s the love of my life.
Oh, and she’s my niece.
Her eyes are big and blue and twinkling like jewels and she’s got the cutest laugh ever.
Strapped to my chest in a cute little baby sling, she blinks up at me and I tell her, “Isn’t this nice, just you and me?”
“Pah.”
I bend down to kiss her sweet-smelling forehead. “I know, I know. I’m being selfish, taking you away from your mommy and your other aunts just so you and I can have some alone time. But can you blame me? You’re my bestie.”
“Gah. Gah. Pah,” she replies as she flails her fist at me.
I catch it and place a kiss on it. “Plus I know you love me too, don’t you? You love your auntie Tempest.”
Halo blows a spit bubble at me, as if in agreement.
I chuckle. “Yeah, you do, my cute little birdie.”
