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Lindy looks at me sheepishly through the reflection in the mirror. “All of it. My balcony door was open.”
“Okay... then I guess the floor is yours, kiddo. Do you have any questions?” I work my fingers through the warm curl before moving on to the next section.
“Is Brandon going to move in with us?” She looks up at me with hopeful eyes. “Like, officially?”
“We haven’t talked about that yet. Would you be okay if he did?” My stomach churns as I wait for her to answer me.
She chews her lower lip the way I always have, and I silently wonder if that’s learned or inherited. “Mom, I’ve loved Brandon for years. He’s a good guy. And he makes you smile. I was surprised when you made him sleep on the couch.”
I wrap one last section of hair around the barrel and stare back at her reflection. “Sweetheart, I know fifteen feels so grown to you, but it’s not. You’re still a child—an impressionable one. So I want you to hear what I’m about to say. Letting a man into your bed and into your life is never something you should do lightly. You need to make sure they respect you and your boundaries. That they’re with you for the right reasons. Especially you. You’re a wealthy young woman from an extremely high-profile family. I don’t want you to worry about everyone’s intentions, but I want you to be careful where boys are concerned. Listen to your intuition and follow your heart. I’ll always do my best to lead by example.Youare the biggest prize you can ever give a man, Madeline. Make sure they’re worth it.”
I place the wand back on the vanity and run my hands over her shoulders. “Do you understand?”
“Isheworth it?” she asks quietly.
“I’m pretty sure he’s worth everything. But he’ll never come before you. You’ll always be my highest priority. And I need to know you’re okay with all this before I do anything else.”
She turns and wraps an arm around my waist. “You gonna let him move off the couch now?”
“Are you okay with that?” My nerves triple in the time it takes for a smile to break across her face.
“Yeah. I’m okay with that. But I don’t want to hear any funny business.”
And... my sweet moment with my girl is done.
She laughs out loud when she sees the look on my face. “Love you, Mom.”
“I love you, sweetheart.”
BRANDON
Declan stretches out next to me on the team’s private plane and smacks my chest.
Fuck,that hurts.
“Good game today, man. You sure you want to give this up?”
The flight attendant comes over the speakers and tells us we’ll be taking off momentarily, and I close the shade. I fucking hate flying. You’d think by now it wouldn’t bother me, and maybe if we could do it without the taking off and the landing, I wouldn’t care. But yeah... not a fan.
I lean my head back and adjust my pillow. “Sorry, man. I’m done at the end of this season. Every fucking bone in my body hurts. I don’t think I could do another season of this if I wanted to. I need to be able to walk away while I can still physically walk. You got any clue how many more seasons you’ve got in ya?”
Dec reclines his seat, and our rookie running back behind him grumbles but isn’t dumb enough to voice it too loudly. “I’m not sure. I just know I’m not done yet. Belles has been great about it, but I know she wishes I would. She’s a rockstar, holding down the fort. I know it comes at a price. But I fucking love it. I’m not sure I’d know who I was without football.”
“Yeah. I feel that. But I figure it’s about time I find out.”
I pull my phone from my pocket and look at the texts I got earlier from my agent.
Hunter
Word’s getting out. I’ve had a few calls from networks asking if you’d be interested in discussing commentator positions. Let me know if you’re interested.
I also think you should consider doing a podcast. I’ve told Declan the same thing. You two would be great together.
Great fucking game, man.
I’ll call you tomorrow. We need to meet soon.
Brandon
