I stroke his cheek. “I’ll always be possessive of you.”
“You’re very territorial.”
“And you’re not?”
Cole scoffs, a smile teasing his lips. “I’m above petty jealousy.”
“Is that so?” I hum, tracing his dark brow. “It didn’t seem like it when Tiago stood too close the other day and you threatened his existence.”
“Threatened his existence?” Cole has the audacity to sound offended. “I would never?—”
“You said, and I quote,stand that close to him again, and I’ll string you up by your balls.”
A blush colors his cheeks before he can stop it. “I didn’t say itquitelike that.”
“I’m pretty sure those were your exact words. Want me to phone Tiago and Ronnie to confirm?” My hand falls away from his cheek when he shifts onto his side.
We stare at each other in the semi-darkness, and then he drops his eyes to my mouth and licks his lips. My heart beats harder in response. Cole always has that effect on me.
“I’ve seen him kiss you, Blaise. Short of bleaching my eyes, I can’t eradicate that image from my mind.”
“Trust me…” I kiss his lips. “You have nothing to worry about. You’re the only one I see. Besides, Tiago is as straight as they come.”
When I lie back down, Cole does the same. He takes my hand as I cushion my head with my arm. The feeling of his fingers entwined with mine is all I can focus on. That, and the soothing sensation of his thumb stroking the back of my hand.
Exhaling a content breath, I close my eyes.
For once in my life, I’m where I need to be.
I’m home.
Cole, 5 years later
Samson’s head rests on my shoulder as he snores. He’s been like this the entire bus journey home from our game two states over. We’re all exhausted. After nearly ten failed away games, it was about time we got a win.
Ever since I got scouted at my last ever college football game, my world has kind of been insane. Between my mom going to work in London after her second divorce to Gavin, I barely see her unless she FaceTimes, and even then, she’s in a different time zone and we usually miss each other.
I know she’s there for me, just like she knows I’m there for her. She’s happy, and that’s what matters. Her divorce from Gavin was pretty quick. Within weeks, she was free, and he remarried months later.
When I graduated and landed a spot on the team, I was worried about how me and Blaise would figure out our relationship. He was still in college, I was out in the wild, and we were trying the whole “living apart” for the worst two years of my life. Seeing Blaise only on the weekends and holidays was horrible. We were both needy and miserable, but we made it work.
I stare down at the ring on my left hand. It’s a plain white-gold band. Blaise has the same one, both with our initials engraved inside. He’d dropped to one knee when he showed up at my apartment in Cal a week after his graduation, and everything has been full steam ahead since.
The bus slows to a stop in the small neighborhood near Blaise’s company building – a businessman who lands deal after deal, completely dominating my income. I nudge Samson off me, and he groans.
“You sure you don’t want to stay at our place until tomorrow?”
He shakes his head and rubs his eyes. “I’ll wait at the airport.”
“Right.” I tell my team I’ll see them at practice in two weeks, since we now have time off, and I grab my bags and climb off the coach.
It drives away, leaving me with my suitcase rolling behind me, a yawn on my lips as I pull my luggage up to our gate. Entering the code, I check to see if any of the lights are on, but none are.
My phone ran out of battery this morning, and I haven’t had time to charge it, so I haven’t spoken to Blaise. He’ll be worried. He hates it when I travel, always checking in to make sure I’m okay. So my husband is probably losing his fucking mind right now.
Even though my dad is dead, thanks to him, he still panics.
The memories are there. The worry. The voices in our heads that haunt us. We both have nightmares that have us waking up in cold sweat, but we’re always there to comfort the other. My anxiety attacks have since vanished from the moment we bought this place.
