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“Age trumps fuckboy status,” I inform him.
This semester I signed up for marine biology, which is apparently easy and involves no essays, thank fuck.
“The last time I asked him for help with school, I almost stabbed him. He’s impossible.” “With a pen.” “I stand by my actions. It was an attempted stabbing and I’m not sorry.”
It’s me. I’m the girl.
“Hey,” I say. The edge of seriousness in my tone must be evident, because Fletch freezes halfway to reaching for his beer, and Demarius looks up from his phone. “I don’t know what things were like around here before me, but on my team, we respect women.” Darryl opens his mouth. I put up my hand to stop whatever stupid shit he’s going to say next. “Even if she’s your ex and you think she did you wrong.” I look him right in the eyes. “You got that?”
It would have been fun to see her react to the plays on the field, since everyone has a different style when they’re into it. Some people scream and clap, and others stay silent, pleading with the football gods for each play to go in their favor.
A couple days ago, he officially received his nomination for this fancy football award, and where was I? In the background, doing a silent happy dance as he called his parents to share the news.
“And you look like you’re about to commit murder for her,” says Coop. “I know she’s cool, but—” I turn on him. “Watch your mouth.” “James, come on. She’s going to think this means something.” My heart thuds. “And maybe it does. It’s not your fucking business.”
Joe Burrow just congratulated me, and I think I pissed myself a bit.” I smirk, even though he can’t see me. “He is very attractive.”
“I told your girlfriend she could take pictures of the practice, and practice doesn’t start until you have a football in your hands. Get over here.” I kiss her cheek quickly. “See you. Get my good side.” “That’s his butt,” Fletch says with a wink. “Make sure you get plenty of butt shots.” “He does have a nice butt,” she says, which of course makes half the squad hoot and holler.
I sneak a glance at James because we both know that’s not from hockey. Cooper and Sebastian got into a bar fight with some dudes at McNamara’s a week ago, and as far as I know, it’s on the list of things Richard Callahan is hopefully never going to find out about.
“Let’s go to sleep,” I murmur, stroking my hand through her tangled hair. “Otherwise, Santa won’t come.” She cups my jaw. “One day you’ll tell our kids that.”
If I could only pick one person to be around, one person to know, one person to love, for the rest of my life—I’d choose her.
“One day I will tell our kids that,” I whisper. My heartbeat quickens at the thought. “Because I’m yours, forever.”
He sees me. Before him, I don’t know if I believed in love—not really. I believed in the idea of it, the way it could hurt people, but I didn’t believe I would truly feel it, or that I deserved it anyway. Every step of the way, James has shown me I do deserve it, that I deserve someone like him, someone good and devoted who makes my heart sing whenever I see him. Someone who makes me feel like I’m worth something more than the life I resigned myself to when I was a teenager. Someone who pushes me and protects me and holds me when I cry.
And as much as I love football, I love her more.”
