The Guy in the Middle (The Underdogs, #3)

by Kate Stewart

“I follow Grand ball. It’s in my blood.”

Lance Prescott is a triple threat; face, body, and infuriating confidence.

I just had my nuts snipped off and handed to me in a matter of seconds and by none other than a ball busting little witch with a superiority complex.

Hahahahah!

I want to Make. You. Come. Not start a conversation.”

Oh dear lord

For other women, I’m sure a football star is all they see, but I see the accompanying stars that make up his constellation.

🥺

Because underneath him I feel perfect, not just adequate or passable. I feel precious. I feel beautiful.

We are alike in a lot of ways; ambitious, hard-working, goal-oriented, family-oriented, and loners who don’t easily trust.

“As in Coach Ryan Elliot’s daughter?” Her eyes fill with fresh tears, and she nods. I spring out of bed and glare down at her. “Your dad is my fucking coach!?”

OH NOOOOO HAHAHAHA

“What if this moment, right here, is the moment that changes your life?”

❤️

“I don’t want anyone else, Harper. No one. You have to believe that by now.”

“She’s a six at most, why are you wasting time with a six?” “Add five to that.” “What?” “She’s my eleven.”

Ugh 🥺🥺🥺

“You know you gave me…,” I breathe through the pain, “you gave me a love story, a real love story, even if it doesn’t have the ending I was hoping for.”

The minute the song dies, I hear a collective sigh of relief throughout the bar. But when the opening notes to “Everywhere” by Tim McGraw sound again, I feel the tension in the air rise.

Oof oh no theooo

Because of the way we fit, the way we’ve always fit. I hadn’t imagined a single moment of it. I’d romanticized nothing. We were—and still are—as good as my memory of us, and even now, I can’t understand why she walked away completely.

She’s light, and you can’t hide light, you can’t hold it and keep it. It’s unattainable. And maybe that’s what Harper is for me—a light I can’t keep.

But I’m no longer just a dancer in love with a football player. I’m a woman in love with a man I can’t and refuse to live without.

Get yo man honeyyy

I’m a man standing in the wake of lost love, bitterness in my heart, and singed beyond anything I can control. I was supposed to have left her there, in that apartment, in that city, but she’s been with me the whole time, and her sudden appearance is only worsening the fact—I can’t get over this damned woman.

😭😭😭

“Oh, I can’t, huh? But you did,” she says,

I quirk a brow. “Are you telling me to go seduce your son with apple pie?” “Whatever gets me a grandchild.”

🤣🤣🤣

He’s not just my first, he’s my only. And it’s terrifying because I’m not sure what I’ll do if he won’t let me love him anymore.”

He’s my only 😭

I w-want to marry you. I want to grow old laughing with you, Harper. I’ve never loved anyone so much in my life.

“She told me, ‘Harper, you aren’t going to get everywhere at once. You need to stop living for the what ifs and start living in the what is, one breath, one step at a time.’

“So, marry me, Lance, grow old and laugh with me and don’t ever, ever, hurt me like that again.”

“I love you, Harper, over everyfuckingthing.”

It’s when her brown eyes lift to mine with complete trust that I realize that despite my best efforts, I will be one thing for the rest of my life, hers.

When they break for round three, Laney chooses that moment to holler her support in her deep twang. “Knock his fuckin’ head off, Prescott!”

Fucking laney 🤣🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️

I’m screaming at the top of my lungs. “It’s you, Lance, you’re the next big upset! This is yours! This is your legacy! Fight, baby!”

Lance Prescott. The heavyweight champion of the world.