Only… football can’t love me back. It can’t make me laugh. It can’t comfort me when I need it. It doesn’t talk back to me and test my patience in the most enjoyable way.
Mae’s the only thing that can do that for me.
“Nathan! Word on the street is that you’re dating supermodel Emily Miller. Is that true? Rumours suggest you were spotted together last week.”
Fuck, I’m too old for this shit.
I know my annoyance is evident on my face. I don’t believe I’ve ever met Emily Miller, and even if I had, I have no interest in her because she’s not Mae.
I glare at the reporter.
I can’t wait any longer.
The question makes me push my chair backwards, and I turn to Darrell with gritted teeth. “There’s something I have to do.”
My coach asks no questions as he nods and waves me away, and I leave the reporters gasping and calling after me as I leave.
I waste no time getting into my car and driving straight to Mae’s house. Renee isn’t in. She meditates at the stadium early.
If I’m lucky, I’ll catch Mae before she leaves for the stadium.
I kill the engine of my Audi. A light on in Mae’s house indicates someone’s home, and I knock impatiently.
She flings the door open, dressed in sweats and clutching her cheerleading duffel bag. Her body visibly stiffens. “Nathan?”
Fuck, she looks just as beautiful as she did the first time I laid eyes on her.
She looks like… mine.
“Hey, princess.” The nickname sounds so right on my tongue.
“What are you doing here?”
“Making sure I don’t lose the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Mae’s eyebrows furrow as she steps aside, and I enter the house. “Shouldn’t you be at your conference right now?”
I shake my head. “Not important.”
“Then what is important?”
I shut the door behind me. “I’m looking at it.”
Mae drops her bag and hums, sighing. She looks at me with soft eyes, dragging her lip into her mouth, her teeth scraping against the plush flesh. She takes a deep breath. “Sophia.”
“What?”
A laugh of disbelief bubbles up her throat. “Sophia. It was her who was following us around, taking those photos. I saw a text from your dad on her phone. He paid her to do it.”
Resentment surges through me.
And here I thought Sophia was one of the decent ones. But it doesn’t matter right now. I can deal with that later. “They’re not winning. They don’t get to make this decision for us.”
“Nathan,” Mae sighs, “the Storks. They need you. You need them. I’m not letting you get kicked off the team for—”
“You’re notlettingme do anything, Mae. I’m making this decision. It’s on me, and I don’t give a flying fuck if they kick me off the team for it. If it means calling you mine, I’ll give up football without blinking.”
Mae’s eyes are wide, her mouth popped open. She raises her eyebrows, a small gasp of exasperation leaving her.
