Byron and I have combined well like no time has passed since we were in our early twenties and dominating the court together. Only today is a first—playing in the all-star game side by side—and something we never dreamed possible when we met in our freshman year.
While it’s a serious game, there is an element of fun and entertainment, and we bring out our best moves to entertain the crowd, with the half-time entertainment being the highlight. At one time, I was in the stands, excited to be part of it.
Coach gives a few instructions before I grab my towel and wipe my face, then wrap it around my neck, ready to follow the team into the locker room. As I near the stands, where the Johns and the Hendricks families sit, I glance up and wave. I don’t care what people think. I’m enjoying every second of this game. The lights flash over the crowd and land on Charlotte and her brother, Franklin.Fucking morons.Anyone in the crowd who knows they are family laughs. Only I see the humiliation in Charlotte’s eyes. Something I swore I would never allow to happen again. I bound up the steps, not caring about the rules, and out of the corner of my eye, I watch Ewan sprint from the tunnel’s entrance hot on my tail. I lean over and kiss her lips, the crowd cheering, and it’s no quick kiss-cam. Our lips linger, and then I murmur, “Ilove you,” against her lips. When I come up for air, she smiles at me, the crowd still screaming.
“You taste like sweat.” Her eyes twinkle in the lights.
I grin at her. “And you love it.” I glance over to our families’ shocked faces and nod. “I hope you’re all enjoying the game.”
Charlotte smacks my ass. “Go to your team, BJ.”
Franklin nods toward the court. “All the television cameras are pointed this way. Best you do what you’re here to do.”
“I’m here to entertain.” I wink at him and then jog down the steps and wave at the crowd.
When I join my team in the locker room, the coach turns and glares at me. “Glad you could join us. You’re not part of the fucking entertainment.”
Byron fires lasers from his eyes. “You had to do it in front of the whole fucking world.”
“When the light of the kiss cam found her, I’ll be damned if anyone else was going to touch her.”
“No one was going to kiss her,” Byron growls out between clenched teeth.
“No. And I wasn’t allowing her to be humiliated either.” We have all seen the sad face of a girl on the screen when no one kisses her.
He nods, wiping his face with the towel, his movements slow and deliberate. Then, without warning, he shifts, turning so the towel shields his face from the rest of the team. From this angle, only I can see the sharp edge of his expression.
His voice is low, almost a growl, but it slices through me like a blade. “You better not break her heart again. Next time, Iwilldestroy you.”
The words hang in the air, heavy and unyielding, his gaze boring into mine with a force that feels like a challenge—a warning. My stomach knots, the threat unmistakable, and for a moment, I forget how to breathe.
Then he straightens, dropping the towel, his face calm and composed as if the exchange never happened. To everyone else in the locker room, he’s the picture of restraint. But I know better. His message was clear, and the storm in his eyes hasn’t settled.
I glance down at my hands, clasped tightly in my lap, and nod faintly, swallowing the lump in my throat. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, relief and resolve settling in my chest.
This time, I won’t give him a reason to follow through.
This time, I am all in, and nothing will come between us.
Not him.
Not her family.
Nothing!
After dinner,Ewan drives my parents to the hotel. I asked Charlotte to join us, but she decided to attend to business matters and emphasized that quality time with my parents matters more. “Baby steps first,” she’d told me. “Your parents came to see you, not me, and you need to give them the time they deserve.”
As much as I wanted her by my side, I understood the logic. My mother has always liked Charlotte. Dad is warming to her, but both are wary after seeing how hard I fell when we were apart.
Ewan waits in the car while I walk my parents into the foyer. Tomorrow, they’re catching the red-eye flight to Australia.
I hug my mother first. “Thank you for visiting and seeing me play.”
“You know we love watching you. I miss you, love. When you first boarded that plane over a decade ago, I never realized this would become your home.”
“Ever since I was a kid, all I ever wanted was to play in the NBA.”
She places a hand on my cheek and looks deep into my eyes. “I know. But I didn’t count on losing my son for his dream to come true.”
