“Then don’t go.” Dylan didn’t hesitate. “I’ll stay on the phone with you all night.”
Ali smiled at the ceiling, the sound of his breath on the line anchoring her in a way nothing else could. She curled onto her side, one arm tucked under the pillow, the other draped around her phone like it was a tether to him.
They talked about her book club— how Raleigh Annhatedthe spicy fantasy they just finished but Abigail was obsessed. About work, too, and how her client’s idea of submitting “supporting documentation” was a handwritten sticky note and a Twix wrapper.
She rambled until her voice got slower. Sleepier. She couldn’t stop yawning.
“Still with me, babe?” Dylan’s voice came through, a low hum in her ear.
“Mhm. Just resting my eyes,” she mumbled.
“I’ll talk. You just listen, okay?”
She hummed again in agreement, letting his voice wash over her. He told her about a rookie on the team last year who thought almond milk came from brown cows. About Rocky’s kid accidentally setting off the sprinkler system at the stadium with a toy lightsaber. She giggled softly, lips curving as she burrowed deeper under the blankets.
Then a beat passed. A shift in tone.
“Can I ask you something, babe?” Dylan asked, voice soft but steady through the phone.
Ali rolled to her back, blinking at the ceiling as her heart picked up speed. “Yeah?”
A pause.
“How long has it been for you?”
Her breath caught. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
She exhaled, trying to laugh it off. “Why? Trying to calculate my stats like one of your game recaps?”
“Ali.”
She didn’t answer, fingers toying with the edge of the blanket.
When the silence stretched, she cleared her throat. “How long has it been for you?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Over a year.”
She blinked. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I don’t know.” She tugged the blanket higher. “You’re a professional football player. It’s just… hard to believe.”
He snorted, not amused. “So that makes me a man-whore?”
Ali winced, the weight of her own words crashing into her. “No— I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”
He didn’t say anything right away.
She rushed to fill the space. “Can we just forget it? It doesn’t matter, right?”
“It matters to me,” he said gently but firmly. “Ali, I was inside you a few nights ago. You were so goddamn tight it nearly broke me. And then later, when you said you’d never given head before…”
Her cheeks flamed.
“I’m not trying to embarrass you,” he added quickly. “I just want to understand. I wantyouto trust me with the truth.”
