After a few moments, the thunderous cheers morphed into chants of “Col-ton! Col-ton! Col-ton!”
Colton ended the kiss and laughed, pressing his forehead to Dean’s.
Dean smiled. “You did it!”
Colton squeezed him. “Wedid it.”
Realizing they were still on stage in the middle of Levi’s Stadium, and the crowd was still whooping and chanting, they turned and waved. Dean lifted the microphone and exclaimed, “Thank you! Goodnight, San Francisco!”
And the crowd went berserk once again as they exited the stage hand in hand.
Chapter 38
Colton
The news spread like wildfire.
Of course, with the massive size of the audience, there were thousands of recordings of the announcement and kiss. Every news and entertainment program was talking about the story the next morning.
Even Good Morning Football was talking about it. They showed the video from a gazillion different angles and talked about the event for the first half of the show.
They questioned how long it’d been going on.
Had it started when Colton was in Dean’s music video?
Or had it begun later when they started hanging out and posting their competitive bro-like antics non-stop on social media?
They seemed genuinely thrilled at this new celebrity/athlete pairing.
Over and over, they joked…Taylor who? Travis who?
Although there was a shitload of news coverage surrounding their onstage kiss, not one bit of it was negative. Everything they’d seen was positive and supportive. It was more shock and surprise than horror or disgust. It seemed they had been able to hide their relationship pretty well.
Dean and Colton sipped their coffee at the kitchen island. After watching a few of the morning news shows, and some earth-shattering shower sex, they felt good about their impromptu announcement. It seemed like everything would be ok.
Colton’s phone buzzed on the counter next to him. When he looked at the screen, he tensed and looked to Dean with a frown. “It’s Coach Shepherd.”
Dean gave him a rueful smile and rubbed his shoulder.
Colton scooped up the phone and his coffee, walked over, plopped onto the sofa, and opened FaceTime.
Coach Shepherd looked like he hadn’t slept at all. He was in his office at the practice facility and he looked tired and grumpy. That sent Colton’s mind spinning into all the worst scenarios.
“Hey, Coach.”
“Good morning, Colton.” Coach Shepherd sighed. “You know why I’m calling, so I won’t beat around the bush.”
Colton stiffened with a breath and prepared for his scolding…and probably firing.
“First, I want to make it clear that you have my support, and the support of the team, so you can wipe that worried look off your face.” Coach smirked.
Colton relaxed his shoulders and exhaled. He hadn’t even realized he was holding his breath. “You’re not going to cut me from the team?”
“Fuck no! What am I, an idiot?” Coach took a breath and appeared to be choosing his words carefully. “You’re the best back in the league, and I’m not letting you go that easily. I don’tgive a shit what you do outside this facility, as long as it doesn’t negatively affect your game.” He paused for a moment.
“I wish you had let me know what you were doing ahead of time, though. I’ve been up for hours dealing with the press, and I’m a little annoyed at that. You might be doing a few more wind sprints next practice.”
Colton slumped into the sofa with a wave of relief. “Coach, I don’t know how to thank you. It really wasn’t planned. It just sort of…happened.”
