Jade snorts. “With what fire? Your feelings?”
Blakely flips her off. “My rage is renewable.”
Across from us, Madison is balancing two toddlers like she was born for chaos. Riley on her hip, Maeve in her lap. The twins are almost two, and they have their parents wrapped right around their little fingers.
Maeve presses her hands to the glass. “Daddy!”
Madison kisses her head. “That’s Daddy, baby.”
Riley squishes his cheeks against the window. “Daddy fast.”
My throat tightens at the sound of it.
Jaxon Montgomery, the same man who once carried love like a wound from what I’m told, now has two toddlers calling him Daddy, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Lyla is on the couch, very pregnant, looking like she might sue someone if they breathe wrong near her. “If my water breaks in this suite,” she says, deadpan, “I’m suing the NFL.”
Sophie laughs softly, her hand resting protectively on Caleb’s shoulder. Her foster son sits close to her, wearing a jersey that hangs to his knees, eyes huge as he watches the field like it might bite.
“Is Beck gonna hit Logan?” Caleb asks in a whisper.
Sophie smooths his hair. “Probably.”
Caleb’s face pinches. “Why?”
Jade leans forward, grinning. “That’s how they say hello, kid.”
Caleb nods like he’s taking notes on an alien culture.
I should be laughing more.
I am laughing.
But the pulse underneath it all won’t go away.
Four days late.
Stress can do it, sure, but my body hasn’t felt like this in a long time, like it’s holding its breath.
The kickoff happens.
The crowd erupts.
The game moves fast, big plays, hard hits, bodies colliding like force is a language. Beck sacks Carter once and celebrates like a menace. Jaxon catches a pass and immediately looks up toward the suite again, like he needs to see Madison to settle.
It’s disgusting.
It’s beautiful.
My heart trips every time I spot Logan, every time he cuts across the field, every time he stands up after a hit like he’s made of stubbornness and fire.
In the second quarter, Logan takes a tackle that’s clean, normal, nothing dramatic.
But my stomach drops anyway.
My hand flies instinctively to my middle like I’m protecting something.
Jade notices instantly. Her eyes flick to my face. “Sloane.”
