“They’ve been about the game and in them you get hurt.”
He eyed me, quirking a brow. “Seriously?”
I nodded.
Cage seemed to think about it and for a fleeting moment I thought he would do or say something to change what felt like fate. “I’ve had some crazy dreams lately too.” He stood. “Come here.”
I took cautious steps toward him. The impending-doom feeling felt like every step and every touch would be our last. “I’m not so sure it’s crazy. What if it’s not?”
He cradled my face in his hands and smiled. Everything about me in that moment was an illusion. I wasn’t holding it together on the inside. I was dying and he couldn’t see it.
“In your dream, did we at least win the game?”
“Fuck you.” I pulled away.
“What? Hey…” He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. “What’s going on? I was kidding.”
“Well I’m not! I’ve had this sixth sense about the game. Before I ever had the dreams, I felt physically sick and I just had no idea—no words—to adequately explain this impending sense of dread. But then I had the dreams and you were on the field completely lifeless with everyone surrounding you and the stadium was frozen in silence and… and… the clock was stopped at one minute. One!”
“Lake…” he shook his head. “I’m not trying to dismiss your feelings. I just don’t know what you want me to do? Not play? Is that what you’re asking?”
I didn’t know what I was asking. I wanted him to play as much as I didn’t want him to play. It was the most impossible question to answer. It was the most impossible decision to make.
Wiping my face, I relinquished a sad smile. The pain reached a dull numb. All I could feel was the beat of my heart because it—he—stood before me. “I don’t know what I’m asking, so I guess I’m not asking anything. I just had to tell you, and I’m sorry because I know how selfish it is of me to give this to you right now, but I?—”
He hugged me so. Damn. Tight.
“I love you,” I whispered. “That’s all you really need to know.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
ONE MINUTE
CAGE
My life in flashes:
Lake.
My father.
The moment of impact.
The crowd.
Lake’s lips moving along my skin.
The sweat.
The light at the end of the tunnel coming into focus.
My heart beat heavy in my chest.
The roar of 73,000 people.
My lungs fighting for breath.
Lake’s back arched, eyes closed, lips parted, as I moved up her naked body.
