Carson
It took Colin a while to unwind after discovering that his agent had allegedly been stealing from him. Just as my father advised, he went online and froze every account Leland had access to. And when that was done, he left my house and went for a run.
“Give me a minute and I’ll go with you.”
He shook his head and placed a hand in the middle of my chest. “No. I need some time to explode alone.”
All I wanted to do was comfort him, but I backed off. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be here when you get back.”
Colin hesitated like he wasn’t sure what he wanted. “Okay.”
When he reached the back door, I blurted out to him. “You’re not alone in this anymore. I’m here. For whatever you need. And if it’s space, then fine. But it’s killing me watching you beat yourself up over something that’s not your fault.”
He laughed humorlessly. “How could I be so stupid, Carson? I blindly trusted him with everything I had.”
I walked over and pulled him into a hug. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
He nodded, then opened the back door. Instead of heading to my home gym, he headed down the stairs onto the beach. When he was out of view, I closed the door and started dinner.
I just hoped I was right.
We’d gone to practice early on Monday, hoping to have a few minutes with Coach Henderson before everyone else arrived.
Thankfully, Marilyn managed to secure a few minutes with him. But when Colin explained, Coach thought we should inform Mr. Carlisle and the GM of the impending scandal in the sports world. So that’s what we did. Mr. Carlisle responded exactly as I thought he would.
“Thank you for notifying us, Colin. We will keep an ear out for any rumblings.”
He nodded. “Thank you, sir. I apologize for stirring things up.”
Coach smiled. “The league has seen much worse. Don’t worry. I’m sure George St. James will get to the bottom of it.”
When we stood looking at each other, Coach picked up on our hesitation.
“Is there something else?” he asked, looking at us.
I chuckled nervously, but reached down to take Colin’s hand. “Yes, sir. There’s this.”
Holding up our clasped hands, the realization took over his face.
“Yes, well, I guess it all makes sense now.”
I frowned and side-eyed Colin. “Makes sense? What does?”
He chuckled and side-eyed Mr. Carlisle, who appeared amused. “There’s a video circulating online from the airport when Colin arrived. Quite entertaining.”
How the fuck had I missed that?
I covered my mouth with my left hand as Colin squeezed the shit out of my right.
“That was all me and my shenanigans,” Colin confessed, putting his right hand onto his chest. “Carson had nothing to do with it. I caught him completely off guard and thought if I kissed him, it would distract the lookie-loos from filming our little argument. He was berating me for my sheep shirt.”
I curled my lips in to keep from laughing.
“Rams,” I muttered.
“Does Carson have anything to do with that?” Coach asked, pointing to our clasped hands. “Or is this a media ruse?”
“No ruse,” I said, clasping harder as he tried to pull away. “It’s real.”
