AJ spots me checking my phone for the millionth time and smirks. “Go quick while everyone’s distracted. I’ll run interference.” He gestures to a back office, a training room that’s still dark.
I duck my head and make a beeline through the chaos, smiling and thumping teammates left and right as I make my way acrossthe room. My hands are shaking as I swipe my phone awake and hit dial.
He picks up on the first ring. “Hey.” His raspy voice settles me, and the happiness over the win finally sinks in. There’s a lot of noise in the background where he is, too. I forgot what they’re working on today. Are they in the studio preparing the new single they plan to debut at the Halftime show?
“Luc?”
I clear my throat. “I’m here. Sorry, it’s loud.”
“I bet. Congratulations.”
I nod, even though he can’t see me. I should have video called so I could see his face. Everything feels muted without his green eyes on me.
“So I guess I’ll be seeing you at the Super Bowl.” I grin so hard my cheeks hurt. “I wasn’t sure if you saw. I wanted to call you right away. And I wanted to say I love you. We’re so close.”
Maybe I’m mistaken, but it sounds like he repeats my last words in an almost sarcastic tone.
“What did you say?”
“I love you, too, Luc. So fucking much.”
Something about his tone doesn’t sit right. My stomach twists. “Are you alright?”
“I’m good,” he says, too fast. “It’s just loud back here. Everyone’s celebrating your big win.”
I swallow the urge to press my gut feeling, and smile. “Tell everyone I’ll see them soon. Two weeks, baby.”
“Yeah,” he says. “I can’t wait.”
We hang up, and I stare at my blank screen saver for a moment. Am I overthinking, or did something seem off? I can almost hear Shawna’s voice in my head, telling me to quit worrying and allow myself to enjoy the good moments. I shove it down and head back into the fray, to celebrate a momentous win with my teammates.
Morning comes early and brutal, sunlight slashing through the curtains and my eyelids. Ugh, my head hurts. Why didn’t I pull the blackout curtains when I finally made it home last night?
I blame everything on champagne.
I’m not a drinker. I’ll have a light beer on rare occasions, but I don’t think I’ve had even a sip of alcohol since Jesse and I got together in September. I feel a little guilty for getting as tipsy as I did, but those tiny glasses of bubbly snuck up on me.
My phone is buzzing out of control. I didn’t set an alarm this morning, since we don’t have to be at the field until after noon today, but my automatic bedtime settings prevent me from getting notifications in the middle of the night. If it’s after seven, I’m getting all the notifications from our big win yesterday.
Damn, there’s a lot of them. I let the notifications load, and roll onto my back, smiling up at the ceiling. Everything is coming together. My team has made it to the Super Bowl, and Jesse will be waiting for me after the game, ready to start a life together. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little terrified. There are going to be a lot of people in my business speculating about Jesse’sleaked videos, but I’m ready to stop living in fear and finally allow myself to just let go and live.
I’m not sure my phone is ever going to stop buzzing. I talked to all of my family last night and got their congratulations in person, and it’s not like I have a ton of friends outside of the team. Are they tagging me a bunch, or what?
I hold my phone up and unlock it, nearly dropping it on my face when I see the first thumbnail.
New Year’s Eve. Jesse sprinting offstage, shirtless and glistening with sweat, grabbing me and kissing me like the world was ending. A kiss he teased the crowd with but never confirmed, and hid from everyone but his bandmates and manager, who was nearby.
This picture wasn’t taken from the crowd from a lucky angle. It was taken from backstage, close enough that you can see the love and lust radiating off both of us. There’s no mistaking what we are to each other.
I’m not mad about the picture. It’s beautiful in its own right. Something I’d probably save or maybe even frame, so I could look at it all the time and see our obvious love for each other radiating from a simple photo.
It’s the headlines that turn my stomach. I know I should stop, but I can’t help but thumb through each and every one of them, wishing more and more that I could bury my head in the sand and disappear.
Cyclone’s Defensive Anchor Caught In Steamy Photo with rockstar Jesse Moore
Shreveport’s Silent Star Outed as Jesse Moore’s Mystery Man
Mr. Colgate Caught On Camera With Lest Is Moore’s Frontman
