Page 256 of Out of Bounds

“Holy shit…”

“What?”

She held up her phone to me and I took it gingerly, gazing down at the picture. My heart squeezed painfully. Those broad shoulders, the messy, dark hair, holding a football between his hands. My fake boyfriend, with that intense official sports lighting, and the announcement hidden in the corner.

FOUR-A-CROSS DECIDES TO STAY IN HTX

Ryan Cross has declined to enter the draft for the upcoming season. Details coming soon.

“I—I—” I fumbled with my words, gazing down at the dark honey eyes. “He—why—?”

“Kass.”

I jerked up, staring at her.

“Isn’t that…?” Zariah paused and reached over to point at the side of the screen.

Ryan Cross had been photographed in his official stadium. Behind him? A huge screen with his animation, folding his arms over his chest, gazing off at everyone below him.

My work.

My mouth fell open.

107

Ryan

No Intention Of Fucking It Up

With my arms folded over my chest, I watched as some of the tech guys worked on the big screens in the stadium, flashing Kassie’s animations. I gazed up at them. I’d seen them from the rough planning stage she’d sketched out over miles of paper to the scribbling lines she’d played with and nowthis. There was a kind of dance to them.

She put so much work into that. I was mesmerized.

Beyond the first layer of bleachers, I could see the television screens, flickering to life.

That was her work. It was all of it.

"It looks good." Unable to look away, I watched each cartoon. I couldn’t tear myself away from them. They were all I had left. She’d spent half her time in my apartment, carefully planning those out, and the other half I spent massaging out the carpaltunnel she’dgottenfrom working on them. "It looks really good."

The screen went bright blue.

“What happened?” I stepped forward, staring hard at it. “I just saw it.”

“We’re doing a font change,” one of the tech guys told me.

“Font change. Got it. How long’s that going to take?”

He shot me a look. “It’s a brand new file we’re working with. We have to adjust them for the different aspect ratios.”

“Okay. Got it.” I nodded. “Have you heard of copy and paste? It’s pretty great. You can just copy something on to something else. My girlfriend—my ex girlfriend—showed me how it works. I don’t know if that’s helpful.”

“Hey, Ryan.” Cleo’s hand slipped through my arm and she directed me back to the field with her clipboard in hand. “Let’s give them a little space. They’re doing the best they can.”

I glanced over my shoulder. “It’s not back up yet.”

“Let’s talk about your announcement.”

“What about it?”

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