Page 2 of Always My Comfort

“Because of Dante, I know. Dad briefed me before the game. Everyone is watchin’ me because of him.” I chugged the bottle of Gatorade and tossed the empty bottle to the floor.

“Not because of Dante. Cause of you. You’re a damn good player, brother.”

“How’s the leg?” I changed the subject because I knew it pissed him off to talk about his injury. There was one thing all us Dexter boys had in common. We hated showing any weakness.

“I didn’t call to talk about me,” came his gruff response.

“Off the phone, Dexter. Time to get back on the field and kick some ass!” Coach shouted from the front of the locker room. The entire team turned to look at me. I quickly ended the call without a goodbye.

Following my teammates out onto the field, my name was a cheer across the stands as I waved. Dad shot me a thumbs up as he settled back into his seat. It was going to be hard to give this up. Once he found out I planned on quitting, he would never look at me the same way again.

I scored another two touchdowns. My name was screamed from every corner of the field as we won the game. My teammates lifted me into the air, and Coach yelled his excitement.

“Hell yes, Dexter! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

“Jaxon! Jaxon! Jaxon!”

“Dexter, you’re a beast!”

My eyes found Dad’s, who was looking nervously at the scouts, but he had nothing to worry about. They were grinning, jotting down notes on their clipboards. I was in. I played the way Arch said I could.

God-given talent, I had been told my whole life, but really, it was years of practice.

My team finally put me down on my feet, and I reached for the Gatorade the water boy was passing me. After chugging the bottle, I threw it in the trash and walked over to Dad, who was hanging by the edge of the field, the bright lights shining down on the biggest grin I had ever seen him wear.

“You did good, Jax. Wish your brothers could have seen this game. They would’ve been proud.” He slung an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. “Those scouts—they were damn speechless.”

The scouts he was talking about were walking over to us now, all three of them closing the space between us and the grandstands quickly.

“Jaxon, that was quite the game,” one of them said, adjusting his peak hat on his balding head. Dad pushed me forward, and I stumbled over my cleats, hand outstretched like I had been taught.

“Thank you, sir. Been playing with my brothers since before I could walk.” I cracked the joke, and the three of them chuckled.

“The Dexter name is well known in the league. It was an unfortunate loss when Archer tore his ACL, but Dante seems to be making up for it.”

Internally, I cringed. Dante wasn’t making up for anything. He was playing the sport he loved to the best of his ability to make Dad proud.

“He’s the reason I play. Archer and I used to play on this field together.” I nodded toward the field behind us.

As much as I hated the sport, some of my best memories were on this field with my brothers. In my first year of high school, we were all on the team together, and now, we were all in different stages of our lives.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on you for the rest of the season. Hopefully, you’ll consider playing for us in college.” The scout handed me a business card with the team logo and his name. I nodded and accepted the card.

This was an offer.

This was a chance to make Dad happy.

This was my chance out of this town, where I wouldn’t be Jaxon Dexter, the little brother of Archer, Dante, and Gage Dexter.

“Thank you, sir; I’d be honored.” Shaking hands with the head coach, I sealed my fate.

CHAPTER1

Logan

Rain peltedagainst the roof of my gynecologist’s office. I tapped my sneaker against the tile flooring and scrolled through my Instagram feed tirelessly, liking posts of people I had known in high school and college. Every smiling engagement announcement or baby gender reveal was another reminder of how far away I was from where I planned to be at twenty-six.

A nurse stuck her head in the room, jarring me from my fantasies. “Doc will be a few more minutes, hun. Hang tight.” She closed the door quietly before I could say anything, and I turned back to my phone.

---