Page 37 of How to Prevent a Fumble

They reminded me of someone else’s brown eyes…

“I think so?” I respond finally, closing my eyes. “I don’tknow. We’re going to have to talk about it when I’m home, okay?”

Briar looks sheepish, her bottom lip tucked under her teeth. “I’m sorry, Leo.”

“Don’t worry about it, Briar. I promise it’s okay.”

She nods, looking skeptical.

“I hope training camp hasn’t been that bad.”

I yawn, shrugging. “It’s always bad. You know that. Owen’s the biggest crybaby.”

He may be okay this week, but in two weeks, he’s going to be throwing a fit.

“Yeah he doesn’t like the heat.”

I shake my head. “None of us do, and that’s fine.”

“Well, I hope you get some sleep. And some rest.”

“I hope you do too, Briar. Just make sure the puppy is toilet trained, okay?”

She nods, giving me a small smile.

“Thank you Leo!” the small voice calls from across the room as something—I assume a toy—squeaks.

When I hang up, I close my eyes, squeezing them together.

What the hell am I getting myself into?

14

LEO

The second I saw those brown puppy eyes, I knew I was fucked.

Royally fucked.

We were back home for a couple of days before traveling for a pre-season game and some more practice. Training camp has been as good as it can possibly be. The team is doing fantastic, and everyone has made a ton of progress since last year.

And everyone is healthy, which is honestly the biggest thing. It’s terrible when someone has a major injury during training camp. So far, it’s only been a couple of strained muscles, but nothing too serious.

The pre-season games are always interesting because for most of them, I get to sit back and mostly watch. I’m excited to see what the new guys can do, but so far I’m really positive about how our season is going to go.

The nights I’m home, Briar makes sure my dinner is ready the second I get there, and Elara makes a point to use this time, with me sitting at my dining room table, to water the plants around my place.

I still haven’t totally figured out what I’m going to tell Owen or the guys if they come over and see them.

Yeah, I took up a new hobby, I could say. But I doubt they’d believe me.

The more days pass, the more and more I adore Champ. She sits outside of my door when I get up at five each morning, and I run her outside so the girls can sleep in. We walk through the morning haze, both exhausted, before heading back up to my place. I hold my breath the entire time, just hoping Owen isn’t going out for a run or anything.

Not that I think he would. We’ve been beaten up enough to want to put ourselves through that torture on top of practices and games.

And even in the morning, the air is too hot and humid.

But at some point we’re going to have to come clean.

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