Page 112 of Blitz'd

“Mmm… I’m sure you’ll tell me eventually.” He whispers it when I break the kiss, then pulls me against him so we both fall back again.

“Thought you needed a shower,” I grumble against his neck, and I feel it when he laughs.

“You just sucked my motivation for the next three days out of my dick, Slade. I’ll take a shower later.”

“Good. Remind me to blow you before our next game.” I grin against his skin when he laughs again.

“I’d still kick your ass.” Zander’s arms slide around me as I bite his shoulder and he squirms.

“Yeah right, Braithe. Keep dreaming.”

When he pulls me up for another kiss, I know this isgood. Thatwe’regood. That Zander sees all the dark places in me now, all the breaks and snarls, tangles and shadows and flaws… and he loves me anyway.

He loves me because of it.

And I’ll doanythingto make sure I get to keep that love for the rest of my life.

Epilogue

ZANDER

Two years later…

The sound of the crowd is deafening, chanting both my name and Kerian’s. Well, who knows who they’re cheering for, since our names are hyphenated. I know it irritates him not to know which of us is being chanted, but I know he also secretly loves how accepted we both are.

It’s not uncommon for rookie quarterbacks to start in the NFL, but whatisuncommon is the starting quarterbacks being married to each other.

Shortly after we graduated, Kerian proposed, and we got married two months later. It couldn’t have happened soon enough. He was a fucking groomzilla, wanting everything perfect and bitching at me if they didn’t have the flowers he wanted or the venue I said I liked.

I honestly think he threatened a couple out of their date when he found out they booked the building we wanted on the weekend he set aside for me. One minute the venue owner was telling me they were booked for the next three months, then the next day—after Kerian was suspiciously gone all day—we got a call saying the day had just opened up and we could book right then.

It was a really beautiful ceremony, Kerian outdoing himself. I had nothing to do with preparations. I just showed up. He made all the plans, the guest list, and the food menu. The only thing we did as a couple was the cake tasting. Not that I’m complaining. I know fuck all about weddings, and I didn’t want to get in Kerian’s way when he was on a rampage. I love him, but he’s a fucking terror.

Though he calmed down when I modeled more of the lingerie he got for me. I had his undivided attention then.

I think Kerian wanted control of everything so there wouldn’t be any surprises. Like his parents appearing on the guest list.

Kerian told me how Asher scared his mom off—Asher didn’t strike me as the psycho type, but here we are—and how she kept trying to call him for weeks after. He had to threaten to get a restraining order for her to stop blowing his phone up. He hasn’t heard from his parents since.

My mom was front and center for both of us, wiping her eyes with a tissue when we recited our vows. Kerian’s eyes went soft when she apologized for not being able to sit on both sides as the mother of the grooms.

“I have a new son,” she told him at our reception, framing Kerian’s face. “I’m so happy for you two. Kerian, if you want, you can call me Mom. If not, Beth is fine.”

I think he was too overwhelmed to call her Mom right then, but over the past two years, he has let it slip a few times, my mom’s eyes going soft every time he does.

And right beside my mom and Colson was a photo of my dad. Looking at his smiling face made me feel like he was telling me he was happy for me. I think he would have liked Kerian.

I was shocked when Luca showed up with his plus one, their ties matching in the most adorable Luca way. He didn’t give me a name when he RSVP’d and said he was bringing someone, so I was blindsided by the arm he was hanging off, but Luca looked so happy—his eyes bright and his smile wide—that I didn’t give him shit.

I did pull him to the side, asking how the fuck that happened and how did I miss it. “It’s a long story,” he said, his cheeks pink but his eyes clear. “It’s kinda your fault.” I wasn’t able to wrangle the story out of him before Kerian started freaking out about me leaving him at the altar.

Becca came to the wedding as well. Kerian tried to give me shit for it, but I didn’t care. She and I have become good friends since the party, bonding over our inexperience in the LGBTQ world.

Kerian didn’t have many people on his side, since he didn’t have a lot of friends, but it didn’t matter. Asher sat there proudly, beaming at my man like he was his biggest cheerleader, well, besides me. Kerian said he would have been his best man, but since our ceremony was small and intimate, we didn’t have a wedding party.

I didn’t miss how Asher kept peeking at Russ, his eyes flashing a little dangerously if I had to give it a name. I’m not sure what Russ did to offend psycho Asher, but I told my best friend to watch out for him. Russ just smirked. “I’m six five, two hundred and twenty pounds. He’sbarelyfive-seven, one hundred and sixty pounds soaking wet. I think I’m good.”

I shrugged, but Asher is one of those people you have to watch out for.

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