Page 53 of Zone Protection

“Tell me a little about it first.”

“Well, I don’t want to spoil too much, and there are so many interweaving storylines, so it would be hard to give you a complete rundown. But Meredith is pretty much the star of the show. She’s a doctor in the same hospital that her mother worked in, and she basically feels like she’s living in her mother’s shadow and she constantly has to prove herself. Then McDreamy arrives and shakes everything up.”

“Wait, who’s McDreamy?” He holds up a hand.

“Never mind. Let’s just watch, and I’ll explain as we go.” I press play and lie back to cuddle into Archie.

After the first episode ends, I look over at Archie and see his eyes are shutting. When I shift to get up and go to the bathroom, he startles awake.

“Sorry, baby. Did I fall asleep?”

I nod. “Yeah, your eyes were closed. I didn’t mean to wake you. I just need to go to the bathroom before I go to sleep.”

“Okay, I’ll be here, waiting for you.”

Smiling, I walk out of my room and across the hall to the bathroom.

When I come out, I look down the hallway and see all the lights are off in the apartment.

Then I walk back into my room and over to the bed. Archie is lying on his back, eyes closed, one arm behind his head. I take a minute to look at his tattoos. He’s got quite a few, but I’m still fascinated by the deck of cards on his heart. I’m not really sure why it calls to me. Maybe because I know that each card is for one of his brothers. I wish Sunny and I had been able to have the kind of relationship Archie has with his brothers. I think we would have stayed close despite our age difference.

As I get into the bed, I curl up next to his body. His eyes are still closed, but he moves his arm from behind his head and wraps it around my shoulders, pulling me in closer.

“You okay?” he asks sleepily.

I nod. “I’m good. Let’s get some sleep.”

With my arm wrapped around Archie’s waist, I drift off to sleep with thoughts of the baby, praying he or she will be okay.

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

ARCHIE

The last fewweeks have been busy between classes, spending time with Emma, and football. I haven’t been home much, and when I am, it’s usually just for short periods of time to grab clothes or to eat with my roommates on dinner nights.

I’m sure they’re wondering where I’ve been. It’s been months since I’ve been to a party with any of them, and when we’re at practice, I don’t really say much about anything other than football. It’s not that I don’t want to tell my friends. I would love to, but until Emma is ready for more people to know, I’ll keep doing what she’s comfortable with.

Tonight, my roommates and I are having dinner together for a Friendsgiving type of thing since we won’t be together for the actual holiday. We’ve each made a Thanksgiving recipe from our families. My mom makes the best cornbread stuffing, so I called her yesterday, got the recipe and made it this morning. Casey made the turkey and didn’t overcook it. Beck made some mashed potatoes. Liam made some green-bean thing that I’m not sure anyone will eat, but he said it’s a classic Thanksgiving Day side. Charlie made homemademac ’n’ cheese and rolls, along with two pumpkin pies with fresh whipped cream to top it with. The house smells so good.

I invited Emma to come over, but she had a lab she needed to make up, so she couldn’t come. But I really think she’s just not ready to meet my friends yet.

We also invited Bo Callaway over because he’s been getting pretty close with Casey. Or at least I see them together a lot at practice.

Casey’s friend Noelle came over too. She’s got some boyfriend who plays on the baseball team, but I’ve never actually seen them together. I guess she’s bringing an apple pie.

Arbor and Lily—Charlie’s friends—are here too.

We borrowed an extra-long table from Arbor’s mom, Lindsay. So, the guys have been tasked with setting the table while the girls make sure everything is done cooking.

“Well, boys, our last game of the regular season is coming up this weekend. How we feelin’ about it?” Pitz asks us all.

Casey chimes in, “I think it’ll be a good game for sure. Close maybe.”

“Their run game is strong, so our D needs to stay one step ahead and anticipate their moves before they make them.” Beck is the one who likes to watch tape and analyze the other teams. He’s good at it too.

“I agree with Beck. We need to be ready for them and not take this game lightly. They could surprise us and catch us off guard if we get lazy,” Bo says.

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