Page 149 of Bitter When He Begs

This is everything.

I swallow hard, my voice rough when I finally manage, “Thanks, Coach.”

He nods, then waves me off. “Now get out of my damn office before I change my mind and make you run extra drills for puttin’ me through this stress.”

A grin spreads across my face, the first real one in days, and I don’t hesitate to bolt for the door before he actually follows through on that threat.

The second I step back into the locker room, every pair of eyes snaps to me. But before I say a word to any of them, I grab my phone and call the one person who needs to hear this first.

Sage picks up on the first ring. “Luca?” His voice is breathless, worried. “What’s happening?”

I can’t help it. I smile. “Tests came back clean, baby.”

The loudest, most relieved sigh I’ve ever heard comes through the other side. “Oh, thank fuck,” Sage breathes. “I swear, I was ready to commit a felony if this went sideways.”

I can’t help but chuckle. “And they found the guy who fucked with my results,” I continue, my voice stronger now. “Some lab intern named Lee Bennett. They caught him on camera switching out my test.”

Sage goes still.“LEE?!”he shrieks.

“Yeah.” My jaw clenches at the way Sage says his name, at the quiet anger I know is bubbling under his skin. “That’s the guy you were talking to at that party, right?”

Sage doesn’t even hesitate. “I will fucking kill him.”

Loud whooping from behind me reminds me that I still have an entire locker room of teammates eavesdropping on my conversation, and before I can react, chaos erupts.

Julian shoves me from behind, nearly knocking me over. “YOU CLEAN, BABY?”

Eli grabs my phone out of my hands before I can stop him, pressing it to his ear. “Sage, your boy is all good!”

I lunge for him. “Eli, give me my fucking phone—”

Killian hollers, throwing a towel across the room, while Roman actually tackles me in a bear hug, lifting me off the ground. “FUCKING KNEW IT!”

Sage, who is now on speaker phone, is laughing on the other end of the line, his voice warm and relieved. “Tell Luca I’m proud of him!”

Eli smirks, dodging my reach as I try to snatch my phone back. “Sage says he’s proud of you, QB.”

My chest swells with warmth, something breaking loose inside me, something good. I finally wrestle my phone back from Eli,pressing it to my ear as my entire team cheers around me. I grin into the phone, my chest feeling light for the first time in days.

“You still on the line?” I ask, pressing the phone closer.

“Still here,” Sage says, softer now. “And I’m really fucking proud of you.”

I swallow hard, the noise around me dimming for a second. “You were right. We just had to wait.”

“Yeah,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hell.”

I exhale, looking around at all of them, at my family. “Baby, I’ll call you in a bit.”

Sage is still laughing. “Okay, King.”

I hang up and finally let myself take it all in. The guys are grinning as I get dressed for practice, clapping me on the back, pounding my shoulder pads, and not for the first time, I believe them when they say they have my back.

“Back on the field, baby!” Julian shouts.

I grin, wide.

Yeah. I’m back.

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