Page 76 of Tangled Up In You
“In a weird way…yeah,” I answered before taking a drink of Gatorade. “I’ve wanted to post about it, but Jen told me to wait and not deny or confirm anything yet.”
“How’s your boy handling it?” Austin asked, and something about his words made the butterflies go wild in my stomach.
“Hunter’s okay.” Just the mention of him had my heart aching again. Not even two days apart and I was already going through withdrawals. “When all of this is over, I’m moving back with him. We’ll make the distance work for this next season, but then I’m leaving.”
“I’m being replaced,” Austin admitted, not meeting my eyes. “Some twenty-year-old is dominating the combines, and I heard the Raptors made him an offer for my spot. I don’t know if I’m upset or not yet. I don’t think it’s fully sunk-in.”
“Sorry. That sucks.” I nudged his leg with mine. “But hey, we had some great years together. Our replacements won’t have our awesome bromance.”
“True,” he said with a laugh. “Funny how rumors were spread around that we were fucking, but no one even batted an eye over it.”
“Veronica had a lot to do with that,” I said as it clicked in my head. “She’s probably the only reason I was able to stay hidden as long as I was.”
“Fuck.” Austin brushed his fingers through his shaggy bangs. “I don’t even know what I’m gonna do after this.”
“Me either.” The topic was sobering. “I’m not good at anything else.”
“I might go into broadcasting or journalism,” he said as he scrunched his brow, bouncing his knee. “Just something to stay in sports. Beth and I want to have kids someday, so I don’t want a job that will keep me away from home too much.”
We had a long talk about our careers after that. As much as I didn’t want to think about the unknown of my future, I needed to get all my worries out of my head.
Money wasn’t much of an issue for me. I didn’t get paid as much as some of the more notorious quarterbacks, but I was definitely paid more than the average. The money would only last so long, though, and even if I was financially set for forever, I hated the thought of just sitting around the house all day with nothing to do.
Beth came over that afternoon, bringing several bags of groceries.
“Since you’re not exactly leaving the house right now, I wanted to make sure you had food,” she said like the sweetheart she was.
“You’re amazing.” I pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.”
Beth was fucking gorgeous: long dark hair, almond shaped hazel eyes, and full lips. And the girl had curves. It was no wonder why Austin had fallen all over himself the first night we saw her in a club. After a few drinks, he’d had enough courage to actually approach her, and the rest was history. But it was her good heart that was the most appealing, in my opinion.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked as we sat at the table, eating the Chinese takeout she’d brought with her. “Does it really have to be this massive covert mission where you stay cooped up at home like some damn witness protection type shit? You’re gay. Whatever. Why is everyone losing their shit over it?”
Austin grinned at her. Yeah, the girl had a mouth on her.
But she had a point.
“Not sure,” I said after swallowing a bite of chicken fried rice. “Jen is working it all out and told me to stay low for a few days. Supposedly, the magazine that leaked the news is publishing an article tomorrow, so she wanted to wait until after that to act. That way, I know what I’m up against before I make a statement.”
I refused to even say the fear aloud, but I was afraid William had recorded us fucking or taken pics of us together and was going to release them. Knowing how much of an attention-seeking asshole he was, I wouldn’t put it past him.
“I didn’t have to come back to KC, but I thought it was the best thing to do,” I continued. “I wanted to talk to our coach and some of the other guys. Plus, give Hunter some space while I sorted this crap out.”
“Tell me about him,” Beth said with a sweet smile, resting her chin on her hand.
Austin rolled his eyes and slung his arm around her small shoulders. But as I started talking, his expression changed. He couldn’t fool anyone. Mr. Tight End was a sap at heart.
“I think we’ve bugged him enough for one night,” he said after another hour had passed. “We should get going.”
After seeing them out, I locked the door and turned around to look at my too quiet living room. Damn it was lonely. I couldn’t wait until I was back home with my man. Checking the time, I saw it was close to eleven. Hunter was probably already asleep.
On school nights, he went to bed early. I really wanted to call him—to hear his voice—but I decided to just text him instead, so he’d see it when he woke up in the morning.
Me:Hey, babe. Just wanted u to know I’m thinking of u. I’ll be back in a few days. Love u.
After I sent it, I had another idea, and I pulled up a search engine to look it up. I wasn’t as great as Hunter with remembering exact quotes, but I remembered there was one fromHamletthat I really liked.
Finding what I wanted, I copied the text and sent it to him. It was one about stars and fire, and the sun. And how he should never doubt my love.
