We got back to the apartment, finally, at almost midnight. I had been on a high earlier, just after the game, but now, I was just glad to be home. Ron had walked in before me and was already bee-lining it for the bedroom. I followed her. She was in the bathroom when I fell face first into the bed. I rolled onto my back hearing her come out. She had tied her hair up and from what I could see through her clothes, taken her bra off. She crawled onto the bed and lay on her back next to me.
"You okay?" I asked her.
"I should be asking you that," she said, rolling onto her side, leaning her head on her arm so she could look at me. "How's the hip?" she asked.
I shrugged. I had strained my right hip a little a week or so ago and had been getting it looked at, and though it wasn't really getting worse, it wasn't really improving that much, either. I could walk, run, play on it, but anything that hurt and kept hurting was bad news.
"I asked for this. It's my job."
"You always say that."
"It's true."
You did good today. How did that feel?"
"I think I deserve something nice for it."
"Something nice? Like what?"
"How generous are you feeling tonight?" I asked. She sat up and straddled me. I held her hips and lined them up with mine, grinding up into her.
"Generous enough to offer whatever you want," she said, grinning. She leaned down and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around her, pressing her into my chest.
"I have everything I want," I said when she pulled away. She ran her finger down my chest.
"Really? Everything?"
"The list isn't that long. I have my job. I have you. We won our last three games."
"There's really nothing else?"
&nb
sp; "Nothing I can think of right now. No. Right now? Everything's perfect."
"I'm glad that you're happy," she said, smiling.
And, I was happy. My hip was bothering me but so what? I was finally in the pros. I got here and I had Ron with me. I never had to choose. Once the season was out, we were road tripping to Houston. I had it all. I was fucking happy. Did this even get better? I didn't know, and it didn't even matter. This was where the hell I had been trying to get all my life. I had done it. Fingers crossed, I'd be able to say that for a long time.
Epilogue
Veronica
Two Years Later
"Ron... Ron, baby, wake up."
"Hm?" I said, disoriented. I heard Roman laugh. I squinted, trying to remember where we were. He was standing in the aisle with my hand luggage and his. I frowned as it came back to me. We were on a plane.
A man shuffled past Roman with his own luggage, and I realized we had landed. I was probably holding them up. His fault, I thought. He shouldn't have gotten us the comfort seats. I hurried to my feet.
"Okay?" he asked, kissing me.
"Let's go," I said, taking my bag from him. He let me walk out ahead of him. I exited the plane, looking around the familiar small airport. I made a few trips back a year, usually during the holidays so we could spend them with family, but this was different. It wasn't Thanksgiving or Christmas, not even Fourth of July.
We were celebrating, though. Roman and the Hurricanes had just won the Super Bowl, not their first, but his. That deserved a vacation.
We were staying for a week. Not that much time, so we had a packed schedule. After doing the obligatory rounds with family, we were going to rent a cabin in the Black Hills forest for a few days. Since neither of us had our places here anymore, we were staying at a hotel, which I wasn't going to lie, I was sort of looking forward to. I had done the bookings. All I needed was for there to be a tub. We had a ridiculous tub at our place back home. Jets, big enough to fit a whole family – it was great. It had also spoiled me rotten.