“Be nice, Leonard.”
Oh no. I do not like that light in Cam’s eyes.
“Yeah, Leonard,” Cam said then, and I sighed. Great. It looked like that name would never, ever die a proper death. Before long, the whole team would be calling me it. “Your girl and your aunt came all this way to see you play.”
Back on topic, I turned to Gemma and smiled. “That’s true. I can’t believe you guys came.”
“Well,” Nonna cut in without remorse, “I actually had someone to help me get here. If you’d thought of it sooner, I might have made it to a few more games.”
Cam smiled, absolutely swimming in all his glory as she knocked me down peg after peg. “Yeah, Leonard.”
I sighed.
“I wish I’d known you guys were coming. I have to take the bus back, and I can’t stay to hang out.”
Gemma smiled, and as pretty as it was, it wasn’t the easy one I’d come to know. “That’s okay. Alma and I have plans.”
“That’s right,” Nonna interjected before I had to ask. “We’re going to check out a few stores.”
“Stores?” I mouthed to Gemma.
She nodded solemnly, and I shivered.
I really didn’t want to think about my great-aunt visiting sex shops with my girlfriend, but I doubted Gemma was any more thrilled to be going to them. Out of the two, I definitely had the lesser of the evils.
“I guess I’ll see you when we get back home, then?” I asked hopefully, and Gemma nodded. I desperately wanted more quality time with her. More kissing, more sex, more Gemma.
We were just getting to the point where I could ask her to sing for me at home without it being a sore spot. Up until now, we’d both pretty much avoided the topic completely.
After a quick round of goodbyes, I shook off Cam’s hand as he put it on the small of the back to escort me to the bus.
He laughed, of course, happy to be able to tease me in private again.
“So, I guess you and the piss-pouring princess made up again?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Yes. A long time ago. I just pushed too hard.”
“What do you mean?”
“With the gig. At Monarchy. She wasn’t ready.”
Cam pursed his lips thoughtfully as we walked toward the bus, and I got lost in my thoughts. It wasn’t until we climbed on board and sat down that he spoke again. But when he did, he was serious.
“You know, sometimes people need the push. I don’t know the details, but if you believe what you did was the right thing, I wouldn’t back down.”
My brain spun as I considered his words and weighed my options.
Could I go on as we were and just leave it alone?
Or did I believe in Gemma enough to give her the push?
And most importantly…could I really handle the consequences?
I’d take my time. But eventually, I would have to decide.
Gemma deserved the world.
And the world, well, it fucking deserved Gemma’s voice.
I couldn’t believe I was here, sitting inside Baltimore’s stadium, watching the Mavericks fight for every inch against Philadelphia’s offense.
I’d never been so invested in a sports game in my entire life.
But I guessed that’s what happened when your boyfriend just so happened to be a professional football star.
One day, you barely knew the difference between a touchdown and a field goal, and the next, you were shouting profanities at the refs for shitty penalty calls against your team.
Leo’s team.
I’d only made it to one of their four play-off games, but thanks to my intimate connections to one of the very players on that field, I was a spectator for the Mavericks’ biggest game of the year. The entire professional football league’s biggest game of the year, in fact.
Time was ticking off the clock, and all I could do was fidget and bounce around on my feet as I watched what would most likely be one of the final plays of the game.
The anticipation of it all nearly took my breath away.
Fourth quarter. Third down.
One lone minute left on the clock.
The Mavericks led by seven points, and Philadelphia had the ball.
The entire stadium grew to a quiet hush as the guys lined up on the fifteen-yard line, and my heart started to pound rapidly inside of my chest.
This was it. The championship game.
And all the Mavericks had to do was hold Philadelphia off for one minute.
Sixty fucking seconds and the trophy would be theirs after years of coming up short. Obviously, I hadn’t been following it that long, but my relationship with Leo had changed things. He’d been explicit in the details he shared with me about the guys and what this meant to them.
I only really had the firsthand experience of witnessing how much it meant to him. But if it meant even a fifth to other guys of what it meant to Leo, I couldn’t imagine what the entire team must be feeling.