Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
He’d seen what was on the screen of my phone, and he burst out laughing. I glared at him, and he held up his hands in surrender. “No judgment, dude. I’m guessing if you have access to those cameras that Justice told you he gave me the feeds to Dakota’s, too.”
“Yeah,” I grunted as I put my phone away and opened the door to the locker room. “I just can’t seem to stop worrying about her.”
“Well, there aren’t many safer places for her to be than K-Corp,” he said as he walked inside. “You know…” He stopped and turned around, facing me as the door slammed shut at my back. “I didn’t know what to think when you suddenly announced you had a girlfriend the other night. I wondered if perhaps Prentice had urged you to prove you were settling down by getting a fake girlfriend.”
I barely managed to hide my surprise that he’d guessed correctly. “She’s the real deal,” I told him seriously. “The one.”
Ames nodded and clapped me on the shoulder with a happy smile. “I can see that. Congratulations.”
I blew out a breath and stared at the ground, letting the happiness I felt when I thought about Talia being mine fill me. “She’s…fuck, she’s everything to me. Even if I lose the quarterback spot, if I can get my ring on her finger and my kid in her belly, I’ll have everything,” I admitted quietly.
“Good thing you won’t have to make that choice,” a deep voice said. I looked up to see Prentice standing behind Ames with our head coach. Prentice was grinning from ear to ear, and the coach looked stoic, as usual. But he had a twinkle in his eyes that we often saw, giving away that he wasn’t really a robot even though we teased him about it.
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking between the two men.
“You’re starting this weekend,” Prentice announced.
Coach nodded, then grunted. “So get suited up and get your ass on the field. Just because you earned the spot doesn’t mean you won’t lose it if you let it go to your head and play like a fucking idiot.” Then he pivoted and stomped off.
When he was a safe distance away, we all chuckled.
“Congratulations, kid,” Prentice said.
“Thanks.” I returned his grin. “Damn, I can’t believe it.”
Getting the QB spot and finding Talia made me the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet.
However, a small part of me worried that Talia would walk away when she found out I’d secured the spot. What if she still thought this was fake? I mentally shook my head. No. There was no fucking way she couldn’t have felt how much I loved her when she gave herself to me the night before. But I intended to spend the next couple of days making sure she was as addicted to me as I was to her.
I could always convince her that I needed to continue the charade so I didn’t lose the spot. Besides that, with any luck, she was already knocked up. I’d take any and all advantages when it came to keeping Talia.
9
TALIA
It was good that Brady got me extra clothes on Friday morning because we spent the past two nights together too. Luckily, my parents understood my plans since they got together quickly after meeting. And had a ten-year age gap, too. It also helped that Brady came inside to meet them yesterday morning when I popped home to pick up some stuff, including a Nighthawks jersey I borrowed from my uncle.
Brady wasn’t a fan of what I planned to wear to his game today, though, judging by the scowl on his face. “Nope,” he growled, shaking his head as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“What? Did I pick my outfit wrong?” My brows drew together, and I glanced down at myself. “I’ve never been to a professional football game before, but I thought most people wore jerseys?”
A muscle jumped in his jaw as he explained, “They do, but no man wants to see his woman with another guy’s name and number on their body.”
“Ohhh.” Realization dawned, although I couldn’t be certain if he just was bothered because I was going to be playing the role of his fake girlfriend to help him keep playing as the starting quarterback while the other guy was injured. Or maybe he truly was feeling territorial over me. “I guess I could wear a T-shirt instead and grab something to pull on over it at the stadium.”
His eyes narrowed. “I thought you didn’t like football before we met. Where did you get that jersey?”
“It’s my uncle’s.”
The tension eased from his body at my explanation. “Thanks for thinking ahead, but I already have you covered.”
“You do?”
“Yup.” He strode into the walk-in closet and came back out with a jersey on a hanger. “It’ll be a little big, but you can wear this.”