“Your…the two of you…Jesus fucking Christ. Are you an idiot? The both of you! It’s going to get one of you traded and maybe the two of you thrown out of the league!”
“No,” Garrett said, “it won’t, but even if it did, Ramsey would be worth it. That’s what it means to love someone. I’d do anything for him.”
My heart stumbled before doing a fifty-yard dash in my chest. I’d never known what it was like to be loved that way. My dad had never put me first, not once in my life, but I had no doubt Garrett would. “He’s worth it for me too. I love him.”
Dad looked back and forth between us like he didn’t understand, as if the concept was completely foreign to him, and I guessed it was. He’d only ever loved himself. “Dumbass kid,” he said. “I didn’t teach you nothin’.”
“Nothing good. Is there something we can do for you?”
Again, his eyes darted from Garrett to me, then back to Garrett. “Nah. Just came over to say hi.” We all knew that wasn’t true, but he didn’t want to ask for money in front of Garrett, and he knew I wasn’t going to talk to him in private.
“As I said, we’re heading out soon, but if you want, you can come over sometime. Maybe have dinner with us.” I was surprised by my own words, but when Garrett reached out and threaded his fingers through mine, I wasn’t so much anymore. Because even though I resented my dad, I knew what it was like to feel alone. I wasn’t alone anymore, but I figured Dad was. Dad’s was more his choice than mine, but now I had family because of the McRaes, and a super-hot boyfriend who was my ride or die, so I was willing to extend an olive branch. “We can start there.” I hoped he understood what I was saying. I couldn’t make promises, and I wasn’t going to be his ATM, but if he wanted to, we could try.
“We’ll see. I got a lot of shit going on.”
Well, that was that, then. He knew the offer was there, and he’d take me up on it if he wanted.
He made it all the way to the door before I said, “And next time, text first. If I don’t answer, wait until I do to come by.”
Dad grunted out a reply and left.
The second he did, Garrett hugged me. “It was cool of you to invite him over. So totally blowing you again the second we get back home.”
“Why do you think I said it?” I teased. We both knew I was lying, but I wasn’t turning down some head either.
Coach finished up his discussion before tossing a glance my way. We were at the practice facility, in one of the rooms where we went over film. I gave him a simple nod. “Before we’re done, Warner and Garrett have something to tell everyone. I want it to be known that they have the full support of the Rush organization.”
A few people grumbled, the loudest of them being Nance, but most just gave us their attention. I figured they knew what was going down anyway, and honestly, I didn’t think most of them would care. I stood up. “I’ll make this short and sweet. I’m bisexual, in a relationship with Garrett, and—”
“Fuck that,” Nance spit out. “There has to be some kind of rule against that. We can’t have teammates going around fucking each other.”
Coach cut in. “There isn’t a rule, and we don’t discriminate on this team.”
“How can we guarantee Ramsey will be fair? He’s our fucking quarterback. How do we know he won’t set McRae up for more plays, try to help his little boyfriend get ahead?”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you hear yourself? Are you twelve? I’m out here to play ball and win. That’s what I care about. Garrett doesn’t need my help to outplay you anyway.”
“Ooooh,” Tucker said.
“Fuck you, Ramsey.” Nance turned to Garrett. “And fuck you.”
“Nah, I’m good. Ramsey is enough for me.” Nance sputtered like he wasn’t sure how to respond, and Garrett sighed. “Look, man. You’re a homophobe. We all fucking get it. But, we’re teammates. All I want to do is win football games. Do we really gotta do this all the time? Can’t we just play football and leave our personal lives out of it?”
Well, shit. Look at G being all mature about it when I just wanted to punch Nance in his stupid, ugly face. We had a bit of a role reversal sometimes.
Nance ignored him and turned to Coach. “So this is it? We’re just gonna have teammates fucking each other now? And the league doesn’t have a problem with that?”
“Jesus Christ, man. Let it go,” Tucker told him, and damn, did I appreciate my friend’s support.