His Forever Girl

When she sees me, her face lights up. She runs toward me, and I catch her. My hands go to her ass as she drops a kiss on me.

“Well, well, well. Who do we have here? If it isn’t Reid Knight. The most loved man on campus who has women jumping into his arms.” She smirks at me thinking she’s being fucking cute by teasing me. Knowing that there will never be another woman besides her that will ever be in my arms. When Zoey and I became an us—or I guess when I informed her we were an us—she had some lingering fears. I got it. In fact, I got it too fucking much.

That shit drove me nuts. Not only because I know the only reason these other girls want me is because of football. It isn't for my charming personality, which includes my two-word responses or simple grunts. I can’t stand that they are trying to fuck with my Zoey because fucking with her is fucking with me. I’ll put anyone on their ass that tries to threaten what we have.

“You done?” I ask her.

“Nope.” She smiles bigger, dropping another kiss on me.

“How is the party?” Willow asks. She glances towards the front door, not looking like she wants to go in.

“Same shit.” I try to stay away from this place as much as possible. Sometimes I’ll stop in between classes to work on shit because it’s close by, but I always end up over at Zoey and Willow’s place. One day I’ll buy my girl her dream house. She tells me to stop thinking that far ahead. We have our whole lives. We’ll do the college thing and then we’ll do whatever is next.

“You want to go, don’t you?” Zoey wiggles in my arms. I let her go, putting her on her feet.

“Yep. I need to get out. Date?” She says it like she’s asking us if she should date.

“If you want.” I shrug. Dating sounds painful. “Hey, do you have any clue why Coach Grayson was asking if you were coming here tonight?” Her head jerks up from her phone.

“He what?” She looks around.

“He called me about five minutes ago and asked if you were coming to the party.”

“Actually, I think I’m going to go to the coffee shop instead.” She turns and starts to walk off.

“Right now?” Zoey shouts after her.

“You two kids have fun.” She walks faster.

“What the hell is that about?” Zoey gives me a puzzled look.

“All I care about is that it means we don’t have to go to the party.” Thank fuck.

“Whatever will we do with our time?” She bats her lashes at me. I waste no time throwing her over my shoulder. No one says shit as I walk across campus with Zoey laughing as she bats her little fists on my back, and I smack her ass in return.

They’re all used to seeing this; it’s nothing new. If you asked anyone on campus, they would shrug it off and say it’s just Reid being Reid when it comes to Zoey. They're all right. It’s only me showing everyone that Zoey is mine. She always has been and always will be the love of my life.EpilogueMany years laterHow long have I been dreaming about this wedding? I’ve planned everything down to the smallest detail, and now I went and lost the bride. Actually, I think it’s more like she might be hiding from me. This is a bunch of bullshit. I think these two get off on hiding or something. I guess it’s their thing. I have to admit that they are pretty good at it.

“Why are you frowning?” Reid moves my hair off my neck. I drop my head to the side as he nuzzles my neck. I let myself melt into him and relax. I need to chill out, but I want this to be perfect for them. They deserve their happy ending. Both Reid’s dad and my mom gave so much of their lives to us. Even thinking they had to hide that they were in love. I want to celebrate this. I want the day to be all about them for once.

“I want today to be perfect.” I let out a sigh.

“It will be perfect. This place could burn down, and all you’d have to do is blurt out the fact that you’re knocked up and it will be the best day of your mom's and my dad’s life.” I spin around in his arms, putting my hand over his mouth. He licks the band on my wedding ring. I drop my hand and give him my most serious look.

“This is her day. I don’t want to make it about us. Everything is always about us.” From Willow and me writing a book about the importance of friendships and hitting the New York Times Bestseller List (I think most people wanted to get the inside details on our somewhat public love lives), to college graduations, weddings, NFL drafts and a million other small things along the way. It’s always about us. Today needs to be about our parents. The ones that guided us through our lives, cheering us along every step of the way.