The End Zone (Atlanta Lightning 2)

“I think…” He turned to me, and grinned. “I think my career is different from his. If I want to practice law, I can take the bar wherever we are. If not, then I can travel to Atlanta when he goes to games, and I can work with West. If Darren wants to play, I want him to play. I want him to be happy. As long as I’m with him, I know I’ll be that way. Atlanta isn’t going anywhere. We can always come home again.”

“You’d do that? Uproot your life for him?” she asked.

I knew his answer, but still I watched him, and held my breath.

“I would do anything for him. I love him.” He shrugged as if it were that easy, but then, maybe it was. When you knew, you knew, and with us, even if it didn’t make sense to anyone but us, we knew.

“Mia, tell Denver and Philly no.” There was no hesitation on my part, no regret. Even if I didn’t play, I’d already made it to the end zone with him, and we’d won.

Momma gasped. Deon nodded in support.

Mia looked at me. “You sure, D?” I appreciated that she didn’t try to talk me out of it.

“I’m sure.”

“Darren…don’t do that for me. The fact that you would is enough. I’ll go with you wherever you want to go.”

I winked. “I’m already there. If Atlanta wants me, I’ll play here. If not, we got shit to do here anyway—at the center, with kids like Kordell.”

“Baby…” Jeremy said.

“Ugh. You can’t even be mad at them. They’re disgustingly in love,” Mia said.

“Why don’t you look at me like that, babe?” Lee teased my sister, making us all laugh.

Mia fluttered her eyelashes at him before telling me, “I’ll make phone calls tomorrow, brother.”

“Thank you.” I hugged her. She really was the best sister and a great agent, and I was proud as hell to call her both.

I looked over just as Momma approached Jeremy. “You’re a good man, and I’m glad my son found you.”

“I… Thank you.” Jeremy pulled her into a hug.

“You did good with that one,” Mia said softly.

We hung out for a little while longer. There was no more football talk. I knew my family, and they would support me no matter what I decided. Now that I had, that was that.

We had dinner together, and then Jeremy and I headed home. When we got there, I said, “So…now that we know what’s going on, when are you gonna move in with me?”

“I live with you now.”

I sat down on the couch. “Mm-hm. Who was the one looking for a place, then?”

“Be nice to me.” Jeremy straddled my lap. “You going to come to California with me? I need to pack up, and I think I want to put my place on the market.”

“Of course I’ll go with you.” I was still going to physio, of course, so we’d have to plan it around that, but things were going well. My arm had healed perfectly—the fastest they’d seen for someone in my situation, the docs had said.

“You better,” he said, then leaned in and kissed me. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I got plans for us. Big plans.”

“You intend on letting me in on those?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged playfully. “Do you want to take me upstairs and play with my ass tonight, or what? I’m feeling bottomy.”

He laughed. Fuck if I didn’t love that sound. “Only if you can beat me upstairs.” Jeremy jumped off my lap and ran for the stairs…and obviously I caught him, gently nudging him out of the way and heading into the bedroom before him. We showered together and he ate me out, then fucked me. Seriously, ass play was the best. I’d spent too many years without it in my life.

We went to sleep together, my cell waking me up early the next day. “What is it?” I asked my sister, half-asleep.

“Get your ass out of bed. The Lightning want to talk to us.”

I shot up, my heart racing. “No shit?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, D. I mean, it’s probably good, but it might not be. You spent your whole career in Atlanta. It might just be a sorry-it-didn’t-work-out, it’s-nothing-personal kind of thing.”

But it wasn’t. Somehow, I knew it fucking wasn’t. “When do I need to be there?”

“Meet me there in an hour. Also, I haven’t told Philly and Denver no yet, just so you know.”

I couldn’t think about that right then. We hung up, and Jeremy was stirring beside me. He looked over groggily, messy blond curls all over the place. “What’s going on?”

“The Lightning want to meet with me. I’m freaking the fuck out. I’m trying not to get my hopes up… I mean, it’s good news. I know it’s good news, but what if it’s not?”

I wanted this. I’d known it before, of course, but hearing Mia tell me they’d contacted her proved just how damn much.