The End Zone (Atlanta Lightning 2)

They’d both retired after that, though they could have continued playing. Neither had lacked offers, which I knew made Darren feel good after everything he had been through. Despite what they’d said, even Atlanta had been interested in him again, but he’d been done. Darren and Anson had both played and retired on their own terms.

I finished up with his hair, then moisturized his scalp while Darren made sex noises, because of course he did. “Fuck…so good…right there, a little more pressure.”

I bit back my smile while playfully rolling my eyes at him. He was a dork, and I fucking loved him for it.

We finished getting ready after that.

“Big day,” Darren said as we went downstairs.

“Yeah, it is.” But a pretty freaking incredible one.

We both looked around for Kordell but didn’t see him. He’d come to live with us after Darren got re-signed. His foster parents had found out about him being gay. They’d been tracking his location on his phone and realized he’d been going to You Belong. From there our first priority had been making sure he was safe and free to be himself. It hadn’t been a quick or easy process. Neither of us knew the first thing about being foster parents, but we’d taken all the classes, crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s, until he was with us.

We were celebrating the fact that he’d just graduated high school and would be attending Georgia Tech in the fall. Kordell would play for a Division I football team, but he’d decided his goal wasn’t the NFL. He was smart as hell. He planned to get a degree in architecture and a master’s in Urban Planning. There was no doubt in our minds he would do great things.

“He’s probably on the basketball court,” Darren said, so I followed him out that way, and sure enough, that’s where they were. It was a thing, I realized, that Darren, Kordell, and Anson all did this basketball talk that West and I didn’t get.

“What’s up?” Darren asked when we went outside.

The ball bounced off the rim, and I caught it.

“Just thinking,” Kordell replied.

Darren frowned, and I could tell he was lost as to what was the matter, but I knew. Darren and Kordell were close, but Kordell and I had things we bonded over in a different way. We both knew what it was like to lose your parents. “I’m sorry,” I said. “That they can’t be here to see you.”

Kordell turned to me, a brief flash of surprise before he nodded. “Not because you guys aren’t great. I wouldn’t…hell, I sure as shit wouldn’t be where I am without you.”

But we weren’t his parents. And we didn’t try to be his parents. We were family, yes, but that wasn’t the kind of relationship we had.

“Nah, we would never think that,” Darren replied. “It makes sense to miss them. Of course you would.”

“Thanks. It’s not a big thing. I’m happy. Just can’t believe my life, ya know? I’m gay and gonna play college football. I live with two queer dudes, one of them an ex-NFL player, and I’m going to get my graduate degree one day. They’d be proud…about all of it, I think.”

By all of it, he meant being gay too. “I’m sure they would.”

We shot the basketball for a while, then headed in to start getting the food out, so it would be ready when everyone got here.

Abel, Kordell’s boyfriend, was the first to arrive. They’d only been dating about four months. Abel went to Georgia Tech and was heading into his sophomore year.

“Hey, you,” Abel said, and Kordell kissed him.

I could see the pride in Darren. Kordell’s growth, his courage, meant the world to him.

It wasn’t long before Jada and Deon joined us. Jada had definitely found herself another son in Kordell. She joked around all the time about how she’d gone from one son to three, beaming while she did so.

Anson and West got there next, followed by Mia and Lee, who were now married, then Elias and Carly, Cheryl, and some of Kordell’s friends. A few people from You Belong made an appearance as well.

We had a bunch of food in the backyard, snacks and appetizers, while Darren manned the grill for the cookout.

People played basketball, swam in the pool, and just mingled, talking.

Darren and Anson had challenged each other to a game of horse, leaving me and West to watch the grill.

West said, “It’s crazy, huh? How much our lives have changed?”

“You can say that again.”

“It’s crazy, huh? How much our lives have changed.” I rolled my eyes at my friend. He was ridiculous. “How’s Bobby?”

“Doing great. He and Filipe are engaged.”

“Good for them.” Bobby was loving his life in England, and I loved mine here. Darren and I had talked about marriage ourselves, but we weren’t sure it was something we wanted to do. Maybe in the future, maybe not. Time would tell. A piece of paper wouldn’t change who we were to each other, it wouldn’t change our devotion and love. Marriage wasn’t the definition of happily ever after and love.