Page 67 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

Cooper all but guffawed. “See? I told you. This guy’s life just flashed before his eyes at the thought of you leaving.”

Colton was going to kill his best friend. For real.

Lucia rolled her eyes like she didn’t believe it, turning back to Bouncy. “How fun about the ads, though! I bet they’re gonna have a lot of calls asking for them after the Super Bowl this year.” Colton’s heart soared to hear she believed in him and his team enough to place them back in the Super Bowl this season.

“Actually, yeah, I heard that after last season, there were a lot of calls asking for Cooper and Colton to shoot together.”

Their overzealous server walked over and asked for their orders. When he’d taken them down in his little pad, he grabbed their dinner menus and set a beverage and dessert menu in front of them.

Colton tensed when Lucia’s hand found his thigh, his dick shooting up to attention at her touch. She stifled a giggle when she noticed the way he shifted. He knew she loved torturing him, especially in public, and dinner with his best friend and his date was no different.

“So, is it true you guys got together in college?”

Lucia stiffened at Bouncy’s question. “Uh, what?”

Even Cooper seemed to have tensed. “You shouldn’t listen to everything you hear, Liv.”

“Where did you hear that?” Colton asked.

Bouncy—Liv—seemed less sure of herself as she responded to Colton. “Oh, people at the agency were talking about it. All of those silly news articles talk about how you guys both went to school in Los Angeles.”

Lucia shook her head, and Colton’s heart sank as she removed her hand from his leg. “Um, no. We didn’t know each other very well back then. Different colleges.”

Colton knew the topic was sensitive because she’d been with Clark in college, and obviously, those memories were still bothering her. But he wondered if there was more. If she was still upset about his accusations that Isa had slept with Vinny, used his friend to get information.

How miserable had he made her life back then? Everything he’d done and said in the name of school spirit and rivalry had been aimed at Max, but he wondered how much of it had affected her, too.

A hand reached inside him and squeezed his heart tightly. He’d have to talk to her about that, because the last thing he wanted was for him to still be the cause of any strife for her.

A few minutes of silence later, Lucia seemingly still inside of her head, Liv reached over to her. “I’m sorry I said anything. I’ll be sure to straighten out the story at work. How did you two get together, then?”

Colton jumped in, hoping to save Lucia. “We were spending a lot of time together for work, and we started to realize…” What had they started to realize? That they didn’t actually have any reason to hate each other? That they were uncontrollably attracted to each other? He didn’t know how to end the sentence, but luckily, Lucia did.

“We liked each other. And then the media was all over it even though we wanted to keep it silent, and now here we are.”

Liv nodded somberly. “Yeah, unfortunately Colton and Cooper are far too important in this city for any gossip to fly under the radar.” That was an understatement.

Their food arrived quickly, and they remained mostly silent as they ate besides the occasional question from Lucia, who tried her hardest to make Cooper’s date feel welcome and included.

When their waiter came back to ask if they wanted dessert, Liv whispered to Cooper, who shook his head once. “I don’t know about y’all, but we’re gonna head out.”

Colton took in Lucia’s barely slumped shoulders and the sad look in her eyes which had lingered there since the topic of Max had come up, even as she did her best to smile at Cooper and his date. Colton shook his head as well. “No, we’re ready to head out too.”

The waiter deflated but smiled as he brought them the check and thanked them for the night.

The car ride from the restaurant to Lucia’s house was silent. He wasn’t sure if she was thinking or angry with him, but he wanted to make sure they talked through it. It wasn’t until they reached her porch, his body shielding her from the guy who seemed to stand outside of her house perpetually with a camera, that he spoke.

“Can we talk about what happened?”

Her eyes searched his face, and he hated the pained look in them. She nodded wordlessly, and he followed her inside her house for the first time.

He knew her house was a haven of sorts for her, which is why they were always at his, and he was thankful they were finally at the point where she trusted him enough to let him in.

It was decorated exactly the way he’d imagined it would be, whites and tans and browns with greens splashed here and there. It was very her, down to the wine bottle open on the counter and the blue-light glasses resting next to her tablet.

She sat on her couch, and the look she gave him seemed to ask him to join her. He sat beside her, giving her some room in case she wanted distance.

“Luc?” he asked uncertainly.

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