Page 87 of Fumble Into the End Zone

“We’re talking about Mia and Marcus. Friend, give him a chance. It’s clear you are into him. Get your feet wet again,” she said and bounced her brows.

My mouth flew open at her comment because we were beyond getting our feet wet. The man had videos of me on his phone.

“Kindness, give me your honest opinion about Marcus?” I asked as I tapped her leg.

As team owner, she had the non-public information. During the draft season, it isn’t uncommon for teams to hire private investigators. They first try to dig up dirt on you to get ahead of scandals.

“Professionally, Marcus is who he appears. Honest, quiet, and unintentionally funny. The connection he has with Bryce is genuine. On a personal level, he appears guarded. Outside of Bryce, I’ve never seen him talking to anyone for longer than five minutes. My investigator file said he was the shortest background check he had ever performed. No real friends and few relatives. His quarterback at Ohio couldn’t tell you his favorite color. I wouldn’t take it for granted that he allowed you into his circle,” she said.

I played around with her words as I reflected back to Ms. Eddy. She also alluded to him being guarded, but I’d never experienced that version of him. When we met, he came on to me pretty strong and he’s always been straightforward about what he desired. He was light years ahead of me with his plans for marriage and family, but he stood in his honesty.

“Marcus talks my ear off, and he has a brilliant mind. Maybe I am important,” I said.

Kindness tilted her head at me. “I would say you are important to him. You have his daughter. And I’m not buying you’re just helping him out,” she said.

“Kindness, are you serious?” I questioned.

“Own your healing journey. Sex is a stress reliever,” she said and placed a card in my hand with Marcus’s room number.

The Kindness today isn’t the one who moved off to college. After seeing her face bruised and her soul damaged, we grew closer. Kindness went overseas in search of healing. I have a mountain of postcards from the places she visited. When she returned, she and Stacie laid in bed with me as I cried about Nathan. They drove me to therapy and fed me on the days I didn’t have the strength.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

With our passes hanging around our necks, Harley and I made our way to the sideline, standing right behind the yellow line in our matching jerseys. The team was warming up as I scanned the field in search of number twelve. He was standing a few inches from Bryce.

“Harley, there is Daddy. Let’s wave at him.”

We moved our hands frantically to get his attention until he focused in on our side. Marcus removed his helmet to confirm it was us and sprinted to our side of the field. The smile on his face melted my heart into liquid joy.

He lowered his head and kissed my cheek, afterwards lifting Harley in the air.

“Surprise, Daddy,” Harley said, and he tickled her.

“Baby, what are you doing here?” he asked me as he pulled me in for a kiss.

“Ugh,” Harley said, and we both chuckled.

Marcus placed Harley back on the ground next to me. “We wanted to support you. This has been a long week. I hope you don’t mind me pulling her out of school for two days.”

“No, Mia, I trust your decisions when it comes to Harley,” he said.

I pulled Marcus in for another hug, gazing into his eyes. “Remember, I take care of you,” I said.

From the intensity in his eyes, I knew he needed to see us here tonight for the game. He hugged me one last time, but I prevented his attempt to separate. “If you have a good game, I’m going to remove the saliva from your mouth through the tip of your dick,” I whispered in his ear and stepped backward.

Marcus dropped his head and blew a hard, thoughtful breath. “We have to get married,” he said, and I laughed.

Chapter 13

Look Who’s on the Sideline

Marcus

Isprinted across the field with a half hard on and approached Bryce. I gave him a look, and he shook his head.

“You and Mia need to keep me out the freaky shit y’all be doing,” he said, and I laughed.

“Marcus, she got you fucking for touchdowns,” he said.

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