Page 119 of It Happened on a Sunday
“Sloane Walker merch, obviously,” she replies.
“Really?” I don’t try to hide my excitement. I’ve been wanting another T-shirt or three. Marquis stole the one I picked up at the concert last month.
Which makes her laugh—like, full-on laugh—and I can’t help grinning back. Because Sloane doesn’t laugh very often. She smiles a lot more now than when I met her, but laughs are still rare.
The thought only makes me want to try harder to make her sound like this more often. God knows I’ll never get tired of it.
“No, Sly.” She rolls her eyes. “I did not bring you a T-shirt with my face on it.”
“Color me disappointed,” Marquis calls from behind me. “Iwould have liked seeing him run around in a little crop top from the Yes, I Bite tour.”
“I think you meanyouwould have liked running around in a Yes, I Bite crop top,” I say without turning around. I can’t take my eyes off Sloane.
I can hear the shrug in his voice. “Truth in advertising, baby. Truth in advertising.”
“Who’s your friend?” she asks.
“Nobody,” I answer, because once I start with the introductions, I know I won’t be able to stop until everyone’s met her.
“I’ll remember that when Fitzgerald comes running straight for your ass,” Marquis grumps.
I ignore him in favor of holding up my present. “Should I open it?”
“You should wait until you don’t have quite so much of an audience,” she answers. Then looks past me to Marquis. “It’s nice to meet you, Nobody.”
And just like that, it’s on. Marquis and the entire O-line crowd around, followed by the rest of the offense, and I spend the next few minutes introducing everyone to my girl.
To my surprise, they get along great. Sloane’s normal reticence melts away under my teammates’ enthusiasm, and she lets them see just a tiny bit of the woman behind the Black Widow. In turn, that helps them figure out we’re not nearly as odd a match as they first envisioned.
And the fact that she gives Marquis so much shit about the jumbotron only makes them like her more.
But it’s not long before Cole, one of the assistant offensive coaches, sticks his head into the hallway and says, “Three minutes until team meeting.” His eyes go to Sloane.
“I’ll get out of your hair,” she tells me, turning to Marco. “Where do we need to go?”
“I don’t want you to get out of my hair,” I answer, but I’m already looking at Vince. Of course, Marco has already gone over everything with him, twice, but I don’t give a shit. If it means keeping Sloane safe, I’ll talk to as many people and take up as much time as I need to—and probably more.
“Vince will show you guys to the box I got you,” I say, waving a hand to get him to step forward from his spot near the door. “And he’ll bring you back down after the game.”
“Okay.” She waits until the rest of the team heads back to the locker room before leaning into me and whispering, “I’ve got plans for tonight, so do me a favor and don’t break anything out there, all right?”
I laugh, happier than I can remember being in a long-ass time. There’s just something about having Sloane here in my stadium, with my friends and family, that feels good. Maybe because it makes this whole thing between us feel more real.
Like she’s not actually going to disappear the second I close my eyes.
Considering she’s been pushing me away from the moment we met, that’s a huge realization on my part—and an even bigger concession on hers.
“Something tells me your plans and my plans will dovetail nicely.” I pull her against me, giving her another kiss, but a quick one this time. “I want to be with you a little longer, but I’ve got to go, corazón.”
“Who’s keeping you?” she asks archly. “Go kick ass.”
“That is the plan.” I nod to Marco and Jaime as I step away. “Good to see you guys.”
They nod back, then move to follow Vince and the other guards he’s recruited to help get Sloane safely to her seat.
I watch them go, smiling as Vince pulls out a Twisters hat for Sloane to put on, ostensibly to disguise that famous hair of hers. I’m not so sure it’s going to work, though. Sloane is reallydifficult to miss.
As soon as the door closes behind them, I duck back into the locker room with thirty seconds to spare before the meeting starts, just enough time to text Camila and Vivian that Sloane is on her way up.
