Page 47 of Anywhere with You
I kiss her. She rolls over to face me and deepens the kiss. I have my hand on her thigh and slowly move it up under my t-shirt she’s wearing to cup her breast. The next thing I know, she has her shirt off and is pulling at my boxer briefs. I take the hint and make quick work of taking them off and throwing them on the floor. Allison climbs on top of me and continues our tongue duel. She pulls back and gently guides me home. I immediately sit up and hug her. I kiss her neck and work my way down to her breasts, slowly making love to them with my tongue. Allison must have different plans as she pushes me back onto the bed and begins to rock against me. My hands find her hips, and I assist her with bringing us both the pleasure we crave. I’m so close, and I want us to fall over the edge together, so I gently rub between her thighs. This brings us both crashing into bliss within mere seconds. She collapses on top of me, and I instantly wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head.
My mind travels to the engagement ring I have hidden in Aiden’s room. I know now isn’t the right time, but soon. I have to know I’llhave these moments with her forever. I need to make her mine in every way.
Allison pulls herself off of me, and immediately I miss the connection, the warmth of being inside of her. She curls up on her side and wiggles back against my chest, where she belongs. It’s only a matter of minutes until I feel her completely relax and her breathing evens out, so I know she’s asleep. I gently brush her hair back from her ear and whisper, “I love you, Allie, so much. I can’t wait to marry you.” And then sleep takes over.
CHAPTER 33
Allison
Iwake up alone and look at the hotel clock. It’s ten. The guys had to be at the field at nine-thirty. Kick-off is at twelve-thirty.I need to get a move on.I faintly remember Liam kissing me goodbye, but nothing after that. I drag myself out of bed and hop in the shower. I throw on my favorite pair of Rock Revival jeans along with a long sleeve t-shirt underneath my MacCoy jersey. I straighten my hair and place my UNC hat on my head. The weatherman says it’s going to be in the fifties today, so that should be plenty of clothing. The way Hailey and I jump around and cheer, we keep ourselves plenty warm. I venture down to the lobby and find Hailey ready to go, sporting the same jersey as me.
“Hey, you, are you ready to head out?” she asks me.
“Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Emerson are headed down as well. How about your parents?”
Hailey nods. “I just talked to Mom. She said they were walking onto the elevator, so they should all be here at the same time.”
“Sounds good. I’m going to call Gran on the way and wish her a happy new year and check in.” We gather our phones, keys, pocket some money in our jeans, you can’t watch a purse when you’re trying to focus on the game, lock the door and we are good to go.
Hailey’s driving, so I hop into the passenger seat and pull out my phone to call Gran. “Hey, Judy,” I say to her homecare nurse. “Can I talk to Gran?” I listen while Judy tells me that Gran wasn’t feeling well this morning and is laying down for a nap. “Okay, well, when she wakes up tell her I called and I’ll call her after the game.” Judy agrees to relay my message, and we say goodbye. Pulling into the stadium, we spot Liam and Hailey’s parents, as well as Aiden’s, waiting for us by the entrance. We all enter together and take our seats. Liam being the quarterback has its advantages, he has scored us the same seats all season.
The game is awesome. We’re in the fourth quarter, one minute to go, and we’re up two touchdowns. Hailey and I have been on our feet the entire game. I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket, I pull it out to check it and see it’s Grans’ number. It’s so loud in the stadium I’ll never be able to hear her and there are only a few minutes left, so I hit ignore with the intentions of calling her back as soon as the game is over. I hope to relay a win, maybe she’s watching at home as well. She and I have watched all of the away games together. Gran quickly became addicted to watching football. I smile, remembering her yelling at the television one Saturday when Liam got sacked. She was so not impressed.
Not thirty seconds later I feel my pocket vibrate again, I pull out my phone and see it’s Judy, Gran’s homecare nurse. I glance at the scoreboard and there’s nineteen seconds left in the game, we have the ball and are still up by two touchdowns. I bump Hailey’s shoulder and tell her gran tried to call and now Judy is trying too, so I’m going to head out of the stands and call them back just to make sure everything is okay. I make it out of the stands to the landing by a concession stand, which has already closed, so there aren’t a lot of people around. I pull out my phone and hit redial for Judy.
“Hey, Judy, it’s Allison, sorry I couldn’t take your call. It’s crazy loud in here, and I couldn’t hear. What’s up?” I ask her.
“Allison,” Judy chokes and my heart drops.
“Judy. What’s wrong?” I ask, fear lacing my voice.
“I’m so sorry, sweetie, she was sleeping, and I went to check on her and—and—” She’s crying now, and I can’t find my words to coach her to continue to just spit it the fuck out, to tell me what happened. “She—she wasn’t breathing. I tried to do CPR, but it was too late, she was already gone.”
My body is taken over by wrenching sobs as pain laces through me, and the tears flow heavily down my cheeks. “No,” I sob into the phone.
“Allison, I am so sorry to tell you this way, but I knew you would want to know.” She sniffles into the phone. “Allison, the funeral home just showed up, so I need to go. I’ll call you back as soon as this is all situated,” she tells me.
“I…I’m on my way. I will be there as soon as I can,” I tell her as I hit end on my phone. I’m crying so hard my chest is heaving with sobs, without thinking I take off running toward the parking lot. Gran. I need to get there as fast as I can. Through my tears, my vision is blurry, and I’m not watching where I’m going when I feel myself bump into someone. I look up and see Jason and this makes me cry even harder. I don’t need to deal with this asshole right now. What is he doing here anyway?
Jason gently grabs my arm to keep me from falling. I see his arm is still in a cast. Serves him right. “Slow down, Allison, what’s wrong?” he asks me. I’m surprised he even asked.
Instead of answering him, I back up into the wall, letting my body rest against it, and let the tears flow.
“Allison, you’re scaring me. Where’s Liam, do you need me to find him for you?” His voice is laced with concern.
I nod, unable to speak through the tears. Jason puts his arm around me as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Okay, can you tell me his number?” I shake my head, but hold out my hand that has mycell phone in it. He takes it and starts to scroll through to find Liam’s number.
Before he even gets a chance to hit send I hear Liam’s deep voice. “What the fuck did you do to her? I’m going to fucking kill you this time!” he yells as he plows toward us, flanked by security guards. He’s still in his uniform, sans helmet and shoulder pads. The look on his face is pure rage, however, the rage doesn’t register with me. All I see is Liam, the man I love, and I need to be in his arms, I need him wrapped around me. I push myself off the wall, and run and launch myself at him. He immediately lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, squeezing him tight. Liam’s whispering in my ear, “I got you, beautiful, you’re safe.” He kisses my neck. “What happened, baby?”
I hear Aiden. “You’re going to have more than a broken arm by the time I’m through with you!” he roars as he stalks his way toward Jason. It’s then I realize I need to stop this. Jason was trying to help me, help me get to Liam.
“Aiden, no!” I scream, and he stops in his tracks. I release my legs from the hold they have on Liam, and he gently sets me back on my feet, keeping me tucked close to his side. I’m still crying, but the sobs ease just a little when I feel Liam tighten his hold on me.
“Jason—he was—he was helping me.” I start to cry harder. “He was calling Liam for me.” As proof of what I was saying he hands Liam my cell phone.
“Here, man, she ran into me and she was crying so hard, she couldn’t even see where she was going. I asked her if she needed help and she nodded her head. I asked her if I could call you for her, but she couldn’t tell me your number she was so upset. Instead, she handed me her cell phone. I was just getting ready to call you.”
I nod my head, agreeing to what Jason is telling them. Liam bends his knees and uses his finger to lift my chin, so I’m looking at him. “Allie, baby, what happened? Did someone hurt you?” I can see the tension in his jaw at the mere thought that someone has hurt me.
