Page 110 of Pucking Tangled
“What’s wild is the way she loves all of us without ever making any of us feel like less.”
“You’re mine,” he muttered. “Ours. And I’d burn the whole damn internet down to make sure they know it.”
Then came Casey.
“I’ve been in love with Mia Abbott since I was thirteen years old…”
She reached for Casey before the video even ended, squashing Luca and Waylon between them as she pulled him into her arms.
“You did this for me?” she whispered.
“Forus,” he whispered back. “But mostly for you.”
Their statements weren’t lost on her at all. She knew what Casey had gone through. The struggle he faced when he came out with Owen. But he faced this one head on and without hesitation.
All at once, realization hit her.
They hadn’t waited for her to ask.
They didn't make her go through this alone, though she could imagine a world in which professional athletes would have distanced themselves from the scandal or asked for her to wait for it to die down.
They didn’t hide behind her bravery, waiting for her to make the first move.
They showed up and matched her bravery.
Each in their own way.
Each voice added to hers.
Not because she needed saving, but because they believed she deserveddefending.
She looked at all four of them, her breath caught in her chest.
“You beat me to it,” she said, smiling through her tears.
Waylon smirked. “Yeah, but you had the better mic drop.”
THIRTY-NINE
Waylon
He’d never been scaredof anything.
Fists.
Blood.
Expectations.
He’d taken punches from guys twice his size and skated full-speed into hits that rattled his teeth.
He could charm his way through any fight, grin through any bruise.
But when Mia looked at him likethat—all soft fire and quiet purpose—he felt his damn heart stop.
Fuck.He was a lucky son of a bitch.
The weight of what they’d all just done hung thick in the air, like the moment after a prayer.
