Page 123 of Sweeper
A knot lodges in my throat as I point up to the sky. “He’s watching.”
Vaughn releases me, giving me one more proud, fatherly look before I move through the back bench with my mind on a very different goal.
I jump over the barriers blocking off the stands and pull myself up over the gate in front of the front row. When my eyes lift, I see Daphney situated in the middle of the entire Harris horde and my mom sitting right beside her. They both have tears in their eyes as I push through the people all pressing in close for the spectacle.
I make it to Daphney and she’s staring at me in complete confusion as I reach behind my head and pull my jersey off. The crowd around us cheers loudly as I stand there shirtless, sweating, and breathless, but I block out all the noise as I move past Daphney.
“For Dad,” I say, handing my jersey to Mom, whose face crumples with emotion.
She nods as she reaches out to yank me into her sobbing body. We hold each other for a long time, both of us imagining Dad here in the stands cheering louder than even Vi Harris, who has serious pipes on her. Dad’s spirit is here, though. I’m certain of it.
Mom pulls back to wipe the tears off her face and releases me. She pulls my jersey up to her cheek and closes her eyes.
Without pause, I turn on my heel next and grab a surprised Daphney. I plant my lips so firmly that her squeal of surprise gives me a little stiffy too. The crowd loses their mind around us as I dip her in dramatic fashion. Her joyous laughter against my lips is the thing that dreams are made of.
I whip her back onto her feet, cupping her face in my hands as I say the three words I could say to her forever. “I love you.”
She smiles and presses her forehead to mine. “I love you.”
I struggle to let her go and head back down onto the field. I should be out there with my team. I should be celebrating this win with my brothers and my coach. But honestly, I don’t think I would have been here without Daphney. She opened my heart up after I spent over a year with it closed off. She taught me to be vulnerable and honest. She challenged me in ways no woman has ever challenged me, and she pushed me to be a better man. I want to be the best man I can be for her. I found the one whom my soul loves, and I want to marry this girl. She is my family.
And if these past few months have taught me anything, it’s that family isn’t about genetics, or DNA, or even the people who raised you—family is about who you love and who loves you.
Family over bullshit.
Daphney
“We’re literally taking a bath in Bath.” Zander chuckles, pulling me back against his chest as I step into the giant soaker tub.
I snuggle into his arms as bubbles pop and fizz around our bodies. Zander’s season is finally over, and he surprised me with this gorgeous little period retreat in Bath. We hopped on a train yesterday, spent the entire day in bed today, and are finally thinking about cleaning ourselves up to check out the historical village. That is, if we can be bothered to put on some clothes when we’re done here. I dare say, laying in a tub with this man as his lips tease the shell of my ear every time he talks sounds better than a dinner out.
This place is apparently where Santino and Tilly went on their honeymoon. Zander got all the details from Santino after they had their big meeting last week to determine if he would stay at Bethnal Green or go play for another club.
Zander has spent the last couple of months trying to decide if leaving the club would be a good idea after all. Not because of issues with Vaughn, Tanner, and Booker, but because he wondered if he might have a better experience getting to know them away from the football pitch.
However, Bethnal Green seems to be in a bit of transition. Shortly after Vaughn made his long-awaited retirement announcement, Coach Zion shocked everyone by accepting an offer at another club leaving two very large vacancies at Bethnal Green.
I don’t think anyone was surprised when Tanner Harris was offered the head coaching position. Now we’re all awaiting an announcement for who will be the new manager. It’ll have to be a strong person to handle the personality of Tanner.
Regardless, that still left Zander in the position of playing for his family, and he wasn’t sure that was a wise move. He doesn’t know a family like the Harrises, who literally do everything together. Last weekend, they all attended Sophia’s footy tournament. There were so many people taking photos, I actually felt bad for the girls playing their arses off on the pitch. The Harrises are in no way inconspicuous. I could see why Zander might want a little space from them since he grew up in a small family and isn’t used to being a part of such a ruckus.
However, Booker Harris can be very convincing and he’s apparently a master at grand gestures. He made it very well known that he wanted Zander to stay at Bethnal Green. In fact, he came up with a whole presentation at Tower Park that involved all the Harris grandchildren. It was like a weird little sporty variety show where all the children marched up and presented their memorized line that included a reason for why Zander must stay at Bethnal Green.
It ended with Booker’s twins fighting and one of them hurting their wrist enough to go to the hospital for an X-ray, but Zander got the message: Bethnal Green one, other football club nil.
The true deciding factor, however, was more than likely the incredible extended contract offer that Santino and Tanner presented to Zander. Apparently, there had been interest from other clubs for Zander, and Bethnal Green wanted to ensure he would be very happy wearing green and white for the foreseeable future.
I thought I had a good idea of what footballers made.I was wrong.
“We’ll have to take more little trips like this now that you’ve decided to stay at Bethnal Green, and we don’t have to worry about you getting transferred to a club far, far away anytime soon.”
“I was never going to a club far away,” Zander growls into my ear and reaches under the water to punish one of my unsuspecting nipples.
I squeal and shove his hand off me, my body heating with arousal at that little point of pressure. My God, I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve had sex in that adorable little four-poster bed. When will I get enough?
“Don’t you discipline me,” I say, my hands dipping under the water to slide underneath his muscular legs that are propped up on either side of me. “I’m still cross at you for trying to move out of our building.”
“Well, you weren’t speaking to me,” Zander argues, and even though we’re teasing each other, I can hear the pain in his voice. “I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally.”
