It had always been only my mother out in the stands, cheering me on all these years. But my circle had grown.
My family had grown.
My mother was sitting in the midst of all the Reynolds chaos, and Romeo and Tia were right there with her. It was as if they’d always been a part of my life.
At least that was how it felt.
Bradford and Alana were sitting beside my mother. Tia was next to Georgia and Lila, while Romeo managed to squeeze between Maddox and Wyle. Hugh, Finn, and Cage were sitting beside them. Little Gracie was sitting on her Uncle Hugh’s lap, wearing a gigantic pair of pink headphones because Brinkley had worried that the noise would overwhelm her.
These were my people.
My teammates in life.
They supported me, and I’d walk through fire for any one of them.
We’d won the coin toss, and I slipped my helmet on as the crowd roared. I glanced over to see Brinkley several feet away on the field. She’d gotten a press pass and was covering the game, but she would not be interviewing me.
It was something she felt strongly about, and I fucking respected the hell out of it. Her career was important to her, but there was nothing more important than our relationship—for either of us.
I winked at her, and she just stood there smiling at me.
My girl.
I couldn’t wait to put a ring on her finger. We’d moved into our new home, and we’d gone to Paris for Maddox and Georgia’s wedding, and life had been busy. I wanted to do something really special for her, but I hadn’t thought of what it was just yet.
A smack on the side of my head had me whipping around, and Brett Jacobs stood there with his eyes bugging out of his head. “Uh, we got a game to play, asshole. You want to stop staring at your girl and pull your shit together?”
“Wipe that goofy-ass look off your face,” I said over my laughter when I realized the crowd had picked up on what was going on, and cheers and laughter bellowed around the field.
We’d gone public with our relationship, and we were both fine with it. We didn’t flaunt it and preferred quiet nights at home, but we didn’t hide it when we were out together.
I returned my focus to the game.
We got in the huddle, and I called the first play.
Everything about my life felt lighter now. When I was on the field, I wanted to do everything I could to score points and win games. But when I was off the field, I had a whole life going on.
And it felt damn good.
There was a lot more to play for now.
But whether or not we won this game—I still went home a winner. No doubt about it.
The whistle blew, and the ball was hiked.
I ran back, hyperfocused, as I gazed down the field. We wanted to come out the gate strong. Make a statement.
And there was Brett. He’d juked the dude covering him and was exactly where I needed him. I pulled back and released the ball.
Putting it right in his hands, just as he was tackled to the ground.
But I’d take a sixty-two-yard pass for our opening play all day long.
I high-fived the guys who’d covered me and given me the time to get that ball into Brett’s hands.
The next play was a pass to Terry Langley, and he rushed for ten more yards.
The crowd was going crazy, and it felt damn good to be back out here, doing what I loved.
With the people that I loved out here supporting me.
It didn’t get any better.
We battled for the next several hours. It was hot as hell outside, and we pushed as hard as we could to bring home the win. And that was exactly what we did.
We’d won by ten points, and Coach Balboa was proud as hell as we all gathered in the locker room and celebrated.
After we’d showered and changed, I made my way out of the locker room to a slew of reporters. I answered a few questions that they fired off, and Brett and Lenny were right there with me.
And that was when I saw her.
My gaze locked with Brinkley’s, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
“Listen, these guys are here to answer whatever else you want to know. I’ve got a date with my girl, and frankly, she smells a lot better than all of you.”
There was a lot of laughter, and I made my way through the crowd as my teammates took over answering their questions.
“Great game, Captain.”
“Thanks. I thought you’d be stuck here running interviews.” My fingers interlocked with hers.
“I got what I needed, and my sexy boyfriend played a great game, so I’d like to get out of here with him.”
“That sounds good to me, sweetheart.”
“Lincoln, when are you going to put a ring on it?” someone shouted from behind us, and I’d normally ignore them. But not today. That was a question that I didn’t mind answering.
“I’m working on it!” I held up my hand and heard the laughter behind us.
Brinkley’s cheeks were a little pink, and I fucking loved it.
“Does that scare you?” I teased.
“I don’t scare easy. I’m ready when you are.” She smiled as we walked down the hall.
“Good to know.”
We were meeting everyone at our place and having dinner catered. When we pulled up, they’d all beaten us there, and there were cars parked all along the large circular driveway. I opened the garage door, and we saw Finn standing in the garage on the phone, and he didn’t look happy.
“Is he all right? I’m guessing this shit is getting to him, huh?”
“Yeah. Maybe you could talk to him? You know a thing or two about the press, right?” Brinkley said. Her tone was light, but I heard the concern beneath it.
Big Sky Ranch had become the number one streaming show out there at the moment. Sometimes, everything comes together, and a show just has that magic.
Finn happened to be the star of the show, and his popularity had soared overnight. Unfortunately, his costar was enjoying the fame and was doing a bunch of interviews, bad-mouthing Finn for breaking her heart. He was taking a lot of heat at the moment, and he’d yet to speak out about it.
We stepped out of the car, and Brinkley gave me a kiss before jogging toward her brother. “I’ll meet you guys inside.”
“You all right?” I asked after he ended the call.
“Yeah. Great game, by the way.”
“Hey, we’re talking about you. I’m sure this shit is getting to you.”
“You know, it’s a weird mix of a lot of things. I’ve waited so long to find a show that would sort of launch my career, you know?” He glanced out at the street before looking back at me. “And now there’s this woman spreading all these lies about me, and it’s not what I want to be known for.”
“What does Angelique say?”
“Well, we just thought it would all blow over at first. But now, Jessica’s going on these talk shows and saying we discussed marriage and having a family together, and none of that is true. We never even went out on a date. We don’t chat on the phone either. I don’t know much about her outside of our professional situation. We hooked up that one time, and I’ve been honest about what happened, as much as everyone wants to joke about it. I did stop things because I knew something wasn’t right. I’ve kept my head down for months since. I haven’t been going out, haven’t been with any women. I don’t want to fuck up my career.” He scrubbed a hand down his face.