35. Hudson
Chapter 35
Hudson
Sunday morning, Laura greeted us at the players’ entrance to the stadium. The parking lot was full of very expensive cars and media vans setting up for the game against Green Bay.
“Hello, Gatlin’s. It’s good to see you again. Mr. Carlisle asked me to be your host today.”
“Great, thank you, Laura,” I said, shaking her hand. “You remember Thomas.”
She smiled at him. “Of course. We’re happy to have all of you with us. And I know Evan is happy you’re here.”
“Can we go down on the field?” Jack asked.
Laura nodded. “Absolutely. Mrs. Ellis has already gone up to the suite, as well as Mr. James and his husband.”
Preston and Nick were here? And Evan’s mother? Evan had withheld that information.
She waved over her shoulder and started walking.
“On game day, we, like all the other teams in the league, have a designated area for family and friends to see their players. The team is going through warm-ups. And they’re very excited to meet the governor.”
As we walked through the corridor toward the tunnel, Laura turned to ask about photos.
“Governor, I spoke to Anne about media coverage, but wanted to check with you as well. While we can ask the network not to include the kids, there’s no guarantee they’ll abide by it. People want to see you and Evan with the kids.”
I nodded. “I understand, and that’s fine.”
When we walked onto the field, unlike the last time we were here, music filled the airwaves. The scoreboard was lit with player bios and statistics as the stadium buzzed with an electric current you could only get from an athletic competition.
“There’s Evan!” Erin said, running toward the partition.
I shifted my eyes over to the field as we neared the north-side end zone.
And there he was in all his athletic glory.
My pulse kicked up when our eyes met. His smile stretched to his big blue eyes, making my breath catch. And as excited as I was, I knew our time was limited. We’d get a couple of hours after the game before we had to get back to the capital. I didn’t think I’d ever really get used to saying goodbye.
Erin and Jack were the first to reach him, and for the first time in a very long time, I wasn’t sure how I should react. Glancing around at the other players, I saw them hugging their families while mothers, wives, and girlfriends proudly wore their men’s jerseys. Was it appropriate for me to hug or kiss him in public like this? This was his job, and it was probably best that I follow his lead.
Evan put his arm over my shoulders and pulled me to his side. He leaned down and spoke quietly into my ear.
“I can see you’re weighing every consequence to every action in your head.”
I grunted. “That’s what I do.”
Evan laughed. His familiar deep chuckle took away my reservations.
“Don’t overthink it, Governor. We’re just like everyone else down here,” he said, smirking at me. Then he took the decision out of my hands when he quickly kissed me for everyone to see.
“Good lord,” Jack whined. “Are you two going to do that every time you see each other?”
“They’re in loovvveee,” Erin teased, making us laugh.
“Yeah, dude. We are. And you will be too one day. Get used to it,” Evan said, grabbing Jack by the head. He leaned down and kissed my son on the head, then did the same to Erin.
Jack looked horrified, then looked quickly over at me. I wasn’t sure what he needed from me, but I said what I thought he needed to hear.
“That’s right, J. And when you bring a girlfriend or boyfriend around for us to meet, we’re going to say we told you so.”
Evan winked at me as my son looked at his feet. “Yeah, that isn’t happening for a long, long time.”
It hit me that somehow, we’d already become a family. My kids looked up to him as a second parent. We wouldn’t have this public life much longer, and I was glad. Kissing me out here meant he wasn’t waiting for the spotlight to be off us, and neither was I.
One thing I knew was life waited for no one. If we were going to do this, we were going to do it full steam ahead. We’d show the world who you loved didn’t matter, but how much you loved did.
“I’ve got to go. Have fun in the box. I ordered a bunch of food. I’ll see you after the game,” he said, letting go of them.
As he smiled at me, I reached for his neck and pulled him into a kiss. I felt his smile against my lips until he pulled away.
“There’s my badass governor. See you later, babe.”
We watched as Evan jogged off toward the tunnel. He caught up to Lennox, who was waiting for him.
“Ready to go, Governor?” Laura asked.
With a big stupid grin on my face, I turned and nodded. “Let’s go.”
Laura put her hand on my arm. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but love looks good on you. Both of you, actually.”
I glanced over at my kids and then to where Evan was making his way to the locker room. “And it feels pretty damn good, too.”
We spent the next four hours in Evan’s suite with his mother, Preston, and Nick. Mr. Carlisle, the owner of the Storm, stopped by to introduce himself before the game.
Before we went to Portland to meet with Greer Rowan, I had my security team look into the owner of the Storm. He was fifty years old and a self-made tech billionaire from the Bay area. I took the opportunity to introduce Preston to him.
“I had dinner with Greer Rowan and his husband at the owner’s meeting. He told me about what the two of you were working on. Whatever you need from us, count the Storm in,” he’d said. “Philanthropy and giving back to the community is something important to me.”
I knew that to be the case. He was a single father, too, but by divorce, not death.
“I want to help make more teams in the league like Greer’s team. Inclusion and equity are important pillars in this organization.”
I wasn’t sure if he was telling me this to reassure me about my relationship with Evan, or if he simply wanted to be progressive and follow Greer’s lead. Either way, I’d take it as a good sign.
The game started at one p.m., skyrocketing my anxiety to a new level. I’d been a fan since I was a kid, but watching someone you loved out there put the shoe on the other foot. From the sounds of crashing helmets and pads to the grunts from players hitting the field after a tackle was unsettling.
Green Bay’s defense was good and had impeded our progress the entire first half. Just when we thought we were getting in the end zone, they’d stop them.
Evan had been in and out, running beautiful routes down the sidelines. Jack had elbowed me multiple times.
“That’s the route he taught me this summer. Remember?” His enthusiasm was infectious.
After a particular play drew the gasps and silence of the crowd, I leaned over to Evan’s mother.
“How do you get used to watching this? I’m a nervous wreck that he’s going to get hurt.”
She gave me the same look of understanding my mother did. “It takes time, Hudson. You hold your breath on every tackle and cheer even more when they get up. Then at the end of the day, you pray he walks away with no injuries. Evan knows this is a dangerous job. That’s why I try to come to every game. Just in case he needs me.”
I looked at her. “You fly here every week?”
She smiled. “I did until he bought me a condo his second year. Now I live down here during the season, and in Portland during the offseason. My friends are there and that’s home. Being here for him is more important to me. But now that he has you, I don’t have to worry about him as much any longer.”
“I would never push you out of his life. Please know that,” I said as the crowd roared to life. The defense had recovered a fumble.
She patted my face. “You’re a good man, Hudson. Take care of each other, sweetheart. And those darling kids.”
I wanted to ask more questions, but she pointed toward the field. “Here we go. We’ve got the ball.”
I swung my gaze back to the field and quickly found number eighty-four.
They were on Green Bay’s forty-yard line but needed a few more yards to be in field goal position. Green Bay called a timeout to set up their defense and placed two defenders on Evan.
During the timeout, Elaine leaned into me. “Watch this, Hudson. We’re going to get the yards we need without the clock moving.”
“How?”
Her eyes sparkled. “Lennox is going to use a crazy hard count to draw them offsides. He practices it religiously, and it works almost every time.”
When play resumed, Lennox went into some drawn-out cadence, and a defensive end jumped offsides.
With five seconds to go in the half, the Storm sent in the kicker and left the field with a three-to-nothing lead.
Two hours later, we walked down the stairs to the field to meet Evan. He stood on the field, holding his helmet under his arm, waiting for us.
Jack was the first to congratulate him on their 24-17 win.
“We were a little sloppy, but we’ll get better with practice,” he told Jack.
I couldn’t help but think how that statement paralleled our sex life. And just like that, my body broke out in a rush of heat thinking about sex with him.
Evan must have noticed. “You okay, Governor?”
He handed his helmet to Jack and swung his arm over my shoulder. “I’m fine. But I have a new perspective on this game now. I might need to look into anxiety meds.”
Evan laughed as we walked off the field, arm in arm. I knew people were staring and taking photos, and I knew we’d light up every gossip site and hater in California. But I didn’t care. And neither did he.
But two hours later, after a quick dinner, we arrived at the airport, trying to ready ourselves for another goodbye. The kids got on board the plane as Evan and I said goodbye.
“I’ll see you next Saturday in Kansas City,” I said, fighting back the emotions.
Evan smiled and held me close. “If you change your mind about coming, it’s okay.”
I shook my head. “I’m not changing my mind. I made a commitment to be at every game possible. Besides, I don’t want to go any longer than we have to without seeing one another.”
Evan looked at me like he knew something I didn’t, but nodded anyway. “Okay, babe. Whatever you want to do is fine.”
I looked into his big blue eyes, knowing the minutes were ticking by quickly.
“Governor, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Thomas said. “But the pilot says we need to go.”
I nodded.”Yes, I’ll be right there.”
Looking up at Evan, I kissed him hard. “I love you, Superstar.”
He smiled and kissed me one more time. “I love you, Governor.”
Releasing me, my heart ached as I climbed the stairs. Evan took a step back and absently rubbed at the left side of his chest.
I took my seat and fastened my seatbelt. Evan stood outside, leaning against his car as the plane backed away. I kept my eyes on him until he was no longer in view.
One week.
We could do one-week separations.
But I quickly realized life got in the way, and didn’t give a single fuck that I was in charge or the governor of California.
One week turned into three, and after a brief two days together, another two weeks passed without seeing each other. Between wrapping up my governorship, the kids’ school schedule, and Jack’s games, I was failing to juggle things the way I’d hoped.
But Evan smiled and continued to put up with the craziness that was my life.
The next thing we knew, it was mid-October, and we were three weeks out from the election.
All I could do was hope things would get easier.