17. Jason Kingsley
Chapter seventeen
Jason Kingsley
It’s halftime and my mind still hasn’t let go of the image of Willow’s eyes. They were shining with tears when I tipped her chin up, like twin rain clouds on the verge of a storm. I wish our conversation could have been longer. I wanted to draw her close and let her know I wasn’t angry, just a little frustrated. Hopefully she understood everything I said before Coach took me away.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to her before the game. She was working, and I needed to focus on the task at hand. I tuned out the world as soon as I stepped on the field, and worked with the team to put up seventeen points, while the Alamanda Alligators only managed six. We should be up more, but their defense is stronger than we anticipated. They may not beat us, but we’re not looking like Super Bowl contenders either.
Now that I’m in the locker room, it’s hard to think of anything but Willow. Coach yelled for a while about missing passes or not reading the field correctly. I listened as intently as I could, and as soon as he finished, I went back to worrying about my future wife. Had anyone given her any problems while I was on the field? Was she still upset from earlier, or did my words give her some peace of mind? How will she act when she meets Miles and Ellie later? Will they like her?
“You look like you’ve got a lot more than football on your mind,” Calvin says as he sits beside me on the bench. “Everything okay with Willow?”
We’d talked during warmups and he was thankfully not mad at me for keeping the news from him. His acceptance helped me shake off my pre-game nerves, but they’re starting to resurface the more I think about what’s to come.
“Yeah, everything is okay. I’m a little worried someone is going to say something stupid to her when I’m not around.”
“I’ve heard her insults firsthand, and I think she can handle herself,” he says with a chuckle.
The corner of my mouth lifts. He’s not wrong there. My girl isn’t one to back down from a fight. I rake a hand through my hair. There I go again, thinking of her as mine . On one hand, she is and will be even more so soon, but on the other…I think she’d slap me if she heard my thoughts.
“I know she can,” I say, “but I also know that the media and fans can be brutal. I don’t want her going through that because of me.”
He nods in understanding. “I get that, but she chose this, chose you , knowing that. She’s been in our world long enough to not be surprised.”
I appreciate Calvin trying to reassure me. But Willow didn’t exactly choose me. And she may know our world, but it’s different when you’re marrying into it. I don’t want her to regret this more than she already does.
One of the assistant coaches pokes his head into the locker room and announces that it’s time to head back to the field.
“Thanks for the pep talk, man. I’m sure she’s fine,” I say to Calvin, and I hope I’m right.
I don’t want to have to make an example out of someone, but one thing’s for sure: no one is going to hurt my wife and get away with it.
I tug on a Lions cap as I exit the press room. After Coach screamed at us, we came out and dominated the second half of the game. We ended up winning by thirty points. That kind of win made the press conference interesting. After asking a few questions about the game, the press clearly were bored of our win and wanted to talk about my personal life. I answered a few questions about mine and Willow’s engagement before steering it back to the topic of football once more. I’m grateful for the media training the Lions insisted on when I transferred to their team. At the time I thought it was stupid, but it helped me redirect tonight’s conversation, which makes it worth it.
I push open the exit door that leads to our waiting charter bus, and the movement elicits a groan. I took a rough hit during the third quarter, and I’m certain my right side is going to have a nasty bruise. I’d love to take a long hot shower and crawl into bed, but I should probably take my phone off Do Not Disturb and try to find Miles.
“Well if it isn’t the groom-to-be,” a familiar voice says. I lift my gaze to find Miles grinning at me. Beside him is his fiancée Ellie, and beside her is Willow.
“How did you guys get back here?” I ask, though I have a sneaking suspicion Willow had something to do with it.
“I unmuted my notifications during halftime,” Willow says as I approach. “I had a text from Brock saying to meet you back here. Miles and Ellie were already here when I arrived.”
I’d hoped to be able to talk to Willow about meeting them before now, but I’d been too distracted on the bus. She was so close. All I’d wanted to do was hold her…and kiss her, but that isn’t even an option.
“Sounds like something Brock would do,” I say. I’m debating on how to greet her when she makes the first move. She pushes up on her tiptoes and brushes her lips along my jaw in a feather-light kiss.
“You played great tonight,” she murmurs and goosebumps cover my arms.
“Thanks,” I rasp, unable to compute that she just kissed me.
“We already introduced ourselves,” Miles says. “Though we shouldn’t have had to,” he says pointedly.
Ellie swats his chest. “Don’t give him a hard time. You hid your feelings from me for weeks. At least he was hiding them from everyone else.”
I laugh and Willow hides a smile behind her hand.
Miles huffs. “That’s not the same thing at all.”
“You also denied having any feelings for her to me too,” I point out.
He shoots me a glare. “Don’t try to turn this on me. Not that long ago you were talking about coming to Florida to see if Ellie was the love of your life.”
My stomach drops. I glance at Willow. She’s averted her gaze, and suddenly I have the urge to deck one of my best friends.
“Why would you bring that up?” Ellie asks. She’s a smart woman, though her choice in men is debatable right now.
Miles looks abashed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” He rubs the back of his neck. “It just sucked getting the news from the tabloid instead of from you.”
I sigh. “I know this is all sudden and weird. I didn’t plan for things to go this way, but we had to announce it fast after those photos came out.”
I don’t have to elaborate. All the guys knew about the photos and messaged me asking me what was going on. I just didn’t know what to tell them, and by the time I did, it was time to announce my engagement.
“I’m not going to say I get it, but I guess I’ll be okay with it.” He looks at Willow. “Sorry again for bringing up the whole Ellie thing. If it helps, I’m pretty certain that was before he even knew you.”
Something in her expression tells me that Miles’ words didn’t entirely smooth things over. I’m sure that, though she doesn’t care about my dating life, it’s probably embarrassing to hear about me talking about another woman like that. Especially since said woman is right in front of us .
“It’s okay,” Willow says with a small smile.
I give Miles a look that says he better not do something like that again. He nods in understanding. We’ve been friends long enough to communicate that way.
“Well now that my fiancé has made himself look like a jerk, how about we go get some ice cream? Can you two ditch the bus? We can take you back to your hotel later,” Ellie says.
Miles shoots her a look, but she holds her smile.
I chuckle at her sass. “I’m good to hang out if Willow is, though I think I’ll need more than just ice cream after playing.”
“There’s a place nearby with some old-school diner food, like burgers and shakes. It’s not as good as the food in Coastal Cove, but it’s still good,” Ellie says.
“That sounds good to me,” Willow answers when I look down at her.
“Awesome! We pulled the Bronco up over here. It’s on the other side of the bus.”
I raise my brows. “You drove the Bronco outside of Coastal Cove?” I ask Miles.
He shrugs as if he really had no choice. “I can’t say no to those brown eyes.”
I chuckle at my friend’s changed ways. There was a time when Miles didn’t want anything other than to be the best golfer in the world. Now he’s let in not just friends, but a future wife and her family too. I’ve gotten plenty of photos of him playing with Ellie’s nephew and relaxing with friends at the beach. All things he never used to make time for but now he can’t get enough of.
“Don’t laugh, I’m sure you’re the same way. You carried Willow out of a party, so that’s something.”
I wrap an arm around Willow’s shoulders and draw her closer to my side. I look down at her. “I did do that. She didn’t feel like walking in her heels anymore, so I swept her off her feet and carried her out. Like a knight in shining armor.”
She rolls her eyes. “I twisted my ankle,” she corrects. “I’m not a diva.”
Ellie smiles as she looks between us. “I like you already. Except, I’d totally make Miles carry me just because my feet were hurting.”
“You have made me do that,” Miles says and she giggles.
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
He shakes his head, but there’s a smile on his lips. “You’re lucky I love you, Red.”
Her smile widens. “I know.”
“Red?” Willow questions.
Miles’ grin turns into a smirk. “It’s my nickname for her because–”
“Of my hair,” Ellie interrupts, shooting him a look. “Do you two have nicknames for each other?” It’s clear she’s changing the subject, but it doesn’t bother me.
We start walking to the car, and Willow answers for me.
“He calls me Lo,” she says in a quiet voice.
“Aw, that’s a cute nickname,” Ellie says, throwing a sparkly smile over her shoulder as they walk ahead of us.
“Please tell me you don’t call Jason, King. I wish that nickname would die. Every time it’s spoken, his ego inflates a little more,” Miles says.
Willow laughs. “No, I don’t call him King. I don’t think I could say that with a straight face.” She looks up at me, her expression turning shy. “Sometimes I call him Jase.”
I blink in surprise at the new nickname. I thought she’d just say she doesn’t have a nickname for me. Or maybe make a joke about calling me obnoxious.
“I like that better than King,” Ellie says, still laughing at Miles’ joke.
“Me too,” I say, just loud enough for Willow to hear. Her tentative smile grows a little. My heart grows with it. After the stress of this morning and the intensity of the game, her giving me this nickname is like coming home to a warm meal after a long day. It’s pure comfort and joy.
I tug her closer, ignoring the pain in my bruised side when she wraps her arm around me in return. The pain is worth it to be close to her. I’d go through much worse to have this moment.