Chapter Eleven
Tia
The next week is a whirlwind. Briggs and I spend every possible moment together, laughing, making love, and talking. I attend his home game, sitting in the box with Hattie.
We even spring our relationship on Kingston.
To my surprise, he isn't mad about it. He's…
amused. He still threatens to murder Briggs if he breaks my heart, though, and part of me wishes I had told him what happened back in college.
Part of me wishes I'd told anyone, but that doesn't matter anymore, not really.
There is no place in my life for regret now.
It's nice…really nice.
While Briggs is at practice, I bury myself in work, creating everything we need to launch an athletic scholarship endowment.
The work is intense, but Briggs is a force of nature.
He helps accomplish more in a week than we'd have been able to do in two months without his help. His teammates help, too.
By the end of the week, we're already well on our way to funding the endowment. And additional funding is flowing into our other scholarships as well, because of Briggs.
I'm not sure whether he's throwing himself into the project so hard because it matters to me, or because it's a way to escape the drama surrounding his mother. That worries me.
But when he gets back from meeting with his siblings and lawyer to file the restraining order on Friday, he doesn't seem stressed about it. He seems…peaceful. Like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.
I still hurry across the massive, modern kitchen to him, burrowing into his arms.
He immediately wraps them around me, holding me close. "Hey, beautiful."
"Hey. How did it go?"
"Good," he grunts, wrapping my hair around his fist. "They're going to serve her as soon as possible."
"That's good, right?"
He just shrugs, and I'm not entirely sure what that means. "We decided to put out a statement once she's served."
"What kind of statement?"
"A joint statement calling it a private family matter and requesting privacy," he says. "Doubt it'll do much good, but we thought it was better than saying nothing and letting them get wind of it themselves."
"That's probably smart."
His lips curve. "I've been known to be a smart motherfucker on occasion."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah," he breathes, dipping his head until his lips are a breath from mine. "How do you think I ended up with you in my bed every night, sweetness?"
"Stalking and general psychopathy."
He growls playfully, slanting his mouth down over mine. I laugh against his lips, kissing him hard. God, I could kiss this man all day.
Unfortunately, that's not in the cards today.
I squirm out of his arms, ducking to avoid him when he tries to grab me. "No way, Briggs. We have work to do."
"Mmhmm. If you'd come back here, we could be doing it right now," he says, his eyes dark.
"Sex isn't work."
"Oh, yeah?" He quirks a brow. "Do you sweat?"
"Uh…"
"Do you scream?"
I narrow my eyes at him.
"Do you come all over me?" He saunters toward me, smirking like the devil. "I'll take your silence as a retraction of your previous statement."
"It is not a retraction. Sex is sex. Work is work." I toss a pamphlet at him, impressed when he actually manages to catch it. "You need to look this over and approve it."
"Why?"
"Because your face is all over it?"
He pauses, flipping it open. His gaze scans across it for no more than a second before he drops it on the table. "Approved."
"Briggs," I groan, laughing. "You didn't even read it! It could say anything."
"But it doesn't," he says confidently. "I know you better than that, Tia. I trust you. You haven't worked as hard as you have on this just to do some shady shit now. You want this too much."
"Yeah," I whisper, my chest pulsing, "I really do."
"I know you do. It matters to you too much for you to fuck around with it," he says. "Those kids and their futures matter too much."
I nod, grateful he understands. Maybe I thought letting him help was a terrible idea when he first appeared in my office, but… we're already doing a lot of good. Good we never would have been able to do if it weren't for him.
I love him for that. I really do.
"By the way," he says after a moment, peeling a banana. "I heard through the grapevine that Daniel Jordan's contract isn't being renewed."
I startle, staring at him with wide eyes. "You heard through the grapevine?"
"The grapevine has a lot to say," he says, shrugging casually, like he's just reporting the gossip when I know damn well he's the architect of this particular downfall.
"What did you do?" I ask, my heart in my throat.
"Me? Nothing."
"Briggs…"
"I didn't do anything, beautiful," he says, dropping the banana peel into the trash. "I just let Karsen know that he's a fucking creep who should be destroyed. Karsen handled it from there."
Karsen knows.
Old panic surges through me for a moment, weakening my knees. I stumble backward, sinking into the chair, my whole body trembling.
"Shit." Briggs is across the kitchen in two steps, kneeling in front of me. "It's okay, Tia. I'm right here."
"I'm fine," I gasp, shaking my head. My heart is racing like I just ran five miles, but the panic is already receding. "I just…" I'm not even sure I know how to explain or if there is anything to explain. "Does Karsen know?"
"I didn't give him your name or any specifics," he promises, clasping my hands in his. "I just let him know the gist."
I nod, trying to fit that into my mind.
"You know I'd never betray your confidence," he says, his voice soft…almost disappointed.
"I know. I know. I just…" I shrug helplessly. "For a split second, it felt like being back there." I give him a tremulous smile. "It was stupid."
"Hey." He curves his hand around my jaw, tilting my head back until his denim eyes lock with mine. "You're allowed to feel the way you feel, beautiful. Trauma isn't rational. Sometimes, it hits when you least expect it."
"I guess I just feel…" I hesitate, not sure how to explain. "Worse things happen to women all the time. Sometimes, I think maybe I don't have a right to feel the way I do."
"It's not a competition, beautiful," he says.
"What happened to you was fucked up. It was wrong.
He may not have physically forced you, but he manipulated you into making a choice you never would have made had you known all the facts, and then he humiliated you publicly for making that choice. That's predatory, period."
"Yeah," I whisper, nodding because he's not wrong. "So, he's being let go?"
"Yeah, at the end of the season."
"Will another team pick him up?"
"With his stats?" Briggs snorts scornfully. "Doubtful."
Maybe I shouldn't be happy about that…but I am. I'm glad his career is effectively over. I'm glad he's finally paying for what he did. And I refuse to feel the least bit guilty about that. He did the crime. It's beyond time for him to do the time.
I throw my arms around Briggs's shoulders in a fierce hug. "Thank you," I whisper, burying my face in his throat.
"For what?" he asks, clutching me to him.
"For loving me. For fighting for me. For being you."
He groans softly, his arms tightening around me. "Loving you is the easiest thing I've ever done, Tia."
"Hey," I call, stepping out of the bathroom with a towel in my hand. "I think we should…" I trail off when I catch sight of Briggs sitting on the edge of the bed with his head hanging low between his shoulders, his phone in his hands.
He looks like the weight of the world is on his broad shoulders.
"What's wrong?" I ask, hurrying toward him.
He glances up at me, his expression stark. "She was served about an hour ago," he says. "Tye just called."
My heart clenches. I crawl onto his lap, wrapping myself around him. He burrows his face into my throat, hugging me like he wants to fuse us into one being.
"It's going to be okay, Briggs," I promise, running my fingers through his soft hair.
"If the press digs, I'll be okay." I may have moments of panic like I did yesterday, but I'm not the girl I was six years ago, held together by duct tape.
I'm someone else now, someone stronger, braver…
someone who understands that the shame was never mine to carry.
He tilts his head back, his denim eyes meeting mine. "You will be okay," he rumbles, his gaze earnest. "You're strong like that, Tia."
"Because of you."
"No." He shakes his head. "You're strong because of you, beautiful. You're the one who decided to let me in and let yourself learn to trust again. You decided to let yourself heal enough to fall in love me. That was your show of strength, not mine."
"Briggs," I choke, not sure anyone has ever seen me quite like he does. Not sure anyone else ever will. He looks at me like I'm a hero instead of a mess, like I'm worthy. And, for once, I feel like I am.
I'm worthy of this man. And he's always, always been worthy of me.
What the hell am I going to do when I have to go back home?
I already can't imagine it…and yet, that day is coming. It's coming fast.