Chapter Thirty-Five
Braden
The next day, Emily and I walked hand in hand through the stadium toward a conference room full of people we were ready to break the news to.
I’d called on Coach Palmer, Emily had informed Claire, and we knew there would likely be half the PR and HR teams there, too.
Emily’s hand was steady in mine, her breath calming my own as we walked.
I knew as long as I had her, I could face anything.
“You know, however this turns out… you’re going to have to face something possibly more intimidating than Claire and Coach Palmer,” I said.
“Does that even exist?”
One of my shoulders tilted up. “You’ve gotta meet my friend group.”
Emily waved me off with a scoff. “Are you kidding? That’ll be easy. Have you met me?” She pressed a quick peck to my cheek. “I’m impossible not to love.”
“Don’t I know it.” I smiled, throwing my arm around her shoulder. “We’re doing Christmas in the Rockies, just a couple nights where we can make it happen between practices and games. Come with me?”
“Oh, you’re stuck with me now.”
“My favorite way to be.”
She leaned into me with a smile, glancing up at me. “Are you nervous?”
“No,” I said, and I meant it. “I’m done being scared. No matter what happens when we walk through that door, I know it’ll be okay.”
“I love you,” she whispered. “Have I told you that today?”
“Yes. About four times in a row this morning actually when my face was buried between your—”
She kissed me with a laugh to shut me up, and then we paused on the outside of the conference room, both of us taking deep breaths.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Ready,” she said.
We turned toward the door, but before we could reach for the handle, it opened for us.
And one of my teammates walked out — Lavonte.
Holding hands with a dancer I recognized as one of Emily’s friends who was also her teammate.
“Marcus?” Emily asked, brows shooting up when she looked at their hands clasped and then back at her friend.
Marcus smiled sheepishly, threading his arm through Lavonte’s before resting his head on his biceps. “What?” he asked playfully. “You think you’re the only one who gets a happy ever after?”
Emily laughed, shaking her head. “I could not love this more. Hi, I’m Emily,” she said, extending her hand for Lavonte’s next.
“I know who you are,” Lavonte said with a smile, shaking her hand firmly. His eyes jetted to me next and he nodded his hello. I did the same, a knowing smile on my lips. He’d mentioned to me in a very brief one-off conversation that he was seeing someone, and it was getting serious.
I was happy to see I wasn’t the only one facing fears.
“I saw your podcast clip,” he said to Emily. “Then went and listened to the whole thing. It really inspired me.”
Emily balked. “I… inspired you?”
“Yeah,” Lavonte said. “It was brave as fuck, what you did. And you didn’t stutter, either.
You stood on business. Made me think about my own cowardly ass and how I wanted to do the same.
I wanted to be brave about what matters to me.
” He looked down at Marcus then, and he practically transformed into a heart eye emoji.
“So, thanks. You saved me from a lot of unnecessary pain.”
Marcus pressed up onto his toes to kiss Lavonte, and then he pretended to flick his non-existent long hair off his shoulder before planting a pointed look at Emily. “Anyway, your turn. It’ll be hard to follow our act, I assure you, but you can still have your little moment.”
He blew a kiss as they walked away, and Emily and I laughed, waving goodbye.
Then, we took their place inside the conference room — and found it a lot less icy than we expected.
Claire and Coach were chatting it up, Claire relaxed and leaned back in her chair with one slack-covered leg crossed over the other. Coach was laughing, and the rest of the crew was feverishly typing away on their laptops, no doubt getting ready to field all the media that was sure to explode.
When Claire saw us enter, she tapped her pen on the table, gesturing for us to sit. “Come in, come in. And you can save us your speech,” she said with a knowing smile. “You’re together and you want it to stay that way, am I right?”
Emily and I shared a look, sitting side by side with our hands still clasped under the table.
“That’s right,” I said. My eyes flicked to Coach.
“Sir, I know this is against my contract. I understand the implications. I love this team, and the last thing I want is to lose my spot on it, but I love Emily.” I looked at Emily, my smile watery before I schooled it. “And I won’t choose anything over her.”
Coach sighed, shaking his head. “Relax, Lock. No one is getting fired.”
I blinked – because the last time they’d said that to us, there had been a warning at the end that insinuated it would happen if the issue came up again. “We’re not?”
Claire snorted, leaning forward and bracing her elbows on the table. “God, you two really came in here ready to martyr yourselves, huh?”
Emily squeezed my hand under the table, and I felt her surprise echo my own.
“We meant what we said,” Emily added, her voice steady. “We’re not going to hide it. Not anymore.”
“Good,” Claire said simply. “Because that would’ve been a nightmare to manage.”
Coach nodded. “Look, the fraternization clause is there for a reason — optics, distractions, locker room dynamics. But it’s not a death sentence.
It’s a guideline. And right now?” He gestured vaguely between us.
“This doesn’t look like a problem. It looks like two people who care about each other and aren’t being idiots about it. ”
“Well, not anymore, anyway,” Claire added with a grin.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
Claire pointed her pen at us. “That said — this only works if you don’t become a problem. No sneaking around in dark hallways. No getting caught in compromising positions. No giving the media anything juicier than what they already have.”
Emily’s cheeks pinked, and I fought a grin.
“Keep it professional when you’re in this building,” Coach added. “On the field, on the sidelines, in meetings. You’re a receiver and a dancer first. Everything else comes second while you’re clocked in. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Absolutely,” Emily echoed.
Claire leaned back again, crossing her leg. “We’ll get ahead of it with PR. Frame it the right way — two adults, mutual respect, no impact on performance. Honestly?” She shrugged. “With the way that podcast clip hit, this might even work in our favor.”
Emily blinked. “In your favor?”
Claire’s mouth tipped. “You haven’t noticed?
Engagement is through the roof. Our team is in the media more than it has been since we were in the playoffs.
Ownership is paying attention to what people are saying.
And you…” She pointed at Emily. “You’ve become the face of the conversations we’ve been trying to push for years.
Equality, pay, visibility. Sponsors love that shit. ”
Emily’s lips parted, stunned.
“And for the record,” Claire added, softer now, “you’re the reason we just got approval to increase the team’s budget and salary next season.”
Emily’s hand tightened in mine. “Wait… what?”
Coach chuckled. “You made some noise, kid. Good noise. I’d strongly suggest you try out again.”
Emotion flickered across Emily’s face, something bright and disbelieving. “I… I’ll think about it.”
“Think all you want,” Claire said. “We’d be sad to lose you as a dancer if you decide to leave, but know this — you’ve already made an impact here. No one’s questioning that.”
Silence settled for a beat, the weight of everything shifting into something lighter. Something… hopeful.
I cleared my throat. “Coach, I just want to say — I know my contract is up after two more seasons. And I know this probably doesn’t help my case for an extension, so if—”
Coach barked out a laugh, cutting me off. “Lock,” he said, shaking his head. “Are you serious right now?”
Heat crept up my neck. “I just mean—”
“You mean you think kissing a girl is going to tank your career?” Coach cut in. “Son, we’re trying to win football games, not run a monastery.”
A few of the staffers chuckled under their breath.
“You’re one of the best assets we’ve got,” Coach continued. “You show up, you do your job, and you do it damn well. That’s what matters. Extension talks will come when they come, but don’t for a second think this”—he pointed between me and Emily—“is what’s going to hurt your chances.”
My chest felt like it cracked open.
Claire nodded. “If anything, just don’t screw it up by becoming a distraction. That’s the only way this turns into a problem.”
“I won’t,” I said firmly.
Emily squeezed my hand again. “We won’t.”
Coach studied us for a moment longer before nodding once. “All right then. That’s settled.”
Claire clapped her hands together lightly. “Great. Now go be in love somewhere that isn’t under a security camera.”
That pulled a laugh out of Emily, and I couldn’t help but grin, too.
We stood, thanking them both, and when we stepped back out into the hallway, the door closing behind us, everything felt different. All the fear that had guided me for so long had evaporated, and in its place, there was nothing but light.
Hope.
Possibility.
Emily turned to me, her eyes shining. “Did that really just happen?”
I pulled her into me without hesitation, my hands framing her face. “Yeah,” I murmured. “It did.”
Her smile broke wide, and I kissed her — right there in the hallway, hoping I could bend those rules we’d just agreed to just one more time.
“Now who’s being trouble,” Emily said against my lips.
I ran my hands down her back, cupping her ass and squeezing tight. “You did this to me.”
“Mm… what else can I do to you?” She nipped my jaw, and I growled, swatting her ass before grabbing her hand in mine and walking faster than I ever had toward the parking lot.
“Let’s find out. You still got that list?”
“Folded in a drawer at home. A copy here on my phone. Forever embedded in my brain.”
“And what’s next on it?”
She grinned, and then took off in a jog, racing me to our next chapter.
“You’ll have to catch me to find out!”