Chapter 32 – Seth #2
That I’m the asshole she’s choosing to be next to.
Because maybe she won’t let me claim her the way I want to, but whether she realizes it or not, she’s claimed me.
She’s claimed us. This feels like a glimpse of the future we’ll get someday.
Me and Bri, side by side at all of Sawyer’s games, cheering her on.
High school. College. Whatever she wants to do, we’ll be there. Together.
“Go Sawyer!” I shout out, louder than the rest of the crowd as the whistle blows and the game takes off. And for the next thirty-minutes I don’t stop smiling or cheering for my daughter.
By the time the second set finishes, I finally manage to stand and stretch my hamstring. It’s sore in all the wrong ways, which tells me I’m going to pay for this tomorrow in practice. Worth it.
Sawyer played the entire first set. She made some solid digs, a few shanked ones too, but she held her own as a part of the starting line-up.
She ended up getting subbed, but Bri’s confident she’ll be back out there after this short break, and I believe her.
Kid’s got grit, and I’m proud she’s mine.
I might be biased, but she looks like the best one out there.
“Everything okay?” I ask as Bri scrolls on her phone, thumbing through something with that half-focused frown she makes when she’s deep in thought.
Her frown deepens before she quickly closes her phone and shoves it in her back pocket. “Yeah. All good.”
I nod though she seems more distracted now. “You want something to drink?”
“Sure, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I need to get up.”
I shake out my leg, trying not to draw too much attention to myself as I move across the packed gym. It’s a little difficult to do at my size and height, and I don’t miss the way several of the parent’s eyes track me and start whispering.
A few minutes later, and a couple awkward waves to people who acted like they knew me but were too afraid to ask for autographs, I return from concessions juggling two oversized cups—one Dr. Pepper for her, one blue Powerade for me.
“Thank you,” she says, smiling up at me as I force my body back into the torture device they call middle school bleachers.
It’s tight. Uncomfortable. Definitely built for a middle schooler’s frame and not a full-grown adult.
But I get to press my thigh against hers like this since there isn’t much room, and she doesn’t pull away, so I count it as a win.
Our first time touching in days and just her scent immediately soothes me.
I bump her shoulder with mine. “I’ve missed you,” I whisper.
She smiles and lifts her gaze to mine. “Same.”
I nod at her phone. “What are you reading?”
“A new fantasy book.”
“One for the book club you joined with my daughter?”
Her grin goes full mischief. “So, you found out about that, huh?”
“Levi told me.”
She laughs, that warm, honeyed sound that wraps around my chest. “Yeah, Sawyer asked me to join so we could discuss books, and I felt like it was a good way to track what she’s reading.
But this book is not one she’s reading. This one is purely for my own enjoyment. ” She wiggles her brows suggestively.
“Oh?”
She drops her voice and leans into my space. “Think vampires, except make it sexy.”
I try to sneak a peek at the page she’s on. She angles the screen toward me, one hand half-covering it from everyone else. I only have to read a few sentences to figure out it’s something about a vampire going down on a woman during her period. I choke on my sip of Powerade.
“What the hell?”
She doesn’t even try to hide her grin. “Iron,” she says, like it explains everything.
“That’s not a young adult book?”
“Oh, God no. This book is very much an adult book. Sawyer can never know that I’m reading this.”
I laugh. “You’re constantly surprising me.” And she is. Over and over again. And I’m not sure I’ll ever get enough. “You ever had someone do that?”
Her face turns crimson, and I like that she’s so confident in the bedroom, yet outside of it, some topics still make her squirm.
“Definitely not.”
“And how would you feel about it?”
She bites her bottom lip. “I guess, if you’re into it…”
“Bri, there’s not a thing that I’m not into trying with you.”
That blush deepens.
“So… been keeping up with the Wellingtons lately?”
Her eyes widen and she lets out a half-snort, half-gasp. “You can’t just blurt that out here!”
I glance around the bleachers. “I doubt these people fancy themselves Wellington fans.”
“You have no idea,” she stage-whispers—loud enough to get a look from the lady in front of us again. Her eyes sparkle with mischief. “But no, I haven’t. I’ve found a new couple I’ve been binging.”
“Oh really? What’s this? Four whole days away from me and already cheating with a new married couple?”