Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
BLAIR
“Why can’t football be played during the summer? And why is Minnesota so cold in November? My ass is going to be numb so fast.” It’s Reed’s last game of the regular season, though it won’t be the last game of the year. His team is good. Really good. And they have a spot in the playoffs.
Last summer, Logan and his friends paid for Reed and every single kid on his eighth-grade team to do that fancy clinic he wanted to do.
They also talked a couple of guys they know on from the Minnesota Warriors, our NFL team, to spend an afternoon at Southwest Junior High, giving the kids some priceless one-on-one attention.
It helped Reed up his game so much that he and Eddie made it onto the junior varsity team at Washington High as freshmen, which is virtually unheard of.
And the way they’ve both been playing, it seems pretty likely they’ll end up playing varsity next year.
“Angel, I have your heated seat cushion already packed. Your ass will be fine. And if it’s not, I’m happy to drag you into a closet somewhere and warm it up.
” Logan winks at me from where he stands, leaning against the doorway to our bedroom, legs crossed and hands in his pockets as he watches me tug a Rogues hoodie over my base layer.
“I also have hand warmers and a blanket for you. I’ll keep you warm. ”
Reed has acclimated to the Minnesota winters much better than I have. By the time November hits, I find myself daydreaming about California and sunshine. Not that I’d trade any of this for warmer climates. Minneapolis is home now. Reed and I have put down roots I never want to unearth.
Doesn’t mean I still don’t complain about the cold, to Logan’s endless amusement.
“Come on, baby. We don’t want to be late. Everyone is meeting us there.”
After living with Logan for almost a year, Reed and I have grown incredibly close to Logan’s inner circle.
The guys include Reed in their boys’ nights, and I spend many, many nights hanging out with Isla, Mira, and Lexi.
We invite Adrienne often, too, and she’s become my best friend here. They’ve become family.
Which is why all of them show up to Reed’s high school games whenever they’re not playing one of their own. Because Reed basically has five famous older brothers now.
It was quite the spectacle the first time five Rogues players filled the stands.
The crowds at a high school football game are much larger than the crowds for a junior high game, and the guys were such a common sight by the end of Reed’s eighth grade career that they relaxed their efforts to blend in.
Which felt like a mistake when everyone on the bleachers kept staring at them and taking photos during the first JV game.
Now? Most of the regulars are used to the massive, enthusiastic hockey players in their midst.
“Do you think I need another pair of socks?” I ask, frowning, before turning to dig through my drawer, looking for the thickest pair I can find.
“Okay. That’s it.”
I let out an indignant little scream when Logan grabs my hand, turns me around, then throws me over his shoulder like some kind of caveman.
Or Viking. The deep resonance of his laughter vibrates through me as he carries me through the apartment before dropping me onto the couch, grabbing my fur-lined boots from the front closet and pushing them onto my feet.
“So bossy,” I grouse, though he knows I love it. I love the way Logan takes care of me. Of us. And I love taking care of him too.
“Let’s go.”
Logan’s knee doesn’t stop bouncing the entire car ride to Reed’s high school. When I put a hand on his thigh, he looks over at me with an expression I can’t quite place. “You okay? Do you need to pee or something?”
The raspy tone of his chuckle shoots right through me and down to my clit. I’m always squeezing my thighs together around this man. It doesn’t matter how much time passes, I want him more each day. “No, I don’t need to pee.”
If someone had tried to tell me I’d end up with my cocky, blond one-night stand in LA and we’d be living with him in the Twin Cities, I would have called them crazy. But here we are.
The cold winter air is filled with the buttery scent of popcorn and the dull roar of hundreds of teenagers and family members.
The scents and sounds are as familiar and comforting as those I associate with the hockey arena.
Both have become secondary homes-away-from-home.
Both immediately call up images of the two men I love more than anything or anyone else.
Logan’s hand is warm and firm around mine as we dodge parka-clad spectators and overly caffeinated teenagers who run through the crowd in search of their friends. Our group always sits in the same general area, and I grin when I see them all huddled together in the middle of the stands.
They’re completely oblivious to the curious looks from starstruck teenagers and the slightly hungry expressions worn by more than a few moms. Not that I blame them. All five of these guys are good-looking. They’re also great people.
“There they are,” Griffin shouts, waving his hands over his head, as though we may miss them. “About time.”
“We’re like five minutes late.” Logan rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. It doesn’t matter that these guys spend almost every waking moment together. The love they have for each other is obvious to everyone.
“Hey, guys.” I’m wrapped in hugs, everyone taking their turn, before we settle in at the middle of the group. “You ready for next week’s away series?”
“Ugh, no,” Lexi grumbles. “I have like three different wedding-related appointments that Ryder’s going to miss, and he’s so much more patient than I am.”
Ryder chuckles, pulling his fiancée closer to his side and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. “Your mom will be there with you, Oscar. If you get too grumpy, she’ll rein you in.”
“It’s not the same.”
“I told you I could go,” Isla pipes up. “I think it’s fun.”
“That’s because you’re a sadist.”
Isla, Mira, and I share a look before we all laugh.
Lexi and Ryder are getting married at the beginning of July, and despite the long engagement, she’s still stressed out by it all.
I know she’s hoping Ryder will take some of the planning off her table if the team doesn’t go all the way, but if they keep playing the way they have been, she may be disappointed.
The Rogues made it to the cup last season, and something tells me they could pull it off again this year.
I hug Bryson and Adrienne, and so does Logan, and they join in chaos of our group.
Our small talk is interrupted by the buzz of the announcement system and the roar of the crowd, and my heart rate picks up. I lean forward, watching for my little brother, ready to cheer him on.
When I asked him earlier if he was nervous, he said no. Their team has done really well, and Reed has really come into his own. Honestly, I think I’m more nervous than he is.
We jump up and cheer with everyone else when their team runs onto the field, outfitted in their green and white.
Reed looks our way with a bright smile and gives a wave that reminds me of the little boy he used to be.
Those moments are rarer with every passing year.
He’s so tall now. We’re just about the same height.
And he’s put on some bulk, thanks to the workouts he does with Logan.
Everything has changed so much.
The game kicks off, and the action is nonstop from the get-go.
Both teams play their hardest, and it’s a pretty equal matchup.
We scream and cheer when Reed scores the first touchdown, boo when the other team sacks our quarterback, and by the time halftime rolls around, I’m barely aware of the cold.
“All right, Washington High, we have a very special halftime presentation for you today. Not only will our cheer squad be performing with the band, but the football team will be joining in.” The announcer’s voice reverberates through the night, promising a great show.
Turning to Logan, I arch an eyebrow. “Did you know about this? Reed didn’t say they were performing with the cheer squad.”
Logan shrugs. “He may have said something? I’m not sure.”
Leaning forward in my seat, I watch as the cheer squad flits around the sidelines, laying poster boards face-down on the field, laughing and bouncing around on the balls of their feet. Then they pick up their pom-poms, get into formation, and the band begins to play from the stands.
The girls run through one of their normal cheers, working the crowd up the way they always do.
Everyone in the stands is clapping and cheering right along with them, and I find myself smiling.
I love that this has become a part of our routine.
That the people around Logan and me show up for Reed, for us, as often as they can.
When the game’s over, we’ll all go out for dinner or they’ll crowd around our dining room table.
It’s everything I never knew I needed.
The routine comes to an end, and the band starts a new song.
This one is a little less raucous, and it’s not one I’ve heard them play before.
The girls dance, tumble and leap, and then some of the football team comes out on the field.
The crowd eats it up as the boys try their best to keep up with the cheerleaders, but most of them lack the coordination and flexibility shown by the dancers. It’s adorable.
Reed and Eddie are at the center of the football players, and I grin as they twirl and dip the cheerleaders, and I finally place the song the band is playing. “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars. The couples on the field move around, and the crowd eats it up.
“Oh my god.” I turn to Logan, smiling brightly. “This is so cute. Look at Reed dance!” He’s not half bad, and he’s clearly enjoying himself. His whole face is lit up with joy, and he keeps glancing my way, his smile growing brighter every time he catches my eye.
The music swells, and the couples split apart. The six football players hurry to stand behind the posters spaced along the sidelines as the cheerleaders continue dancing behind them. And when the beat drops, Reed and his teammates bend down and pick up the posters.
There’s a moment of anticipation, like the whole crowd is holding their breath, as the boys flip up the posters. And then they cheer.
“What?” I whisper to myself as the words written in bold black marker register. “Oh my god.” My eyes find Reed, and he’s practically vibrating as he holds the sign bearing my name.
Blair, will you marry me?
I stare at him for another moment, but Reed’s attention moves to my side, even as his smile grows. He raises both eyebrows at me and mouths, Look over.
Heart racing, hands trembling, and every part of me very aware of the phones pointed our way, I turn slowly to where Logan has been sitting at my side the whole game.
Except, he’s not sitting anymore.
“Oh my god,” I say for the tenth time. I’m not sure I’m capable of saying much else.
Not when Logan Byrne is kneeling in front of me, his gray eyes sparkling as he smiles up at me, a black velvet box cradled in his hands.
Inside of the velvet box is a stunning round solitaire.
It glitters under the stadium lights, and it’s massive.
“Blair,” Logan practically shouts over the music still being played by the band.
“I never thought I’d be doing this. I thought I had life figured out.
Tried-and-true plays that never let me risk a loss.
Then you stormed into my life with an eye roll and an attitude, and you ripped my playbook to shreds. ”
Pulse racing, I stare down at the man I never expected. The man who saved me and Reed. Who gave us a family and a home. The man on one knee, asking me a question he swore he’d never ask anyone. And when the first tear drips down my cheek, he smiles wider.
“Meeting you must have been fate. It’s the only explanation for how we ended up together. Either that, or Griffin willed it into existence.”
Griffin and the rest of our friends laugh at that, and I do too. I wouldn’t put it past the winger.
“However it happened, I’m just glad that it did. Because you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You and Reed. I love you so much, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it anymore. So what do you say, angel? Will you marry me?”
The whole stadium holds their breath, waiting for my answer. But Logan? Logan looks completely at ease. There’s no strain to his smile, no nerves tightening his expression. He already knows my answer before I give it.
Tears in my eyes, I nod. Slowly at first, then more emphatically. “Yes. Yes, of course I’ll marry you.”
Logan slips the ring onto my finger, then surges up, wrapping me in his arms before spinning us around.
The entire stadium erupts in a cheer that drowns out the band, and the sound etches itself in my heart, right along with Logan’s soft chuckle as he presses kisses to my cheek, my forehead, my nose.
Then he kisses the shit out of me. Right there in front of everyone.
I should probably be embarrassed at the way we lose ourselves in a kiss that is very, very public, but I’m not. The whole world ceases to exist in that moment. At least until someone crushes us in a hug. A tall, sweaty someone wearing football pads.
Laughing, I tear myself away from Logan. His expression is so soft, so euphoric, it makes my heart skip a beat.
“You’re getting married,” Reed shouts, squeezing us both.
“They’re getting married,” Griffin echos. And then we’re surrounded on all sides by Rogues players and friends and even some of Reed’s teammates. Flashes go off, people cheer, and the band continues to play.
It’s a surreal moment. One I never could have predicted six years ago when my old life went up in smoke. Hell, it’s one I never could have seen coming even that first night when I met Logan in LA. He was looking for one night of fun, and I was looking for one last hurrah before starting over.
Now look at us. Getting engaged at a high school football game, surrounded by everyone we love. Promising to spend every night of the rest of our lives together. A new beginning that is so much more beautiful than anything I could have imagined.
“We’re getting married,” I say, eyes locked with Logan’s.
I don’t feel the cold when he smiles at me. It can’t touch me when he’s at my side. Nothing can.
“We’re getting married,” he agrees. “You’re mine forever, baby.”
Nothing could ever tear me away.