Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Asher
“ A sher, are you ready yet?” Julie’s voice filters up the stairs and into the bedroom where I’m still trying to decide on a tie. A tie for fuck’s sake. I fucking hate ties, unless I’m using them to tie Julie’s hands to the headboard like I did that one time. Jesus fuck, it was so damn hot.
Focus, Asher .
My mom texted me this morning and told me that I better wear a tie so I don’t embarrass her and my entire family today at the press conference. And I may be thirty-one years old, but when Susan Hansley issues an order, I follow it. So here I stand, in front of my mirror, a blue tie in one hand and a green one in the other, with no clue which one to put on.
“Wear the blue one.” I turn at Julie’s voice. Like it always does, my heart speeds up a little when I see her. I think it will always be that way. At least, I hope it will.
“You sure?” I stare down at both ties again as if they contain the secrets to the entire universe. She doesn’t answer, just walks to me and takes both ties out of my hand, tossing the green one on the bed and threading the blue one through my collar, tying it herself.
“You know how to tie a tie?”
“Who doesn’t?” She looks at me with a duh expression on her face.
“Um, a lot of people.”
“Well, I do.” She finishes up, flipping down my collar and smoothing the material with her hands. When she glides her hands down my torso, I flinch and hiss out a breath at the sting.
“What was that?”
“What was what?” I play dumb, knowing it’s not going to work.
“You flinched when I touched your rib cage. What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t flinch. It was electric. I always feel electric when you touch me. We’re lightning, baby.”
She eyes me with a narrowed gaze. “Don’t bullshit me, Asher. Show me.” She starts to tug my shirt out of my waistband, but I stop her with my hands on hers.
“Okay, look. I was going to wait to show you, but I should have known I can’t hide anything from you.”
“You’re just figuring this out now?”
I chuckle, tugging my shirt the rest of the way out of my waist band and lifting it to expose the bandage on my rib cage.
Julie runs her fingers over it. “When did you do this?”
“Yesterday, when you thought I was at the gym with the guys.”
I peel off the bandage to show her the fresh ink; Juliette is added to the list of names I have tattooed there. At the top of the list.
Her breath stutters out and her eyes fill as she rests her fingers beside her name. “You tattooed me on your body?”
I grasp her chin, lifting her head so she’s looking at me. “In the list of my most important people, you are the most important of all.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, trying to pull herself together. “I fucking love you, Hot Shot.”
I kiss her softly. “I fucking love you right back.”
She looks at the ink for a few more seconds before putting the bandage back in place and pulling down my shirt. As she helps me tuck it back in, she snorts out a laugh.
“What?” I ask her.
“Charlie is going to be so pissed that you tattooed my name above hers.”
“Charlie will get over it. You’re my number one girl now. Besides, she loves you. You’re basically the fifth Hansley sister they never had.”
“Damn right I am. I even have the Hansley sister group chat to prove it.” She brushes a wrinkle out of my shirt and then rests her hands on my shoulders, studying me.
“How do you feel?”
“I feel okay I think. I mean, I don’t love that I have to do a whole press conference, and I still don’t understand why I can’t just issue a statement or something, but I’m ready.”
In the month since I found out about my shoulder, I’ve done nothing but get ready. The first week was a whirlwind of meetings with my coach and the team owners and phone calls with my agent to get everything in order. It wasn’t the easiest week of my life, and by the end of it, I was exhausted. So once my part in the planning process was over, Julie and I took a long weekend at the Parkers’ lake house with her friends and all the guys. The weekend skiing, building a bonfire on the lake shore in the freezing cold, and spending time inside by the fire was just what I needed to get my head back on straight, and when we came back, I started going into Jeremy’s foundation office a couple of times a week to figure out what my new position is going to look like. I’m not going to officially start for another month or so, but I realized pretty fast that sitting around and doing nothing wasn’t for me. I need a project, and the sports camps are perfect.
And my favorite part of the last month is that Julie moved in with me. She hadn’t spent a single night at her house since she got back from Boulder, and a lot of her stuff had migrated over here. So, when we got back from the lake, she hired movers and we made it official. I love going to sleep with her at night and waking up with her in the morning knowing that this is her home too. My house never feels lonely or empty when she’s in it. She has filled my entire world with so much light and joy, and I am just so damn grateful for it. No one on earth could convince me that we weren’t made for each other.
Julie studies me and seems satisfied with what she sees. “I think you are. Come on, Hot Shot. We better go now so we get there in time.”
She turns to leave the bedroom, but I grab her wrist, spinning her back to me. “What’s the rush, Juliette? We have plenty of time.”
I slide an arm around her waist and tug her against me. I cup her cheek with my other hand and kiss her, pouring everything I have into it, the taste of her invading my senses until I have half a mind to toss her onto the bed and skip the press conference entirely. As always, she knows what I’m thinking because she pulls away and puts a hand on my chest.
“There’s no time. But when we get home later, we can do that thing with the ties again.” She grins at me wickedly, then glances over at where the green tie lays on the bed and then back at the tie around my neck, and I immediately get hard.
“It was so hot, right?”
“Bet your ass it was. This time do my legs too,” she says, before sauntering out of the room as if she didn’t just put the sexiest visual of all time into my head. Fuck, I’m obsessed with her.
A hard on in snug suit pants is not ideal, but I’ll have to roll with it because by the time I make my way downstairs, Julie is putting on her coat.
“What’s the rush, Juliette? We have a whole bunch of time.”
She mutters something about traffic and then grabs my hand, pulling me outside with her where I pause because there, right in my driveway, is a black car that’s not exactly a bus, but bigger than a van, with blacked out windows and a yellow stripe along the side.
“Juliette, why is that thing in my driveway?”
She smiles at me, shrugging a shoulder. “Why don’t you go over and see?”
As I approach the bus, the door opens, and noise spills out. When I get to the top of the steps I freeze, and emotion clogs my chest because crowded inside are all the people I love most in the world. Hallie and Ben, Jordan and Allie, Jeremy, Emma, and Molly sit along one side with Steven and Rachel Parker. And along the other side are Charlie, Annie, Kyla, and Lucy with their husbands and my parents. Five of my nieces are spinning around the poles that line the center of the bus, and the three babies are strapped into car seats.
Julie comes up behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist and kissing my cheek. “Surprise.”
“What are you all doing here?” I knew my parents were in town and would be coming to the press conference with Julie, but everyone else is a surprise.
“What, you think we would let you do this alone?” Jeremy stands and tosses an arm around my shoulder. “No way dude. No one in this group does anything alone. ”
“What he said,” says Ben. “If there’s one day you need your people, it’s today.”
My people . God, I am so fucking lucky.
I put a hand on Julie’s face, turning her to face me before kissing her breathless right there in front of everyone. “Thanks.” I grin at her and the way her eyes go a little hazy when I pull away.
“I wish I could take credit for it, but this is a Hansley girl operation.” Julie smiles over at my sisters.
The words are barely out of her mouth before I’m attacked by my sisters on all sides, and then my nieces abandon the poles to throw themselves at me, and by the time we pull out of my driveway, it really does feel more like a party, and far less like what it is, which is the official end of my football career.
Julie
“Wow, there are…a lot more of you than I was expecting.” The head of PR for the Renegades stands outside the press room, staring at all of us. “Some of you are going to have to wait out here and watch on the TVs.” She points at the TVs mounted on the hallway walls. “I’m not sure we’ll have room for everyone.”
Asher opens his mouth to talk but I put a hand on his shoulder and step in front of him. “So make room. Asher has been the starting quarterback for this team for eight seasons and he is retiring today. He gets to have his family with him when he does that. They’re all coming in.”
“Fucking right, we are,” I hear Molly say behind me.
Asher slides an arm around my waist and tugs me back into his chest. I don’t have to look back at him to know he’s grinning at the PR rep.
“What she said.”
The PR rep lets out a long-suffering sigh and rolls her eyes. “Athletes,” she mutters as she turns and walks into the press room to, presumably, do some rearranging.
“I love when you go all lawyer mode,” Asher says into my ear. “It’s so damn hot, Juliette. Makes me want to go sneak into the locker room for a quickie.”
“Keep it in your pants, Hot Shot.”
“I just can’t do that. You know what being around you does to me.” I do know, and I hope it will never change. But before I have a chance to respond, the press room doors open, and we’re ushered inside. There are seats right in front for Asher’s parents and sisters, and the rest of us gather along the wall at the side of the room. When Asher’s coach walks up to the podium at the front of the room, I hear Asher’s breath hitch a little, and I take his hand in both of mine. Leaning into him, I speak into his ear.
“It’s going to be okay. Just take some deep breaths, and if you need a break, look at me while you’re talking. I’ll be right here, and as soon as you’re finished, we’ll go home, okay?”
His body relaxes at the word home like I knew it would. For a man who loves people as much as he does, he also loves being at home and is fiercely protective of the time we spend together. He takes a couple of deep breaths and squares his shoulders.
“Okay. I’m ready.”
It’s just in time because his coach finishes up and calls Asher to the podium. He takes my face in his hands, kissing me and whispering “I love you,” against my lips before heading up to take the microphone. He pauses for a minute before starting to speak, glancing around the room, eyes lingering on me and our friends and then his family in the front row. All the familiar faces seem to steel him for what he is about to do because when he starts to speak, his voice is strong.
“Thank you to everyone for being here today. As you all know, I am here today to announce my retirement from professional football. An MRI of my shoulder about a month ago showed substantial damage, leading to a diagnosis of severe arthritis, making it impossible for me to continue playing.”
He pauses, taking another deep breath to steady himself before continuing. “Playing for the Renegades for the past eight seasons has been a dream come true and the joy of my life. I loved every second I spent in this stadium, with this team. But it’s time for new dreams now, and I’m looking forward to what comes next.”
He glances over at me, and I keep my eyes steady on his, sending him whatever strength he needs to get through the rest of his statement.
“I want to thank the team and the entire Renegades organization for the opportunity to spend my career here, and my teammates for being the best group of guys I could have ever hoped to play with. And to the city of Pittsburgh, you didn’t know anything about me when I got the starting job, but you rallied around me, a kid from Boulder who dreamed of playing in the NFL, and your support has been everything to me over the years. I’m a Colorado boy, but I love the city of Pittsburgh with my whole heart and will be making it my permanent home.
“I always thought I would go back to Colorado when I retired, to be with my family. But last year, I met a girl.”
Asher glances over at me and grins slyly, and I know two things immediately. He’s about to go off script, and whatever he’s going to say will be embarrassing .
“The first time we met she refused to give me her phone number, and it was six months before I saw her again and finally convinced her to give me a chance. It took a little luck and unwavering persistence, but I’ve got her now, and she is, without a doubt, the very best thing to ever happen to me.”
The look he gives me is full of so much love that it has tears filling my eyes and spilling down my cheeks. Hallie links her arm through mine on one side and Molly on the other, Emma putting her hand on my shoulder as Asher continues, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Juliette, I love you fiercely. Thank you for sticking with me through this past month, and helping me see all the goodness that is waiting for us on the other side. Thank you all.”
With that, he stands up, ignoring the reporters shouting questions at him, and walks straight to me, eyes laser focused on mine. He kisses me and pulls me into a hug. His body is shaking a little, and his heart is pounding with the adrenaline of making that speech, so I wrap my arms tightly around him, rubbing my hand up and down his back until he starts to calm.
“I’m so fucking glad that’s over,” he mutters.
“I love you,” I whisper in his ear so only he can hear. “I’m so proud of you, even though you did embarrass me in front of a room full of reporters.”
My words have the desired effect because he chuckles, his chest moving against mine. “I just wanted to love you out loud, Juliette.”
“Okay, but maybe love me just a little quieter next time.”
“No can do baby. This love is too big to contain.”
And how fucking lucky am I that it is. We pull apart, and I glance around the emptying press room, the reporters leaving to file their stories and our friends and family drifting out to the hall. I hold out a hand to him, and he takes it, winding our fingers together and pulling me closer to him, kissing my forehead and lingering there for a minute before leaning back and tucking my hair behind my ear with his free hand. I look at him and am happy to see that his eyes are clear and calm, happiness dancing in the blue.
“Ready for what comes next, Hot Shot?”
“Juliette, with you, I’m ready for anything.”