Page 23

Raeann

T he pool water splashes up over my calves as I dangle my feet. Athena bounds around the massive, fenced-in yard, chasing after squirrels and sometimes birds. Somehow, the party has broken into two groups. The men are standing at the grill while Reid cleans it.

The girls? We’re dipping our feet into the huge pool.

A waterfall cascades along some rocks on the other end.

There’s even a hide-a-way place to sit, a cavern shielded by the rushing water.

The pool doesn’t look like any I’ve seen before.

It looks as if it naturally sprung up from the ground with all the rocks surrounding it.

“So, spill the tea,” Briar says.

I track an errant hair that whipped around my face and put it back behind my ear before turning toward the group. To my surprise, they’re all looking at me. “The tea?”

“You and Micah,” Jo says. “He’s never brought a girl to a team get-together before.”

A wave of goose bumps spreads over my body and to my toes flexing in the water. “Is that a big deal?”

Jo laughs. “The biggest.”

With a short brown bob, Jo’s outspoken and confident. The kind of girl I imagined Cesar Tipper to go for. During dinner, they complemented one another so well. “What about the model?”

Jo makes a dismissive wave. “She didn’t come around at all. Too busy, probably.”

“Who’s the model?” Charley asks Briar.

Briar shrugs. “Newish here, too.”

“Absolutely no one to be concerned about,” Jo announces, and she looks at me with a grin. “One hundred percent.” She peers over my shoulder at the guys and snickers. “Look at them looking over here. They’re probably wondering what we’re talking about. Bunch of cavemen.”

Briar laughs. She’s waded out onto the first step, the water hitting just below her knees. “I second that.”

Charley peers over at Cade with a half-smile. “Really?”

“I know how they operate,” Jo responds. “They clash with guys all the time on the field. Testosterone fuels them from sunup to sundown, and that comes through in every aspect of their life.”

I smirk. I hadn’t quite related the two, but from what I now know about Micah, I’m pretty sure this is actually true.

“Cade’s nice,” Charley says.

“Oh, I’m not saying he’s not nice. He’s charming, and a bit of a goofball, too, but that isn’t his entire personality, is it? What lengths did he go to pursue you?”

Charley presses her lips together and looks down, and it takes a beat before a smile curls her mouth.

“I knew it!” Jo says. “Relentless, right?”

“He definitely wouldn’t take no for an answer,” she admits.

I chuckle, and Jo stares at me. “And you’re in the throes of it, and I want you to spill. The. Tea.”

My stomach flips. Charley peers over to look past Jo to me, and Briar looks at me with a genuine smile. The camaraderie sends awareness up my spine. Glancing behind me, I notice Micah is staring right at me.

“I see it, too,” Jo says, leaning in conspiratorially. “He keeps checking up on you. He wants to make sure that you’re okay.”

“You know what this party needs?” Briar exclaims. “Margaritas. I’ll be right back.”

Briar leaves for about five minutes, and it almost seems like the line of questioning is forgotten…until she reemerges from the house with a tray of green liquid in margarita glasses.

“Hey,” Cade shouts. “Where’s ours?”

“Beer’s in the fridge,” she calls back.

I turn to find Micah staring, and he winks when I take a drink from the tray. Who knows, a boost of alcohol might help calm me down a little.

Athena runs over to me and lies down, her front paws also dangling into the pool. She keeps staring at her reflection, twisting her head this way and that before she relaxes.

I take the offered drink from Briar and take a sip. “Mmm, these are good.”

Briar lifts her drink, and I swallow quickly to clank my glass with everyone. “To our j/p men.”

“J/p?” I ask.

“Jealous possessive.”

Honestly, that tracks.

“Well?” Jo asks, and I’ve decided that Jo and Tab would get along great because they’re both bubbly and relentless.

I’m trying to think of something to say that’s not too personal, when Briar says, “Here, I’ll go first.” She takes a big gulp of her drink.

“One time, shortly after my brother died, Reid… Oh, do you guys know he was one of my brother’s best friends?

Cade too. Anyway, I was at a party. I’d had too much to drink.

” She lifts the glass and takes another sip.

“I went upstairs with a guy from the opposing team they’d played earlier that day, and Reid barged through the door in the middle of us making out. ”

“Reid?” Charley gasps as if she could never see him doing that.

“After he punched the guy, him, Cade, and our other friend Lex dragged him from the room. Then you know what he did? He locked me in the room. It was his room.”

I burst out laughing, covering up Charley’s second audible gasp. Jo laughs, too.

“Now, mind you, I was pissed at the time. I was really in there for the rest of the night, but that was also the night things sort of changed between us, so yeah, can’t get mad at it.”

I believe it. Reid Parker is intense. He’s more relaxed here, but every time they show him on TV, he is laser focused. If he pursued Briar with anything like how he tries to get a win for the Wildcats, it makes sense.

“Your turn to share, Charley,” Jo prods.

Charley grins, and the adoration she has for Cade is written on her face.

“Okay…” She checks over her shoulder to see what the guys are doing and then leans in.

We all lean in, too, huddled together. “The first time we ever had an actual conversation, he told me he was going to make me love him. I thought he was an arrogant asshole.”

Jo nods. “But then you did.”

“But then I did.” She lifts her glass and swallows some of the green liquid.

“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Briar confirms, chuckling to herself. She gives Charley a side hug. “I’m so glad he found you.”

“Me too, honestly,” Charley says, smiling to herself.

“So, Tipper?” Briar asks, lifting a brow.

I like these women. Before Tab, I never felt included, a part of any friendship group.

I was mostly getting picked on for being poor and a bit of a loner.

Tab changed that for me, and I instantly want her to hang out with this crew.

Just the fact that these women understand what it’s like to date a pro football player?

I could learn a lot. Like how to not feel depressed every time he leaves for an away game.

Or how to deal with being talked about out in the world because you’re dating someone who’s a public figure.

I’ve been avoiding doing more publicity since Micah started pursuing me because I’m a horrible liar, and I’m sure everyone is going to ask me about The Paula Show and watching his game from his box at the stadium.

There have been a few comments about us on our social media.

People want to know if we’re dating. Micah’s incognito account that he made always likes the comment, like he’s trying to fuel the rumors.

“So, Tipper,” Jo says with a sigh. “That man was relentless. I was out on a date with another guy, and he just showed up and made himself comfortable. We were in this small, secluded booth, and Tipper came in with all his personality. The poor guy I was on a date with was so confused.”

I shake my head, laughing to myself because I could totally see Micah doing that.

“Aww,” Briar says. “Yeah, RIP anyone else who ever wanted to date us.”

After a few moments, all eyes focus on me. I sweep my hair behind my ear. “I don’t know,” I tell them. “I don’t want to jinx it.”

“Jinx it?” Briar laughs. “Are you kidding me? You’re never getting away from him. Come on. I can totally see Micah being crazy. Give us the goods.”

“I’m new here, and even I can see it written all over his face,” Charley chimes in.

I let out a breath and then take a deep inhale to start saying something when a hand comes down on my shoulder. I nearly jump out of my skin, and Athena pops to her feet from a dead sleep.

“Whoa, hey,” Micah says. “I was only wondering if you two were okay?”

I place my hand over my heart. “We’re good. Except you just gave me a heart attack.”

I peer over my shoulder to look at him. A furrow between his brows makes me think he knows something is up. Like us girls are being a little too secretive.

He leans down to kiss me on the forehead. “Glad you’re having fun.” After squeezing my shoulder, he returns to the guys.

“So, overprotective. Check,” Jo states.

The rest of the ladies giggle. While they do, I try to think of something to say. Something that’s not too intimate. Something they may have gathered for themselves.

“We were both at a charity fundraiser for The Pet Coalition…”

The girls nod. I could tell them how he pulled me against him in the shadows when we barely knew each other, and he understood exactly what to do with my body even when I didn’t.

I rub the back of my neck. “Well, he handed me his credit card when he was going up for auction and told me to spend whatever I needed to win him.”

“He didn’t,” Jo squeals.

I nod, my face burning, but Briar, Charley, and Jo? They’re not laughing at me, they’re laughing with me.

“What did it come to?” Briar asks.

“Well, first of all, there was this older lady who kept bidding on him. I could tell he was distraught, so I kept going higher and higher.” I rub my forehead, then peek around my hands. “One hundred thousand.”

Briar’s jaw unhinges, and the laugh that flows out of her is pure enjoyment. The rest of them, too.

“Hey, it went to a good cause,” Jo says, lifting her glass.

“I was thinking of all the animals, I swear.”

They laugh, and it’s Charley who says, “Yeah, we know what you were thinking about.”

Caught red-handed. It seemed crazy at the time, and I told myself it was all about the animals, but in reality, I was jealous of that married lady. I’m glad I did what I did.

“You’re great, Raeann,” Jo says. “You’ll have to keep coming to these. Here. Let me get your number.”

When I first arrived in Nashville, the only numbers I had in my phone were for Granny and Pawpaw’s landline and my doctor.

As time went on, my contacts grew, and even though it isn’t exorbitant by any stretch of the imagination, the numbers I have in my phone today are a testament to the life I’ve lived.

Suppliers, pet charities, Tab—of course—and now my new football friends.

“I’ll add you to the group chat,” she says after she puts my number in.

My phone buzzes, and I peer down to find a text from Jo with a bunch of other ladies.

Everyone, welcome Raeann. Micah Freeman’s girlfriend.

Girlfriend . I don’t think we’ve technically put a label on our relationship yet. The term seems sort of fast, but also not as strong of a meaning for what we have.

Message after message comes in, and I have to put my phone away so I don’t become overwhelmed.

“Thanks,” I tell her. I’ve never been in a group chat before. This is exciting, but I also hope it’s something I can handle. What if they talk too much? What if they message so rarely that one day I’m going to look down and wonder who these people are that I’m getting texts from?

Or worse? What if this thing with Micah and me doesn’t work out, and then I get booted from the group chat?

And just like that, my nerves start to fray. The stress starts small but increases bit by bit until Athena looks up and puts her paw on me. I take deep breaths, peering down and petting her until I calm a little. It doesn’t keep the thought from going away, though.

It follows me until the end of the party, on the drive home, and even when we’re sitting on Micah’s couch after getting back.

“Hey,” he says. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Just thinking.”

He turns fully to face me. “What’s wrong?”

“The ladies added me to a group chat for wives and girlfriends of players.”

His eyes widen. “Oh.”

“You…don’t like that?”

“No, I’m pleasantly surprised and happy.”

I bite my lip. “We haven’t defined this,” I gesture between the two of us, “…yet.”

He gets one of his smirks on his face that shows off his dimples and sends heat to my core.

“What we have defies definition. You’re not my wife.

You’re not my girlfriend. You’re my everything.

From the moment I wake up until the second my eyes close at night, I think about you and only you.

If we have to put conventional labels on it, fine.

Girlfriend it is. But I’d prefer something more consuming. ”

My heart skips a beat. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of intense?”

“And?”

“And I like it.” I swing my leg over his lap to straddle him. “Apparently, that’s a thing with all football players. You’re all possessive cavemen.”

“So you guys were talking about us?”

“I’ll never tell.”

That’s a lie. All he has to do is ask, and I’d spill everything.

“I’m glad you got along so well. I wanted you to meet the people who are important to me.”

I think about my own people. He’s met two-thirds of the people I’d care to introduce him to. Granny doesn’t get around much, so he’d have to go to Eastern Tennessee to meet her.

“I wish you could’ve met my dad,” I tell him. “He wasn’t perfect by any means, but he worked hard for us. He tried.”

“You haven’t talked about him before.”

“I wasn’t sure about you,” I tease. He grips my hips, and I shrug. “I guess I just wish you could meet the more important people in my life, and he was a big part of it.”

Then I tell him everything. About the tornado, the panic attacks, the grief.

I lay it all out for him because if someone like Micah Freeman wants me to know everything about him, I want him to understand me.

The real me. Not the girl who was so high on whatever those good drugs were, but the real me.

The one who grew up in a trailer, who had perpetual dirt on her knees because she didn’t have a mother to remind her to wash up, and then the single greatest tragedy of my entire life.

The day the Tennessee wind came in and stole what little I had.

Because if Micah Freeman wants this, he has to see the entire bleak picture, and how Athena saved me.

“So, if the house was burning down and you could only save me or Athena…” he asks later that night in bed.

“I’d choose Athena,” I tell him.

“Good.”

I turn toward him, propping my head up with my hands. “Yeah?”

“Because I’d sacrifice myself for you two to get out anyway.”