Page 25 of Tangled Up In You

Staring up at the ceiling, I thought about my life. I had one more season with the Raptors, and then what? Would they replace me with someone younger and who wasn’t hindered by past injuries?

Would I care if they did?

No career in pro-level football ever lasted long. There’d only been a few exceptions over the years. For the most part, a career only lasted four to six years before you were replaced.

Football had been my life ever since middle school, though, and I didn’t know how to do anything else. Hell, I didn’t even have a damn hobby to fall back on.

My throat tightened as it hit me that I’d normally call Gramps when I was struggling like that. He’d always given me the best advice and helped me keep a level head.

“Take a deep breath and then tell me what’s goin’ on, son,”he’d say.“We’ll figure it out together.”

Hot tears streamed down my cheeks and my body shuddered with suppressed sobs.

Not even a month ago, I’d had it all: family who loved and supported me, a successful career, and I’d had a direction of where my life was heading. There’d been no doubts about anything.

Now?

I just felt alone.

Chapter 9

Hunter

“Have you heard Corbin Taylor is in town?” a girl asked her friend as they entered my class that afternoon. Her name was Jessie, and she was on the girls’ basketball team. She was a nice girl. “He is so freaking hot. I’d love to sit on his face.”

Nice but certainly not innocent. I cringed and forced myself to stop listening, but they weren’t exactly talking quietly.

“His grandpa died,” the other girl, Lindsey, answered, sitting down in her assigned seat. “It’s so sad, right? Poor guy is probably all heartbroken.”

“Nothing that a good night with me won’t fix,” Jessie said with a flirty smile. “You think he’s still seeing Veronica Cortez?”

My heart ached at the mention of him dating someone else—and a woman no less. Not that Corbin couldn’t be bisexual, but I highly doubted it. Even before we’d started dating, he’d never shown any interest in girls. If he was dating a woman, there was a huge chance he was doing it just to put on a show.

And maybe it was also the thought of him with someone else—male or female—that upset me. Okay, nomaybeabout it. I loathed the thought.

It was always supposed to be just us.

“You’re my first and my last,” Corbin said before pressing his lips to my forehead. “We’re gonna spend the rest of our lives together.”

“How do you know?” I asked, peering up at him. We were only eighteen and had our whole lives ahead of us. “Anything could change.”

“That won’t.” A determined look sparked in his eyes. “I’ll always love you.”

“Promise?”

He caressed my cheek before moving his fingers to my mouth, outlining my lips. “I swear. No one will ever have my heart except for you.”

His words seared into my heart, and I knew no one else would ever touch mine either.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were sort of a romantic.”

I grinned when he playfully cut his eyes at me.

“Yeah, don’t tell anyone,” Corbin said before kissing the side of my neck. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around him.

“Hunter?” His tone was different. More serious. His eyes met mine, and the silliness from earlier was gone. “You believe me, right? That I love you?”