False Start: A Fake Dating Sports Romance (Red Zone Rivals)

“Shit.”

I hooked an arm around Madelyn’s waist, pulling her back into the elevator before anyone realized we had even stepped off.

“Forget something?” she asked, her eyes wide as I punched the number for our floor.

“No,” I answered, cracking my neck. “Paparazzi is crowding the door again.”

As soon as we got back up to our floor, I checked the time on my watch, cursing when I realized we didn’t have more than forty-five minutes to get to the venue. I quickly called Holden, who informed me the stupid bastards with cameras were also crowding the back of the hotel.

“There’s no getting around them,” he explained. “The venue is heavily guarded with security, so they’re only on the perimeter, but the hotel…”

I nodded, thanking him and ending the call before I faced Madelyn.

Fuck, she was breathtaking.

It had been one thing to see her in that frosty blue dress when I’d taken her shopping for it, but it was another thing entirely to see her dressed in it tonight. Her hair was pulled back and pinned in an elegant way that made all my attention go to the long slope of her neck. Her makeup was light, but it accented her brown eyes and full, pink lips.

The blue fabric sparkled like starlight from where it hugged her neck to where it slit at her thigh, the skirt of it shimmering with every step she took.

When I’d touched her last night, the lights had been off in our room. It was pitch black.

I made a vow that when I touched her tonight, I’d savor every inch, not just with my hands, but with my eyes, too.

“We can’t get around them,” I said, and her eyebrows slid together. She didn’t say a word. She hadn’t said much at all since I’d returned from golfing. All her playfulness was gone, and her face was subtly somber, like she was lost in a memory.

I tried not to get anxious about it. We had a wedding to go to, and then I could talk to her after and find out what was on her mind.

“We have two options. One, we can walk out together, and I’ll shield you from them as much as I can.”

She was already shaking her head. “I don’t… I can’t deal with them trying to find out who I am, or digging into me, or…”

Madelyn’s fingers covered her lips, her eyes widening even more.

“Sebastian,” I finished for her — but I wondered if it was her son she was worried about, or her stupid ex-husband.

I wanted to remind her she didn’t need to worry about him, not with me around, but right now wasn’t the time.

“I know, I was thinking the same thing. So, our second option is for me to walk out by myself. I’ll hog the attention, make a big show of things, and you should be able to sneak out the back without anyone knowing who you are or where you’re going. I’ll have them pull a car around for you now.”

Madelyn nodded, but my throat was tight as I made the call.

I didn’t want to leave her alone, even for just a short car ride.

“Security is locked at the venue,” I told her, framing her arms in my hands. “I’ll be there as soon as you get through.”

“I will be fine,” she said on a grin. “Stop acting like I’m some helpless damsel.”

“Oh, trust me — I am well aware that you’re the dragon, not the damsel.”

She pinched my side at that, and then I pulled her into me, pressing my lips to her forehead and holding them there on a long exhale.

“Twenty minutes tops,” I promised. “Then, I’ll be stuck to you for the rest of the night.”

“Oh, my God. Will you just go already,” she said, pushing me off her.

I smiled, but as my eyes searched hers, I could still see all the evidence that something was off. “You okay?” I asked.

Her expression softened, but she nodded. “I’m okay.”

I didn’t feel the confidence in her answer, but the fact that she wasn’t shutting down told me that there was nothing to worry too much about right now.

She’d talk to me about whatever was going on when she was ready.

And if there was anything I wanted to prove to her now that she was back in my life, it was that I was patient.

That I wasn’t going anywhere.

My stomach tightened when I finally left her and ran for the elevators, ready to put on a show for the paparazzi and give her enough time to sneak out the back.

What’s next for us?

I’d had such a mixture of emotions when she’d swung back into my life — anger being the most prevalent one.

Now, I could barely feel that rage at all.

She’d hurt me — that was the stone-cold truth of it. But now that I had her back in my life, I found myself less and less inclined to dredge up the past.

Maybe her parents had pressured her into coming to my house that day.

Maybe they’d seen my father hit me and didn’t feel safe with their daughter being around us.

Maybe they thought I’d become the same man my father was.

Maybe Madelyn didn’t have a choice at all.

I’d been so young, so ruled by my anger then…

But I could choose to let it go now.

I could choose to start fresh.

I couldn’t wait to talk to Madelyn after the wedding, to set it all straight and figure out where her head was.

But for now, I had a performance to make.

I walked through the lobby with a cocky smile, my shoulders squared, and a swagger in my step. And when the doors slid open, I was blinded by a blur of flashing lights.

“You all waiting for me?” I said loud enough for every one of them to hear.

And then I posed for pictures and answered questions, hamming it up the way I used to in college until I was sure enough time had passed for Madelyn to get out safely.

A half hour later, I was sitting next to Madelyn in the fourth row of white chairs facing the Rocky Mountains with the sun dipping behind their peaks.

And I was doing my best not to sob like a baby.

I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with me, but the lump in my throat was all I could focus on as I watched Clay lose his shit when Giana appeared at the end of the aisle.

Holden was the only other one with him, as he’d agreed to get certified and be their officiant. And even he looked emotional as he squeezed Clay’s shoulder, a smirk painting his lips like he knew exactly what our teammate was feeling in this moment.

Considering he’d just had his own wedding a few months ago, I supposed he really did.

“Alright,” Holden said. “Everyone on your feet for our beautiful bride.”

We all stood, Giana and her father paused at the edge of the aisle. The song changed, shifting into an instrumental version of “New Year’s Day’ by Taylor Swift, and then Giana started walking again.

She was gorgeous.

Her dark, curly hair was framing her face in a wild halo, her freckles more pronounced under the glow of the setting sun. She wore a cream-colored lacy dress with dramatic sleeves. It was fitted right under her bust, which accented the slight baby bump she had.

It was wild to remember her as the soft-spoken, shy little thing who had tried to wrangle us on the field freshman year. Watching her grow into the spunky, powerful agent she was now was something I felt lucky to have witnessed.

When I looked at Clay again, it was just in time to see him lose the fight against his emotions.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as his shoulders shook, Holden smirking behind him and clapping him on the back. When he finally gained a little composure, Clay looked up again, his eyes red and blotchy as he watched Giana walk toward him.

I heard a sniff, and when I looked over my shoulder, I found Madelyn watching Clay with her eyes glossed over. She blinked, and a single tear rolled down her cheek before her eyes flicked to mine.

She laughed a little, shaking her head as if she were embarrassed.

I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my face, nor could I deny the way my chest tightened the longer I watched her.

I reached out, sliding my thumb over that tear and across her cheekbone. She leaned into my touch, closing her eyes briefly before she was looking at Clay and Giana again.

When we were asked to take our seats, I threaded my fingers through hers, pulling our hands to rest on my knee. I smoothed my thumb over her wrist as I held her, memories of when we were young pulsing through that touch.

The wedding ceremony was short and sweet, Holden cracking a few jokes before he told his version of the story of how Clay and Giana became a couple. We all laughed as he recalled the way Clay had been a broody asshole all sour over his ex-girlfriend, and then he’d jumped into a relationship with Giana. We hadn’t known it was fake at the time. Hell, nothing ever seemed fake between those two.

That made me squeeze Madelyn’s hand.

Nothing felt fake about her being here with me, either.

“I vow to always remind you to put yourself first sometimes,” Giana said when it was time for them to share, her eyes glossy as she looked up at Clay. “And to believe in you even when you don’t believe in yourself. I promise to always be there at the end of every game, win or lose, and to never let you sink too deep inside that head of yours.”

Clay smiled, swallowing as Giana continued, and when it was his turn, he kept one of her hands in his while the other held a small notebook that he’d written in.

“I vow to always keep the house stocked with Cheetos,” he said toward the end, which made all of us laugh — that girl loved Cheetos. “I promise to kick anyone’s ass who doesn’t take you seriously in your career, and I swear to continue stealing your books and studying every scene you tab and highlight until the day you stop reading.”

“That will be never,” she quipped, and we all laughed again.

The vows went from silly to sweet, from being just about the two of them to being about their family, about that baby growing inside Giana’s womb. Then they were both crying, and the rest of us were doing our best to keep our shit together until Holden declared them husband and wife. We cheered as Clay dipped Giana in a dramatic kiss, and once she was upright, he bent to his knees and kissed her stomach, too.

They danced down the aisle as the music picked up tempo, and then we all dispersed, making our way to the patio where cocktail hour was taking place.

I held fast to Madelyn’s hand as we walked. “So, you going to throw down for the bouquet toss?”

She arched a brow at me. “I wasn’t planning on even participating, if I’m being honest.”

“Ah,” I said, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “You’re scared, huh?”

Madelyn scoffed, but I didn’t miss the way chills swept over her skin. “No, I’ve just already done the marriage thing.”

My nostrils flared.

“And you won’t again?”

“I didn’t say that,” she whispered, her neck reddening as her eyes flicked to mine.

I tried and failed to contain the hope those words ballooned inside me.

“Well, if that’s the case, and you’re not scared, then…”

She paused our walk, narrowing her eyes at me as she pulled her hand from mine and folded her arms over her chest. “Are you challenging me, Kyle Robbins?”

“Haven’t I always?”

She shook her head, but a smile curled at the edge of her lips.

And I knew before it even happened that the other girls didn’t stand a chance to catch those flowers — not with my girl wearing that determined look I knew so well.

“A hundred bucks says that bouquet is mine,” she said.

I chuckled, pulling her under one arm and steering her toward the bar.

“Oh, come on, Mads,” I goaded, voice low behind the shell of her ear. “I think we can think of a better wager than that.”