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

“Bro, you are so soft.”

Leo shook his head at Braden — who was currently holding Clay and Giana’s newborn with tears streaming down his face.

“Fuck you,” Braden sputtered, swiping his face with the sleeve of his hoodie. He cradled the little bundle of blue like a football and stared down at that baby like his entire perspective on life had changed the moment he’d held him.

Honestly, it might not have been far from the truth.

I’d felt that shift several times over the last year. First, when I met Sebastian, when I saw part of Madelyn reflected in his eyes and his smile. That doubled as Sebastian and I got closer, tripled when I told him about his sibling on the way, and quadrupled when he asked if he could start calling me Dad.

And when Madelyn and I had gone to our twenty-week appointment together and seen our baby girl on the ultrasound screen… I was done for.

I didn’t dare pick on Braden in that moment, because I knew I’d be even more of a mess the second the doctors placed my daughter in my arms.

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t bawl your eyes out if I was pregnant,” Mary said to Leo, handing him a glass of champagne before taking a sip from hers.

“He bawled his eyes out when you moved out of The Pit,” I combatted. “So, yeah, I’m with Mary on this one.”

Mary smirked as Leo flicked me in the arm.

December in the Rockies was beautiful. Fresh snow covered the trees and mountains outside the windows of the massive cabin Clay and Giana had found for us, and a fire roared by the Christmas tree as the house hummed with the warmth of conversation.

We were all in the middle of busy seasons. The race for the playoffs was on, and every single one of our teams had a shot — whether we were top seeded or fighting for a wild card slot. But when Giana had Atlas, she’d insisted that we all find time to pause and get together in-between Christmas and New Year’s.

We had a new family member, and Giana wanted to set the precedent now that when this happened, we found the time whether we had it to spare or not.

Some of us were only here for one night, but we were here.

By the fire, Giana, Madelyn, and Riley were curled up on the couch and chatting, all of them sipping hot chocolate.

Zeke, Holden, and Sebastian were on the floor in front of the girls with their eyes cast up toward the television. They were playing Donkey Kong on the ancient gaming system the cabin had provided.

Julep was in the kitchen washing dishes and smirking to herself as she watched her husband getting far too into the video game, and the rest of us were gathered around the dining table still half-littered with remnants of the dinner I cooked.

“So, how are you feeling, Dad? Other than exhausted,” I added, clapping Clay on the shoulder.

His smile was tired but filled with joy I’d never seen as he stared at where Braden still held tight to Atlas — who was now wide-eyed and looking around while his little legs kicked, and soft baby gurgles left his mouth.

“I’ve never been this tired in my life,” he admitted. “Not even during my first semester at NBU when I was trying to figure out how to juggle football and college classes.” He shook his head on a smile. “But I’ve never been this happy, either.”

“He’s become quite a pro at changing diapers, I hear,” Julep called from the sink.

Clay brushed his shoulder off. “I can have him changed in sixty seconds flat.”

“Well, you get to show us your record-breaking skills in action,” Braden said, wrinkling his nose a little as he passed Atlas to Clay. “Smells worse than the locker room.”

“Impossible,” Clay said, taking his son into his arms and tapping his nose. “You poop roses, don’t you, Atlas?”

I chuckled, taking a swig of my beer as Clay disappeared down the hall to change Atlas. Mary and Leo started in on Braden, asking him when he was going to be bringing a special someone to these events, but my gaze had drifted to Madelyn.

She was mid-laugh, absentmindedly rubbing her belly as she listened to Giana, no doubt regaling her and Riley with the water birth story. Where Giana had found it spiritual and beautiful, Clay had been scared to death, his cell phone clutched in his hand should he have to call the ambulance.

But it had gone off without a hitch, their midwife leading the way, and now Atlas was already two weeks old.

Seeing Madelyn laugh made it easier for me to breathe. God only knew the last few months of our lives had been filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows. We had a baby girl on the way — healthy, as far as we could tell from the tests run so far. Sebastian couldn’t wait to be a big brother. He was even helping me put the nursery together. And we had enough room at the house that Madelyn’s parents had come to stay with us for a few weeks — both to help around the house for the holidays since I was still in full swing for the season, and to be there navigating the custody trial with us.

That had been the source of most of the lows.

If I thought I’d seen Marshall pissed off before, it was nothing compared to when he found out Madelyn was pregnant. He’d threatened to not only get full custody of Sebastian, but to find a way to rip our daughter from us as soon as she was born, too.

I didn’t know what fucking planet he lived on where he thought either of those things were possible.

I wasn’t the least bit afraid of that punk ass bitch, but Madelyn had years of being on the receiving end of his worst blows. She’d sobbed in my arms, so sure he had something up his sleeve to do everything he promised he would.

When we failed to find an agreement during mediation, I told our lawyer that I was done with Marshall’s shit.

I wanted to go for the jugular now.

So, for the last month and a half, we’d endured grueling interviews with both our lawyer and Marshall’s. His, of course, tried to pin outrageous accusations on us and trap us into admission — including saying that we abandoned Sebastian for a weekend of partying in Denver over the summer.

However smart his lawyers thought they were, ours was smarter. We were compiling text messages and photographs, and Madelyn was prepared to make a personal statement in front of the judge. We were going for full custody, for stepparent adoption, for everything.

As confident as I was that the judge would see Marshall for the monster he was, it still killed me to see all the stress of the trial wearing on my future wife. She was worried, and nothing I said or did would calm her. She wouldn’t rest easy until we had a ruling, and she knew her son was safe with us.

We were just a few weeks from the court date now.

As if she could sense my thoughts, Madelyn blinked, frowning a bit before her eyes caught mine from across the room. I winked at her with a smile and mouthed need anything?

She smiled in return and shook her head, holding up her hot cocoa like it was all she needed in this moment. That, and a nod toward where Sebastian was clutching his gut in a fit of giggles after he missed jumping on an alligator as Donkey Kong, and now Holden was tickling him and saying he ruined the mission.

“Here, Dad. Practice time,” Clay said, jolting me back to the group. I blinked and set my beer down just in time to have my arms filled with a warm baby boy, who was content for the moment, but looked ready to scream for Giana’s boob any second now.

“Think we have a future safety on our hands here?” I asked Clay, adjusting Atlas until we both were comfortable. He was so fucking cute, it wasn’t fair. Even this small and new to the world, I could see he had Clay’s dimple and eyes. His hair mirrored Giana’s — full and curly already.

“Psh, nah,” Clay said, waving me off. “QB.”

“He’s going to need Uncle Holden to show him how to throw a spiral, then,” Holden called from the living room. “God knows you won’t be able to teach him.”

“Got the arm of one of those blow-up noodle dudes in front of the car lots,” Braden chimed in, and then he started waving his arms over head and bending in odd directions to illustrate as we all laughed.

“Har har,” Clay said, unamused.

“Hey, Dad, can I FaceTime Nana to see Titan?” Sebastian asked, nearly colliding with my legs as he slid over to me in his socks.

I double-checked with Madelyn in a glance across the room, and once she nodded her approval, I told him he could. I dug into my pocket for my phone and offered it to him before letting him take over. He knew what to do, and he ran back to his bedroom with the phone already ringing.

“What about him?” Leo asked when Sebastian was gone. “Think he’ll want to play?”

“Maybe. He’s been soaking up everything about the game since I started teaching it to him. He mentioned wanting to try playing this summer, but it’ll be up to Mama Bear over there,” I said, nodding to Madelyn.

She was making her way toward us with three empty mugs in her hands. She dumped them into the sink before looping her arm through mine that wasn’t holding a baby.

“We’ll see,” she said. “I’m not a huge fan of the whole concussion aspect.”

“None of us are,” Mary agreed.

“It’s getting safer each year, with new tackling penalties and helmet advancements. But, yeah, it’s always a risk,” Leo admitted. “Then again, so are most things in life. I mean, that lizard the kid has could climb out of his cage and eat his face off.”

“It’s a gecko, not Godzilla,” I deadpanned.

Leo threw his hands up. “I’m just saying.”

Mary rolled her eyes, and then pulled Madelyn to the side. “Oh! I’ve been meaning to ask you, I want to add a little bit of you to my tattoo shop. I’ve got a pole for Julep, books for G, local art for Riley. I was thinking we could incorporate some of your writing, if you’re open to that?”

“Oh, yes!” Giana called from the couch. “I love this idea!”

Madelyn was flushing a bright red as Mary tugged her away, and I savored that blush, that smile, that woman who was now such a crucial part of my life I knew I couldn’t exist without her.

I hadn’t heard from my parents since the phone call where I told them I knew what they did.

Not that I expected to, but I guessed a small part of me held onto hope that perhaps at least my mom would have shown up at my door to explain, to apologize, to try to be a part of my life.

As much as it hurt to lose them, to know that, likely, I’d never had much with them to begin with… it healed me to know that I had a family of my own now.

I had Madelyn.

I had Sebastian.

I had a daughter on the way.

I had my teammates and their girls, with a second generation growing already.

Madelyn and I weren’t out of the woods yet. We still had many battles ahead of us — starting with Marshall and the impending court date. But one thing I knew for sure was that there wasn’t a war we wouldn’t fight together, side by side, no matter how dire the outlook.

And I believed with all my heart that we would win in the end.

Later that night, when the house was asleep, Madelyn climbed into bed and curled up to me with her teeth chattering.

“It’s snowing again,” she said, her voice filled with wonder.

Then, she pressed her ice-cold fucking feet between my calves.

“Jesus, woman!”

I tried to pull away, but she doubled down, tucking herself into my chest and wedging her feet into whatever warmth she could find. “I’m pregnant! You have to keep my feet warm.”

“You sure are quick to pull that trump card nowadays,” I teased her, but I was already wrapping her up tight and rubbing my legs together to give her feet a little friction.

She shook her shoulders and purred like a cat as I kissed her hair, smiling against it once she was settled.

“You looked pretty hot with a baby in your arms,” she said.

“Oh?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Getting wet for me as a dad already?” I teased, and I snaked a hand between her thighs like I was going to investigate.

She swatted me away on a laugh, but then she was climbing on top of me, apparently not worried about being cold any longer. “Don’t act like I haven’t always been wet for you.”

“You weren’t earlier this summer,” I argued, pinning her hips as I rolled my erection against her.

She groaned and fisted her hands in my shirt, leaning down to kiss me as she rocked her hips again.

“Just because I hated you didn’t mean I didn’t want you to rail me into next year.”

“You would have killed me if I’d have tried.”

“I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

I swatted the side of her ass, and then we were laughing and kissing and shedding clothes despite the frigid temperature outside, and the way the heat in our room struggled to keep up.

Soon enough, we made our own fire in that bed, Madelyn fitting me to her entrance and sliding down as we both groaned and held onto each other for dear life. I’d never had a time I didn’t thoroughly enjoy fucking this woman, but watching her ride in the moonlight reflecting off the snow outside with her belly swollen with my child unlocked a whole new kink for me.

I let her ride me long and slow until she found her release, and then I gently rolled her to the side so I could enter her from behind and let my hands explore her heavy breasts, her round stomach, her slender thighs and silky hair and wet, hot mouth.

I came with her name on my lips and a desperate, primal wish in my heart.

That she would be safe and healthy.

That Sebastian and our baby girl would be, too.

And that in a month’s time, we’d take her ass cactus ex-husband out by the knees and watch him burn.

Marshall would never hurt her again. He’d never get the chance to hurt my son.

Those were vows I knew I would keep.

One thing I knew for sure was that he picked the wrong motherfucker to test.

And now, Papa Bear was going to rip him to shreds.