Twenty-Two Dustin

Icould hear the roar of the crowd as the announcer began to warm them up. This was it. I'd made it to the final game of the season. If we won this game, we'd go to the championship game just after the new year. After tonight, all I had to worry about was exams, and then I'd be pretty much home-free.

By some amazing stroke of luck, neither Leroy nor Travis had exposed me to the rest of the team. In fact, they'd been avoiding me altogether. Maybe I was more scary than I thought I was, or a broken jaw finally got through their thick heads. Either way, I was happy to be left alone and keep my secret for the time being. The initial scare had set my teeth on edge, but in the last week, I had time to calm down and get my thoughts together. Mark and I came up with an actionable plan to let people know about us. He was going to start with his parents first over the holidays and get that out of the way. He was pretty confident they wouldn't care since they rarely seemed to take an interest in him anyway. It felt odd to be thankful for such a thing, but one less battle to fight made our lives easier.

Once that was done, I had to start telling my family. I planned to begin by telling my mother. She was trustworthy and the least likely to completely disown me. She wouldn't be happy, that much was certain, but I didn't think she'd deck me in the face either. With her help, I might even be able to salvage my relationship with my father. I didn't hate him by any means, but I was ready to start living my own life. If he wanted to be part of it, that would be preferable. But he'd have to get cool with a few things first, and I absolutely would not tolerate him being rude to Mark in any way.

Then there was the pack to deal with back home. The alpha was pretty conservative, and I had a decent idea that I wouldn't be welcome back. Taking a witch as a mate was just as bad as taking a human. It was seen as a step down in life. Most packs, like mine, didn't tolerate it at all. The moment they found out, I would be ousted and sent off on my own. But I'd never gotten much out of the pack anyway, so I wasn't terribly worried about that.

I pulled my helmet on, trying to clear my head as the announcer began to call out our numbers one by one. All those worries could wait. Mark and I were going to go over the plan once winter break was over. Final decisions could wait. Tonight was just about winning the game. And I wanted to do a good job not just for my team but also for my mate who was in the stands waiting to watch me play.

My heart swelled at the thought just as my number was called, and I ran down the tunnel out onto the field.

◆◆◆

Congratulations came from all sides as we exited the locker room after the game. We'd won thanks to a fantastic throw from our quarterback. He practically put it directly in my hands, and I was already in the endzone. That throw won us the game. There had been plenty of celebrating on the field and in the locker room, but the roar of the crowd as we stepped out was deafening.

Hands came at me from all sides, patting my shoulders, head, or anything else they could get a hold of. The team headed into the crowd, but I found myself ducking under a fence and breaking away from the pack. I didn't really want any more congratulations. What I wanted was to see the guy I loved.

It only took me a few minutes to find him. I knew he was there with Todd, and it didn't take me long to find the flaming red hair in the crowd. I actually snuck up behind them at first and grabbed Mark by the waist, scaring him half to death. He turned on the spot, ready to yell at whoever had touched him. But the moment he saw me, his face melted into a smile, and he threw his arms around my neck.

"Congratulations!" he said as I spun him around. "You guys won! And you did the thing! With the ball!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "I did, in fact, do the thing with the ball."

Todd held out a hand. "Good game! I haven't seen one that thrilling in a long time!"

I shook his hand without hesitation, giving him a warm smile. He'd grown on me in the past couple of weeks. "Thanks, Todd."

"Where do you want to go celebrate?" Mark asked, letting go of me at last. "We can do anything you like!"

"Maybe we can–"

"Ahem!" Todd coughed loudly.

We both looked at him as he gestured behind us. I turned out to find myself face to face with two of the scouts I'd talked to on a previous game.

"Hi there," I said, trying to act like I was just celebrating with friends. My heart was racing in my chest despite myself. I held out a shaky hand, which both of them shook with a smile.

"Excellent game," the first said.

"Really incredible work out there," the second added.

"Thank you." I looked between the pair of them. "Can I help you gentleman with anything?"

"Well, we were looking for you, actually."

"Oh?"

"It seems we've got some good news to share with you."

My heart started pounding again, but this time for a totally different reason. No way. This couldn't be happening.

"There you are!" another voice called from behind them.

I watched a well-manicured hand rise into the air. Following it downward, I saw my mother's familiar bob of curly hair and my father standing next to her. He was staring at the two men wearing suits in front of me, a smile threatening to spread over his face.

"We've been looking all over for you!" She walked up and pulled me into a hug. "You did such a good job today!"

"Is this your son, ma'am?" the first man asked.

"He sure is," my father interjected, clapping a hand on my shoulder. He was actually smiling now.

"Well, I guess it's good everyone is all here then," the second man replied. He reached into the inside of his blazer, producing a sealed envelope and handing it directly to me. "Congratulations, son! We'd like to offer you a contract with the NFL."

"You'll start off as a rookie, probably on a no-name team for a year or so while you're getting the hang of things," the first added. "But with a talent like yours, I have no doubt you'll be on one of the major teams in no time. Werewolves are always a top choice among the coaches."

I stared at the letter, my heart still racing. I didn't know what to say or how to respond.

"He accepts," my father replied for me, his hand still heavy on my shoulder. "He's trained his whole life for this, haven't you, boy?"

I furrowed my brow as I looked up at him. Something came over me in that moment, spurred on by hearing him make important life decisions for me once again. I pulled my shoulder away from him and looked back at the scouts.

"I'll need some time to think it over," I said.

"The hell you will!" my father barked.

The two scouts immediately looked deeply uncomfortable. "We don't need an answer straight away. But we'd like one by February at the latest."

"You'd be a shoo-in and probably a first choice by the coaches," the second said. "So, we'd love to have you. And the pay is pretty good, even for rookies."

"He'll do it," my father repeated.

"Thank you for the offer," I continued, ignoring him. "I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

They both gave me a nod and turned to leave just as Travis and Leroy walked up behind them. Meanwhile, my father was hovering over me, heat beating off his skin. His face was bright red, and I could smell the anger rolling off him in waves.

"What the hell is wrong with you, boy?!" he barked. "What's gotten into you?!"

"Robert!" my mother snapped back. "Keep your voice down."

"Don't tell me what to do–"

"Well, look at what we have here," Leroy called over the sudden cacophony of voices. "The man of the hour and his little faggy boyfriend."

The entire group went dead silent. Both scouts stopped in their tracks, my parents looked confused as hell, and I felt as if my heart was going to beat right out of my chest.

Not now. Not right here.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" my father spat.

Leroy lifted his hand, a finger pointing directly at me. "Him."

"Pfft. My son might be an idiot, but he's no fuckin' queer." He looked back at me. "Isn't that right?"

I stared at him, knowing that I should say no, of course not. But I didn't. And the longer the silence dragged on, the more disbelief filtered into my father's expression. My mother looked at me, to her husband, then back to me again, a hand going to her lips with an almost imperceptible gasp.

"Oh, I see you haven't told anyone about your extracurricular activities this semester, have you?" Leroy chuckled maniacally, giving Travis a nudge with his elbow. "You didn't tell your dad about how this little witch of yours nearly drowned us at the beginning of the semester? Or maybe you didn't want to tell him that you two have been fucking like pigs ever since."

I glanced back at Mark, my heart beating so fast I thought it would explode. This was the moment I'd been dreading for weeks, and it had come far too soon. I wasn't prepared, I didn't have a plan, and I sure as hell didn't want to do this in front of the NFL scouts. But it was out in the open now, and I needed to make a choice. It was time to choose the truth or lie to everyone and figure it out another day.

Mark took a step back as my gaze met his. He knew I wasn't ready to let the big gay cat out of the bag. And without saying a word, I knew he was willing to walk away, to pretend nothing existed between us just so that I could avoid being uncomfortable. I had his permission to deny him publicly, and I had to admit, I was sorely tempted.

Finally, with clenched teeth, I made the hardest decision of my life.

Reaching back, I took Mark's hand and pulled him forward. My body quaked with fear as I held him more for support than anything.

"It's true," I said at last, my voice shaking. "Mark is… my mate."