33

Kassie

Better Than A Hug

At the JBU game, I got to score an extra ticket for Zariah and the two of us sat in the girlfriend section. She was basically my translator. Every time the ball snapped from hand to hand, I had questions.

"What's a split?" I whispered and clapped when everybody else did.

"Don't focus on that. I'll explain it later." Zariah gestured towards the field and took another big bite of her pretzel. "We're in the fourth quarter, right?"

"Right."

"The game's almost over, so they have to focus on what they can do, that's what Ryan has to decide now. The score is tied. We're definitely going to overtime." She took a sip of her soda.

"There's nothing they can do?"

"There's no way they can do anything now, there's seconds on the clock," Zariah explained, her voice low. "Now, in the NFL, it's a flat ten minutes, but in college—"

My eyes shot wide. "Ryan got the ball!"

" What? "

Both of us dipped forward at the same time, staring with rapt attention at the field as the entire stadium swelled with wild cheering. More and more people realized my fake boyfriend had caught the ball midair and was sprinting towards the end zone. There was no way . My hand flew to my mouth.

He's not going to make it .

Defense players for JBU ran towards him, a sea that Ryan couldn't hope to beat. I jerked up to a standing position, heart pounding throughout my entire body as more football players leaped to Ryan's trail, working desperately to reach him.

"Ryan!" I screamed out. "Motherfucker, go! GO! GO, MOTHERFUCKER! "

One of the bigger players made a leap at Ryan and my breathing stopped entirely. But all of a sudden, there was Adam . Number forty-five made a clean dive at the player and the two of them hit the grass while Ryan kept his straight run.

Zariah threw herself up next to me and both of us screamed at the top of our lungs, competing with the entire stadium, while Ryan raced against the clock, against the horde of football players behind him.

" TAKE IT HOME, RYAN! " I belted out.

The second Ryan crossed the end line, everyone went apeshit in the stadium. Twenty thousand people were screaming, twenty more thousand were screaming FOUR-A-CROSS and sanity came unglued. I grabbed Zariah's shoulders and the two of us kept yelling at each other.

His teammates jumped on top of him at the end zone and I couldn't stop laughing. Delirious happiness hit me. Ryan was the reason they won. Ryan won . He'd deserved this win, he'd been working so goddamn hard.

People spilled out onto the football field, washing the field in dark blue. I'd never been so glad to be locked up with the other football girlfriends. The place was in an uproar.

"I can't believe he did that." Zariah hiccuped. "That was insane!"

"Fuck me, he did that shit!" I exclaimed, wheezing a little. "I'm losing my fucking voice!"

" Kassie. "

I glanced back to see more and more dark blue jerseys up the stadium, but those weren't the ones calling my name. That was Cleo, standing on the stairs, the only one who wasn't leaping for joy.

"Cleo?" I made a face. "You're on my shit list!"

"No cursing in the stadium," she reminded me, coming close. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"How can I not?! Did you see that?" I gestured off towards the football players. "Ryan did it! We won!" I turned back to her with a frown. "I can't believe you set me up with the boutique thing. That place is out of my tax bracket."

Cleo sighed. "It was at the mall, Kassie."

"Still too expensive."

"I will rip those volunteer shirts from you if I have to burn them myself," Cleo huffed and crossed to our seats. "Kassie, I need to talk to you."

It was hard to tear my eyes away from the field. "What?"

"There's an emergency to deal with."

Of all the times to have a PR meeting. I couldn't believe it. I'd just started understanding football. It was my first game where I knew what was happening more than thirty percent of the time! Couldn't we take a break and just enjoy the win?

Nope. Not on Cleo's watch.

She motioned to the other football girlfriends to turn away from the conversation and when Zariah tried to peer in, Cleo snapped her fingers at her.

I sighed, leaning in closer. "What is it?"

"This."

Cleo flashed her phone and I gazed down at the screen, confused. For one, it looked like a picture of a bunch of topless college girls. And it was. A picture of a bunch of topless college girls, all sitting around a couch. To the left was some blonde dude I didn't recognize but I knew the other guy in the picture. I would've recognized that linebacker anywhere.

"Oh my god." I squeezed my eyes shut. "Adam."

And Adam had just defended Ryan on the field. With another look, I caught sight of the Romans together on the field, clapping each other on the back and playing around. Number four and number forty-five were right next to each other. Ryan and Adam were just starting to make amends.

Until Ryan sees this .

"What are we going to do?" I groaned.

"No, Kassie. What are you going to do?"

I blinked. "Me?"

"When you held hands in front of the cameras, that was good," Cleo said. "You and Ryan did fine, but I need something better. I need you to go down to the field and compete with this photo."

"I should get paid better if I'm streaking after a football game."

She gave me an exasperated look. "Kassie. We need something better than a hug . Do you understand?"

Pressing my lips together, I stole another look at the football players below, pumped as hell that they'd beat JBU. Ryan had worked so hard for this…why did I have to take that from him with something as stupid as this?

"It's his moment though," I said. "I can't do that to him."

Cleo blinked, surprised. "Why do you care?"

"I—" I stopped myself. "Well—"

"Ryan is only with us for a limited amount of time, Kassie. He's leaving in April. We have to take advantage of this opportunity, that's the entire reason you're signed with us."

That's right .

Because I wasn't on the Romans' payroll to be happy for Ryan's success. He and I worked together. I couldn't forget that.

I sighed. "How do I get down to the field?"