18. Addison

“Okay,let”s go through those exercises I showed you last time. I want to see your progress.”

I nodded to Caesar ”Cutter” Hernandez. He was one of the team”s trainers who had been put in charge of my recovery training.

He was a good-looking guy with a friendly smile and a short, dark beard. He took his job seriously too, because whenever he was working with me, his eyes were trained on my every movement like a hawk.

I went through what he had wanted me to practice, each stretch and exercise, focusing entirely on my movements, trying to make them perfect.

He adjusted me when needed but otherwise stood back, watching.

“What do you think?” I finally asked.

“Any pain?” he asked. He did every time. At the beginning, there had been times when I could barely bend my leg without crying out from a sudden sharp pang. It had been at least a week or two since that had happened though.

Admittedly, I”d made things worse at the start because I”d gotten carried away at home with Callum the night before.

But we”d been taking things easy lately... as in, when we had sex, he was on top, and I was chilling. No complaints whatsoever from me. Sitting back and watching him do his thing was pretty much heaven.

“I feel fine,” I said honestly. “Not a moment of pain or discomfort.”

Cutter seemed to consider while I waited with bated breath for him to tell me what I wanted to hear.

Finally, he nodded.

“Alright, let”s get you back into regular practice.”

I cheered out loud, jumping up and pumping my hand in the air.

“Yes!”

Cutter laughed.

“I”m still going to watch and work with you closely until I know you”re good.”

“That”s fine. I”ll take it.”

I was so excited I turned around, looking out at the others.

The team was taking up the rest of the field, hard at work, including the newest guy, a punter by the name of Garret. Normally I would already be trying to talk to the guy and getting to know him, but today I was more focused on getting to play again. I watched everyone for a minute, tapping my foot because practice was due to stop soon.

Sure enough, Coach called everyone in, and I went over to join the meeting, buzzing as he went through what was expected for our next game.

My eyes caught Callum”s and he raised his brows in question. My happiness grew because I knew Callum could tell, just from my expression, that I was excited and bursting to tell him something.

I was a little bit nervous though. I knew he’d struggled with the idea of me taking over completely before, but it always seemed to be more from insecurity than anything.

If he still had reservations, I was sure it would all blow over once he saw that we would both still be playing this season.

We would talk about it though. I didn”t want him to carry any resentment toward me or feel like he couldn”t come to me with his concerns.

When everyone eventually dispersed, he came straight over to me.

“What”s up?” he asked at once. “Good news?”

I nodded.

“Yeah,” I said. “I”m ready for regular training.”

“No way!”

The pure vibrancy of his excitement wiped away all of those worried thoughts.

He pulled me into a tight hug.

I laughed, relieved.

“Hey, Addy,” Coach called, and we parted to look at him.

He was standing with Cutter, who must have filled him in already.

“I hear you”ll be back on the field soon?”

I nodded, grinning ear to ear and approached them to talk it over while Callum went to the showers.

“I”m ready to start taking part in the season again,” I said.

He nodded thoughtfully.

“What about our next home game? Think you”ll be ready by then?”

“Yes,” I said, eagerly. “Two weeks is plenty of time.”

He smiled.

“Great, but you know your hometown is going to want to see a big comeback.”

I swallowed. He was right. There had already been so much speculation and so many rumours that I was out for good. I would have to work hard on my active recovery until then.

“I”ll be better than ever,” I promised, and he gave me a rare grin.

“That”s what I want to hear,” he said, patting my shoulder as he turned, conversation done.

I gave Cutter a thumbs-up and thanked him. We chatted for a while over what would come next and then I headed after Callum, eager to tell him what Coach Oliveira had said.

Inside, the changing room was empty but for Callum who was already dressed in his regular clothes.

“We have to celebrate,” he informed me straight away.

“Please,” I agreed and then smiled, warmth filling me because he seemed so genuinely happy for me.

“Maybe we should go on a date,” I suggested, going to sit next to him on the bench where he was putting on his shoes. “We never really got to do that part before you moved in with me.”

“It”s only temporary,” he said, chuckling, “but what did you have in mind?”

I shrugged.

“Something romantic.”

I reached out, my hand brushing the hairs on the nape of his neck as I cupped it.

He shivered and then leaned toward me, tilting his head for a kiss.

I obliged, sighing happily at the fact that this was my new normal.

Callum didn”t leave me with any doubt about us. He was often the first to kiss me or instigate more. For weeks now, my daily life had turned into pure bliss.

“Oh!”

We broke apart at the sound of someone”s surprised voice and turned to find Ash standing in the doorway with his dark brows raised.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “I forgot something.”

“We were just—” I stammered but he waved off whatever false excuse was about to come out of my mouth, clearly biting back a smile.

“Doesn”t matter to me,” he said. He went to his locker and grabbed something from inside before giving us a wave.

“See you guys.”

“Bye...”

I glanced over at Callum, wondering what he thought. The moment our eyes met, he burst into laughter.

“I guess that went well,” he said, shrugging. “Come on, let”s go for dinner.”

Callum just kept on surprising me.

I swooped in for another kiss. A quick one this time before pulling back.

“Okay, but let”s go somewhere we have to dress up for.”

He nodded.

“Yeah, okay.”

We ended up in a fancy restaurant by the time the sun was dipping low over the city. Even though we”d gotten ready together, I still had butterflies when we were sitting across from each other, and I was looking into Callum’s soulful brown eyes.

It was hard to process how much he made me feel. It was almost like I had been living at seventy-five percent battery and being with him shot me well over one hundred.

Life had more vibrancy even though all we did was cuddle and talk and make love. They were such simple things but when your soul made that kind of a connection, I was pretty sure it was forever.

I reached my hand out, at a loss for how I could possibly voice any of that. There were no words to describe the way he made me feel.

He took my hand and didn”t even glance around to see if anyone was looking.

“Someone”s going to notice we’re a couple pretty soon,” I pointed out. “There are going to be pictures.”

Callum looked into my eyes and seemed to see straight through me.

“That”s fine by me,” he finally said. “Let”s break the internet.”

I laughed out loud.

“Seriously?” I asked. “We”re not the first non-straight players.”

“We”re the first couple that are both active,” he pointed out. “I think it”ll get a lot of attention.”

I shook my head in wonder.

“I can”t believe this is the same guy who was afraid to hug me in front of his mom a few weeks ago.”

“It was more my dad,” he argued, amused. “But I”m sure he”ll survive.”

“God, I love you.”

I didn”t mean to say it and bit my lip at once.

Callum”s hand tightened on mine, and he stared at me for a long moment before his brows slowly lowered into a glare.

“How dare you say that when I can”t come over there and kiss you.”

“Why can”t you?” I asked, letting out a relieved laugh. “I thought you said you don”t care who knows.”

“Good point,” he said and leaned over the small table to press a lingering kiss to my lips.

When he pulled back, I couldn”t tear my gaze away.

“I mean it,” I told him.

“I can tell,” he said, smiling. “And for the record, I feel the same way.”

I shook my head in wonder.

“Please don’t leave me hanging,” I begged. “I need to hear it.”

He smiled shyly but didn’t hesitate when he spoke the words.

“I am so in love with you, Addison.”

Maybe gratitude was misplaced here, but that was what I felt. I was so grateful that Callum felt that way for me. It seemed impossible and yet here we were.

“Thank you,” I whispered.