41. Chapter 41

Four weeks have gone by. Our semester ended, we won the conference championship game easily, and Brynn and I have been inseparable.

It took a little while to get back to normal after I was released from the hospital. She was in a vulnerable state, and I was focusing on my recovery. Her ghosting everyone, especially me, really hit me.

I love her. There's never been any denying that, but there's always that worry in the back of my mind that she's just going to up and leave because she's scared something is going to happen. But we're working on ourselves in the midst of everything else we have going on.

We're on Christmas break, and I'm still insanely busy with football, especially since we've got playoffs approaching. Brynn is doing an apprenticeship at a local youth counseling program. It's been exciting to come home after our long days and watch her body light up when she tells me about her day. She hears a lot of bad things that happen to kids, but seeing her get excited to help kids who are struggling is pretty remarkable. There are days, though, when she'll come home and crash into my arms, letting tears fall from some of the stories she hears.

I wish there would've been someone in Brynn's corner when she lost Bryce and Asher, encouraging her to get help. But I think helping others is helping her heal.

Not only is she doing her apprenticeship, but she's been hanging out with Kari and Tanner, the mom and son duo from the pep rally. She spends time with them, helping Tanner work through his grief. After Brynn sent Kari that photo, the two of them continued their conversation, hitting it off. It's been really good for Brynn too. She's able to work through some more of her shit while helping Tanner.

Christmas is tomorrow, and this year, we decided that we would spend it with just the two of us. Mom was pretty pissed when I told her. It led to an even bigger conversation, one that I wasn't going to get into with her. But it came down to either she backed off and accepted that Brynn was going to be the girl that I married, or she risked losing me forever.

The ultimatum pissed her off, and we haven't spoken in almost two weeks. She'll either come around or she won't, but it's time that I start living for me and not being influenced by her, or my dad's decisions.

"Hey babe," Brynn says from the doorway of my room.

Turning, I find her a bright, chaotic mess. I could live off her beaming smile, never needing to see the sun again. She's my sunshine, the light on my darkest days, the little spark that brings me a hit of serotonin. Her arms are full of bags—an overnight bag, shopping bags with wrapped gifts spilling out of them, and grocery bags. Tendrils spill from where her hair is gathered in a large clip. Her face is flushed as her chest heaves. She takes my breath away.

"What's all this?" I ask, standing and striding toward her, reaching out to take some of the bags from her.

Shrugging, she lets me take her overnight bag. "Just some stuff to get us through the weekend." She carries the rest of the bags over to my bed, dropping them when she gets close enough. "Holy shit, that was heavy."

"You could've called me," I suggest. "Or you could've taken two trips?"

"Two trips are for pussies," she states, turning her back to the bed before collapsing onto my mattress.

Chuckling, I come up to lean over her. And then collapse on top of her, arms catching my weight before crushing her. Finding her mouth, I give her a searing kiss. "Missed you," I say, pulling back. "Merry Christmas Eve." Planting one more quick kiss on her lips, I pop up.

"Merry Christmas Eve," she replies, sitting up on her elbows, watching me riffle through my drawers.

I need to change out of my sweats and into something a little nicer. Tonight, we are celebrating with some of our friends.

Coach gave us Thursday through Sunday off for Christmas. Since our season is extending—thank God—he wanted to make sure everyone had plenty of time to celebrate Christmas with their families. But come Monday, all of our asses better be at the training facility by five a.m. ready to get focused. Our first playoff game is on New Year's Eve in Atlanta, with the National Championship game being in Arizona nine days later.

Grabbing a pair of underwear, I head into the bathroom for a quick shower. Pausing at the doorway, I glance back to a sprawled-out Brynn, eyes closed. She looks sexy as fuck all laid out for my eyes to wander. Dressed in tight brown plaid trousers and a cropped sweater, I can't help but stare at the skin that's exposed at her waist from her arms stretched over her head.

"Wanna join?" I ask.

"Maybe later," she replies, eyes never opening.

Thirty minutes later, we make our way downstairs. Our cleaning lady came yesterday. She must've been feeling a little festive because she added some Christmas flare to our dining table. The guys and I don't decorate for Christmas. I mean, we're guys. In college. And the house is always hosting a party. Shit would just get destroyed.

Xavier and JP are sprawled on the couch playing Madden. JP glances at the two of us, a whistle leaving his lips. "Damn, you two look spiffy."

"Thanks, Jer. You don't clean up so badly either," Brynn says, heading into the kitchen to check on the food.

I called Hog Heaven Barbecue and had our dinner catered. Less stress for everyone means more people will come. And who can turn down barbecue? I don't follow her, instead I make my way over to one of the plastic fold-out chairs we set up.

The doorbell rings before being pushed open. Grant walks in, but he's not alone. Stepping aside, a woman walks in. She's tall, only a few inches shorter than Grant and he's six-one with a toned, athletic body which she shows off in a skintight, V-neck, burnt-orange sweater dress. Long brownish hair is pulled up in a ponytail.

"Goddamn, who's your friend?" JP asks.

Grant's eyes close into slits as he looks at JP. If looks could kill, JP would be six feet under. "My sister," he answers, making his way farther into the house.

"Addy, these are the guys." Grant introduces the room, pointing each one of us out. "Quinton. His brother, Xavier. JP. And I'm sure Brynn's around here somewhere. She's Q's girl." Pausing, he stares at us. "This is Addy. She goes to Arizona. Don't even try anything. Oh, and she has a boyfriend."

"Sup, Addy," Xav says, turning to go back to the game.

"Hey there," she replies.

"Brynn's in the kitchen." I point Addy in the direction of the kitchen.

She nods her head in appreciation before walking away.

Grant makes his way over to where I'm sitting. "Your sister's home?"

Sighing, he drops into a chair next to me, running his hand down his face. "Yeah, she got in last night."

"I bet Coach is happy to have her home."

"Something's off with her, I just don't know what it is yet. She just seems…I don't know, different." Both of us look up, the sound of laughter spilling from the kitchen.

"Brynn will get her out of whatever funk she's in."

"Yeah, maybe," he says, exasperated. Grant and his sister are close. They're two years apart. Last year he was really bummed that she wasn't coming to CTU. Instead, she chose to go to Arizona, nine hundred miles away.

The front door flies opens and in walks Riggsby. He's carrying a bottle of tequila in one hand, a bouquet of flowers in the other, and a bag from a local bakery on his arm.

"Hey guys." He nods toward the room while he kicks the front door shut behind him before walking toward the kitchen.

"Whatcha got there, Riggs?" Grant asks, curiosity written all over our faces.

He pauses right before he gets into the kitchen. "Got Brynn tequila and flowers for hosting and cheesecake from my favorite place for all of us," he says, shrugging like it was no big deal.

"Wait, you got my girl flowers? I'm the one who's hosting," I chime in.

"Correction, we are hosting," adds JP, pointing to Xavier, me, and himself.

"Whatever. We all know it was Brynn's idea." And with that, he turns into the kitchen.

Dinner is amazing. There's a reason why Hog Heaven is my favorite. The meat just melts in your mouth. After dinner, we all break out the cards and start playing drinking games.

Before she gets too drunk, Brynn goes upstairs and carries down one of the giant bags that she had brought up there earlier in the day. She passes out small gifts to everyone, except Addy since she didn't know Addy would be coming. She apologized over and over before running upstairs and finding an unused gift card for Starbucks. Addy kept assuring her that it was okay, but Brynn wouldn't have it. She said it was either that or one of the gifts she got me, with a wink, she told Addy should choose carefully.

Brynn enjoyed her bottle of tequila, almost polishing off the bottle, but she did have help with it. Addy and Brynn hit it off just like I knew they would. Chloe joined the night a little later. The three girls drank and danced while us guys played more drinking card games.

The evening wrapped up a little after eleven, and everyone headed home before Christmas. Brynn and I went up to our room, I mean, my room, hell, who am I kidding? It's ours. She has so much shit in here that it's like she's moved in.

Before she let me get ready for bed, Brynn walked over to another large bag and pulled out two small bags—one for me and one for her. Unwrapping the gift, I pulled out a pair of Santa-themed boxers with white fur trim. I loved them.

Brynn ran into the bathroom with her bag. And when she emerged, my mouth fell open. There stood Brynn in a red-laced thong and a satin bow wrapped around her breasts. She looked fucking delectable.

I peeled that bow from her chest and spent hours worshipping her body before both of us rolled over in a heap of satisfaction.