Trevor

Trevor

Ido my best to focus during practice, but it’s easier said than done when the man that I’m supposed to be listening to is currently the target of my building irritation. I knew he was a shit dad, but how could he forget his only daughter’s birthday? The fuck kind of man is he? Sage tries to act like it doesn’t bother her, but it’s written all over her pretty face. And the fact that the little shit of a man in front of me is a source of even an ounce of pain for her has me ready to bash his face in.

Sage is being the bad bitch she is, not letting anyone see the hurt inside her. She’s interviewing the special teams for some bit while the offense and defense are running drills. When we break for water, I jog to the side, cutting toward her first. As smoothly as I’m able, I brush behind her, letting my hand linger on her lower back before I turn to the side and make my way to my bag with my water bottle.

I don’t look over my shoulder at her until I’m lifting the bottle to my mouth. Her face is blank, but her eyes are grateful for the small touch. We both agreed to keep things on the down low, first for the sake of both of our jobs considering we were just fooling around. But now that things have evolved into so much more, it’s only a matter of time until people figure it out. People like her dad.

Honestly, Coach is about to find out one way or another soon. It’s either gonna be he’s gonna catch me holding her like she’s my whole goddamn world, or he’s gonna find my fist buried in his solar plexus if he raises his voice to her one more time.

Tossing my bottle back into my bag, I feel a pair of eyes on me before someone comes up next to me. I raise an unimpressed eyebrow to Jackson Donatello as he lifts a hand up to grip the top of his chest pads.

“See you been hanging with Sage quite a bit,” he says coolly, but there is nothing cool about his body language.

“Oh yeah? Where have you seen that?” I challenge.

“Around,” he says cryptically. “What’s up with that? You bagging her?”

I turn to face him, taking several steps until we are chest to chest, practically nose to nose as I lower my voice to an eerie calm.

“I’m not sure how that’s any of your business. Regardless, you can take whatever bullshit you’re thinking and shove it right up your ass. I’m not your concern, and she better not be a single fucking thought in your mind.”

He scoffs. “Oh yeah? Getting territorial, pretty boy?”

Hearing the nickname only Sage has called me coming from him sends a rush of anger down my spine, and I do my best to breathe through it.

“Fuck. Yes. That girl is mine, and if I see you look at her the way you do one more time, I’ll let Coach know where he can find your stash of steroids.”

His hardened exterior pales slightly for a moment before he builds his stature up a bit higher.

“Fuck you. You don’t know where shit is.”

“I was bluffing but looks like you confirmed my suspicions. Stay the fuck away from me and my girl, and you can keep shooting up until you get UA’d.”

His eyes harden as he looks from me to her before shaking his head and walking away. I hear him mutter something under his breath, but it’s not even worth my time to figure out what it is. I don’t think that doper will be a problem for us anymore, especially when I strongly suggest some more rounds of testing should happen before the playoffs. I don’t fuck with cheaters.

Thankfully, the rest of practice goes by smoothly, everything is really coming together, and the team is honestly stronger than ever. Since Sage and I have become a real thing, you can feel the tension between Sebastian and I on the field practically disintegrate. I’m probably on the bottom of his favorite people list still, but at least things are finally starting to click with us in the game.

We are in the locker room getting ready to head home for the day when, shocking the hell out of me, Sebastian calls out to me.

“Trevor,” he says simply.

I turn to look over my shoulder before giving him my full attention.

“Erica wants you and Sage to come over Friday, have dinner, hang out.”

His words are clipped, his body language closed off, but it’s probably the most he’s spoken to me without threatening me in years.

I nod as I slide on my T-shirt.

“We can probably make that happen.”

Seb nods once, and I expect that to be the end of it, until he speaks again.

“You guys are for real?”

“Me and Sage?” I ask.

Seb nods.

I pause for a moment, mainly because I know what he’s really asking. He wants to know if this thing with her is just a distraction to get his wife out of my head, or if I’m actually all in with her. If he can finally relax knowing there isn’t some pathetic guy waiting for him to fuck up so he can steal his girl. Yep, I used to fucking hope and pray for Seb to do something stupid and drive Erica straight into my arms. Not proud to admit it, but it’s not like it was a secret anyway.

I give him a soft nod as I look around us before speaking.

“Yeah, man. She’s…special.”

Sebastian’s eyes narrow on me curiously for a few beats before he nods to himself.

“Good.”

With that, he turns, gathers up his stuff and strides out of the locker room. Slater pokes his head from the other side of the lockers and grins.

“Was it just me, or did that sound like progress?”

I let out a short laugh as I shake my head.

“You’re way too invested in other people’s lives.”

“Only because your drama is better than anything on TV. Trust me, Scar and I have tried to find something, to no avail.”

I shake my head but can’t help but laugh as I zip up my bag.

“Y’all wanna grab lunch or something?” Declan drawls out as he towels his hair dry.

“Sure,” Slater says. “You in, Trev?”

“Nah, I have to work on Sage’s birthday plans tonight.”

“Oh shit. Look at Mr. Playboy getting all romantic.” Slater smirks.

I scoff and roll my eyes but don’t try to hide my smile as I walk out of the locker room to a waiting Sage in the hallway.

Tonight is gonna be good.

“Is the tie around my eyes really necessary?” Sage grumbles as I guide her through the doors.

“Yes, and if you don’t stop whining, I’ll turn it into a gag,” I say as I pull her to a stop in the middle of the room.

Her mouth spreads into a wicked grin as she blindly looks toward me.

“Now that’s more like it.”

I bark out a laugh and smack the side of her ass.

“Behave. I’m trying to be romantic and shit.”

“Catch me if I swoon,” she sighs sarcastically.

Fucking smart-ass.

“Alright, you pain in the ass, take off the tie.”

She yanks it down to fall around her neck, her mischievous smile falling away as her eyes widen, and her mouth parts slightly.

I watch as her eyes scan the kitchen around us, nearly every inch covered in some type of shiny object to bake with.

“What are we doing here? Where are we?” Sage asks.

“Sally’s Sweet Treats. I rented the place out for the night.”

“Why?” she asks, still obviously confused.

I roll up my sleeves as I make my way over to one of the two stations I requested to be stocked and ready to go.

“Well, you know those super boring baking competition shows you’ve been making me watch lately?”

“You mean the ones that you secretly love and stay up watching even when I fall asleep?” she counters.

“Yep, those. Well, since I couldn’t get you onto a show in time because someone forgot to mention her birthday,” I say with a faux irritated look.

“Definitely didn’t mention it on purpose,” she supplies.

“I thought we could have our own little competition.”

She raises an eyebrow as she looks around the kitchen.

“You have my attention.”

I smirk at her coyness. I can practically see her vibrating with excitement. I’m almost getting a contact high from it alone.

“I had Sally choose three ingredients that we each have to incorporate into a baked good. We have ninety minutes to make our dessert, and the winner gets to choose a present,” I say as I lift the two purple gift bags.

“Why do you get a present if it’s my birthday?” she sasses.

I give her a wicked smirk as I shake the bag in my left hand.

“Both presents are for you, but one I think I may be more eager to use at first.”

“Well, that’s chillingly cryptic. Where’s the challenge though?” she asks as she begins tying her hair up with the hairband around her wrist.

“Underestimate me all you want, Raven.”

She waves me off as she walks over to her station and lifts out the ingredients.

“Sour cream, pecans and…bourbon?” she laughs.

I smirk as I grab two cups from the shelf. I’m not sure if they are measuring cups or actual drinking cups but either way they will work.

“It’s your twenty-first birthday, baby. We couldn’t go without at least one drink, and it’s your favoriteeee,” I sing as I pour us each a glass of Pappy.

“It’s your favorite. I don’t need a thousand-dollar bottle of bourbon to be happy,” she says with a haughty look before she takes the glass, clinking it against mine before taking a sip.

I toss mine back before bringing her to me, pressing her lips against mine as I wrap my arms around her. The sharp taste of the bourbon is still fresh on her lips, I can’t help but let my tongue chase down the flavor. Then again, I think I much prefer the flavor of Sage over bourbon, and if that’s not saying something…

When I pull back, she smiles up at me softly before whispering against my lips.

“Time starts…now.”

With that, she’s shoving me to the side and racing over to the pantry.

“Cheater!” I call out, causing her to let out a maniacal laugh full of glee.

It’s not like I think I actually have a chance of out baking her. She’s incredibly talented. But when I was trying to come up with something to do for her birthday that was so last minute, I knew I could combine her two favorite things. Baking and winning.

Knowing that I am definitely going to lose my ass, I may have had Sally tell me the ingredients and already memorized a recipe. Just because I know hers will no doubt look a hell of a lot better than mine doesn’t mean I don’t want to shock her a bit when it comes to flavor. I’m hoping to impress her with my pecan brown butter sour cream crumb cake, with a bourbon sweet glaze of course.

Because I already have the recipe portions memorized, I take my time as I watch Sage race around the new-to-her kitchen. It only takes her ten minutes before she settles in. From there it’s like watching magic. Her body moves so fluidly, from pouring and stirring to baking whatever she’s up to. She makes it look effortless. It’s never been more clear to me than right in this moment that some people were put on this earth with a purpose, and Sage Aberton has way too much talent to be wasting her days in a sweaty practice facility taking pictures for social media. She’s an artist, a master baker, and if she will let me, I’ll do everything I can to make all of her dreams come true.

Several times throughout the last hour she has tossed me furrowed looks as I finalize my crumb cake. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was actually worried about losing.

“How’d you come up with your recipe so fast?” Sage calls out as she whisks something in her bowl.

“I’m just naturally gifted, I guess.” I shrug.

She narrows her eyes at me. “Where’s your phone?”

“In the car. Are you challenging my character?” I ask in mock offense.

“Abso-fucking-lutly.”

“Tick-tock, Raven. Time is almost up.”

She scoffs before turning her back toward me, causing me to grin. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of getting under her skin.

When the timer finally goes off, Sage steps back with a triumphant smile. I don’t even have to look at her dessert to know it’s incredible. The pride and joy radiating from her face is confirmation enough. When my eyes do drop to her plate though, I’m even more impressed than I expected. It looks like she made some type of cake or bread but it’s so artfully plated, it looks like something right from one of her baking shows.

“What is that?” She laughs as she points to my crumb cake that unfortunately turned out heavy on the crumb.

“It’s a crumb cake, what do you expect?” I shrug.

“More cake than crumb, I suppose?” She laughs.

“Yeah? What did you make?”

She smiles as she grabs a fork and scoops a bite onto it, holding it out for me.

“Peaches and cream bourbon loaf with chopped pecans.”

I wrap my mouth around the end of the fork, the cream glaze hitting my tongue instantly before practically melting in my mouth. Holy fucking shit. As I chew the bite, the balanced sweetness of the peaches to the richness of the bourbon are so perfectly executed, I instantly crave another bite.

Once I swallow, I open my mouth, waiting for my next bite. Sage laughs lightly, a soft airy sound I don’t think I’ve ever really heard from her as she gets another fork full and shoves it in my mouth. I chomp at it, causing her to giggle as I chew the bite quickly and wind my hand around the back of her neck.

“Alright, you win, Raven. Go pick your prize.”

“Well, hold on. I haven’t tried yours yet, despite the…unique look, maybe it’s really good.”

I chuckle as I place a kiss on her exposed shoulder.

“It’s not. I turned the browned butter into scorched butter, and I’m pretty sure I used salt instead of sugar. I even cheated too and planned out my recipe ahead of time.”

Her mouth drops open, and she punches me in the arm.

“Fucking asshole!”

Sage walks over to the two displayed bags as she begins tearing into them.

“Just for that, I’m opening both.”

I laugh and nod as I lean against the table and watch her. The first bag she opens is a bottle of her favorite perfume, a few scented candles, and a pair of car keys.

She holds up the keys with a stunned look.

“What are these for?”

“The shiny black Mercedes GT-S sitting in our driveway at home.”

Sage stares at me for a moment, seemingly speechless.

“I’m not sure which part has me more thrown, the fact that you casually bought me a luxury car for my birthday or the fact that you called it ‘our’ driveway.”

I push away from the table, closing the distance between us before reaching my hand up to cup her jaw.

“It is our driveway. Let’s be real, even if you wanted to leave, I’m not letting you go. You’re stuck with me, so that should come with some perks.”

She licks her lips softly as she exhales.

“Like pain and suffering compensation?”

I chuckle lightly as I nod and brush my lips against hers.

“Exactly.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Hmm, thank you usually works,” I say as I run my mouth over her jawline.

“Seriously, Trevor,” she says, something in her tone causing me to pull back.

I look down at her to see her gem-colored eyes full of emotion as she looks up at me.

“Thank you, I love all of it. It’s so sweet.”

The sincerity in her words has my chest thumping rapidly as I wrap my arms around her.

“Anything for you, baby. Now, be a good girl, and open the other bag.”

“I take it this is the one you’re excited about?” she asks as she grabs the bag.

I allow her to step out of my reach just a hair as I nod and watch her closely.

When she peels back the tissue paper, her eyes widen before a tint of red stains her cheeks.

“Are you fucking serious?”

Grinning at her, I pinch her side.

“You ever used these before, baby?”

“No, never,” she huffs, seemingly trying to compose herself.

I waggle my eyebrows at her as I take her hand in mine.

“You won’t be able to say that after tonight.”