I looked around and saw a few happy couples with new tans, probably just back from their honeymoons.
I wish I was taking a trip with Kelsey.
Man, that wouldn’t have been a bad idea—we could’ve gotten away somewhere just the two of us. I had to remind myself that she had a job and couldn’t just drop everything that was going on to appease me. I think that was another thing I liked about her—the fact that she wouldn’t drop everything for me.
This trip will be good. Let you clear your head and think about things.
I hated my brain for trying to be reasonable. What did I really want? I wanted to be around Kelsey every fucking day and with her every moment. I wanted to hold her hand, hear about her day, listen to funny stories about her past.
My red suitcase ambled along on its way over to me and I stepped up to the edge to grab it.
“Stallworth!”
He’s here.
I smiled without even looking back. Aiden was most definitely one of a kind. He was probably about the funniest guy I’d ever met.
“Are you grabbing your luggage, bro? I didn’t know MVPs had to do stuff like that! Let me get that for you, sir!”
Half the people in the airport had on Green Bay Packer shirts and all of them laughed and pointed with huge eyes. Aiden was a pro bowl defensive end, and the whole city embraced his goofiness and knew exactly who he was. The fact that he was a six-foot-eight, three-hundred-twenty-pound black guy running through the airport and hollering at the top of his lungs only helped verify his identity.
He shot over next to me and reached out for my bag. He picked it up like it was a feather and tossed it to the ground like he was loading a truck at a warehouse. I shook my head and smiled.
Aiden bent over at the waist and panted.
“Jesus, I thought you were an athlete? How the hell are you this out of shape?”
He straightened up and looked down at me. “I don’t sprint more than ten yards at a time, bro. That shit is for marathon runners or something. I do ten-yard sprints. Know what I’m saying?” He held his hands apart, as if it was supposed to represent ten yards. “Ten yards, Matty. That’s it.”
I couldn’t stop grinning and shook my head at him. “Okay, man. Whatever you say.” I held out a hand. “It’s good to see you.”
He slapped my hand away and faked a snarl at me, then grabbed me in a giant bear hug and bounced me up and down.
People all around laughed and took pictures. I held my arms out to the side like, What do you do?
Aiden set me down and belted out a laugh that echoed through the airport. Suddenly, he looked at me like he was disgusted and turned the volume up on his voice. “You need to stop playing in the airport, Stallworth. This place ain’t a park. Grow up, man.”
His face still serious, he grabbed my bag and started for the door. I followed and patted him on the back. “It is good to see you. Once a year isn’t enough.”
People all over the airport were smiling and laughing, still snapping pictures with their phones.
He glanced down at me and smiled. “I know. Good to see you, too, Matty.”
—
I pulled out my phone at Aiden’s place and had one message.
Kelsey: Have fun on your trip.
Aiden clapped a hand on the back of my neck before I had time to reply. “So how you been?”
“Pretty good. How do you like it out here?”
He stared down at the floor and his shoulders slumped for a brief second and then he popped back up with a giant smile on his face. “I love it here, dude. Seriously. It’s the best.”
In a year I’d forgotten how much I loved Aiden. The only thing that would’ve been better was if Ethan was here, too. Aiden bounced around when he spoke and his arms flailed in all directions any time he was excited about something.
“Bro, first off, you know I love cheese, right? I ain’t even playin’.” He nodded at me like I should agree. “And it’s cold as fuck here! Who would’ve thought I’d love the cold? No more sweating my big ass off twenty-four-seven.” He tapped my chest with the back of his hand excitedly, still eager to tell me more reasons why he loved it. “And when it snows, which, let’s face it, is all the fucking time, dude, you can’t go anywhere. You know I’m not getting out on the road in that shit, bro. So I just sit at home and play Xbox.”
I grinned. “That’s awesome, man. I’m happy for you.”
Aiden came from South Texas and football was a way of life in the state. He’d been with Tampa Bay for the past few years, but was traded last season to Green Bay.
“So you ready for the Bears this weekend?”
“Man, you already know. Shit.” We bumped fists. “So what’s up with you? E get your contract sorted out yet?”
I waved off his words. “They’re still talking and talking or whatever they do. I don’t worry about that stuff. It bores me.”
Aiden nodded. “You’re in good hands. That dude is like the fucking Ari Gold of sports agents.”
“Truth.”
“So what else you been up to? Haven’t heard from you as much the past week or so. I know you don’t do shit in the off-season.”
We both chuckled, but I looked away.
“Just been a little busy.”
“Pfft. You? Busy? What’s up?”
“Been seeing a girl.”
“Ahhh!” He gave me a quick shove on the shoulder. “There it is. Finally, the truth.” Aiden closed his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. “Man, I miss Texas women. I sure as shit do. God bless ’em.”
I rested an elbow on the kitchen island. “What about the girls up here?”
Aiden shook his head. “Man, don’t get me wrong., Wisconsin has some hot-ass women.” He did the whistle thing guys do when they agree with what they just said. “But fuck, dude. You can’t beat a fine Texas woman. They don’t make ’em like that anywhere else.” He started strutting around the kitchen like a model on the runway. “In them summer dresses and shorty-ass shorts when it’s all hot outside. Dayum! And they’re all sassy and smart, too. Don’t take any of your shit. And I know you guys are up north, but hell, down in the south with Southern accents and shit…God, you make me wanna go home and find a wife.”
I couldn’t argue with him. Texas women were the best, hands down. And I’d been on two dates with the hottest, sexiest, smartest one in the whole damn state.
“Shit, I need to send a message real quick. Hang on.” I’d forgotten to text Kelsey back. I pulled out my phone, then glanced over at Aiden. I hit the camera app on my phone. “Hey, do me a favor and act goofy and shit so I can take a picture.”
“Say what? Do I look like a clown to you, Matty?” He scoffed. “Is this like that time you and E filled up my car with popcorn while I was at practice?”
I doubled over in laughter while Aiden glared. We had pulled some pretty epic pranks on him during college.
“Or the time you asked me to sign a helmet for a little kid? With a permanent marker?”
I clutched my ribs and pointed at him, barely able to contain my laughter.
“And it was my own fuckin’ helmet!”
I lost it, could hardly breathe.
“Man, I had to wear that shit to practice every day. It wouldn’t come off!”
“Are you gonna take the picture or what?” I tried to keep a straight face.
“Oh wait! How about the time you assholes talked that fake reporter from the college newspaper into asking me questions about being declared ineligible?”
I doubled over again. “Maybe we got a little carried away.” I looked off at the wall.
“I cried in the locker room, Matty!”
I turned back, trying not to laugh.
“You and Ethan hid behind the fucking lockers, rolling around laughing on the floor as those very real tears rolled down my cheeks!”
I shrugged. “Umm, sorry?”
He grinned. “You ain’t sorry. Don’t play like you’re sorry, Matt. ’Cause you’
re not!”
“Why are you bringing up old stuff? The statute of limitations has expired. You gonna do this for me or not?”
Aiden chuckled. “Okay, you know I’ll do some crazy-ass shit, hold up.”
“Here, just take the phone and do one of those selfie things or whatever.”
I’d planned on sending Kelsey a goofy picture of Aiden to set her mind at ease. It wasn’t necessary, but I thought it’d be the nice thing to do. Maybe if she saw us in our element she’d be less worried I was going to clubs with women hanging all over me.
Aiden grabbed the phone and held it up damn near to the ceiling. “I gotta do this angle thing so I don’t get a double chin, homie. Nobody wants a fucking double chin, Matt, you hear me? Selfie-taking is an art form and I’m like the Da Vinci of this shit!”
I couldn’t stop laughing and planned on texting Ethan to let him know everything he was missing out on by staying at home to plan his wedding. I turned my gaze up to my phone and then to Aiden’s face. He started to do something and his eyes bugged out like they might pop out of his head.
“Holy shit! That’s perfect. Take the picture.” I could barely breathe at the sight of his face.
But he yanked the phone down and covered his eyes, then held my cell out to me.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know, bro. But I think it was something that wasn’t meant for me to see. Sorry.”
I yanked the phone away and looked down at the screen.
Kelsey: I know you’re hanging with your friend, so I thought I’d give you something to look at later.
It was a picture of Kelsey’s tits, still covered by a bra—thank God. She had one of her tight band T-shirts pulled up to her neck. My cock kicked up north in a heartbeat.
God, she’s so perfect.
I couldn’t stop smiling at the picture and then my jaw tightened.
“Dude, I’m so sorry about that, man. It just popped up on the screen.”
I realized it wasn’t Aiden’s fault. Hell, if it had to happen to anyone, I was glad it was him.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s cool. I promise.”
“But I do need to tell you one thing, about that there picture.” He narrowed his eyes at me.
I cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at Aiden.
“Well fucking done, bro. Up top!” He held a hand up.
I pretended to be unenthusiastic about giving him five. He shoved my shoulder and grinned.
“So who is she?”
“Her name is Kelsey. You have to meet her. She’s fucking awesome. Seriously.”
Aiden stared at me for a few seconds. “You really like her, huh?”
“Yeah, man. How could you tell?”
“I don’t know. Just, something different about you when you talk about her. Compared to how you act when you’ve dated other girls. Can’t put my finger on exactly what.”
“She’s so different from the others. Seriously. Loves music. Doesn’t know shit about baseball. Doesn’t fangirl all over the place.”
“I love her already.”
“Hah! You really will love her, though.”
“I love when my bros are happy. If she makes you happy, then I love her. Simple as that.”
“Thanks, man.” I smiled and realized something as I talked to one of my best friends, who’d already seen the first dirty picture my not-yet-girlfriend had sent me.
I liked talking to people about Kelsey Martin, and I liked telling my best friends how awesome she was. I’d never done that with a girl before.
“So you guys dating? Exclusive? What’s the status we dealing with here?” Aiden took a seat on a bar stool across from me.
“Complicated, as usual.”
“Worried about media shit?”
I nodded.
“It’s one of the problems that comes with all that money, as my mom always says.”
“Well, I would never doubt your mom.”
“Yours, either. Shit. Those ladies know what they’re talking about.”
“There’s one other problem, too.”
“What’s that?”
“She doesn’t know anything about my free agency.”
Aiden looked up at the ceiling and sighed. “Matty.”
“I know, okay. I just—it’s a long story. She spooks easily. And has trouble with trust.”
“And you think not telling her is good for those trust issues?” He shook his head at me like I was being ridiculous.
“I don’t think she’d have ever given me a chance at all if she knew.”
Aiden looked around the kitchen, the wheels in his brain spinning. “Yeah, it is complicated.”
I smacked him on the arm. “Enough with the heavy shit. What do you want to do tonight?” I looked down at Kelsey’s picture once more and saved it to my phone. I knew what I’d be doing later later.
“Figured low-key. Maybe a couple beers and some pizza or something. Just chill. That sound good?”
“It sounds fucking perfect. I just need to make a phone call first. That cool?”
“Of course. Go talk to your woman. Let me know when y’all register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I love that fucking store. They got everything there.”
I shot him the finger and he damn near choked on his own laughter. “Guest room is that way, right?” I pointed back through the kitchen.
“Yep.”
I turned around and took two steps.
“You think I’m kidding about triple B, dog. I’m not.”
I held up my middle finger without turning back.
“Check out that KitchenAid mixer on that fucking counter if you don’t believe me, Matty. Got it on sale for two forty-nine. That Empire Red makes your kitchen pop. You’ll be the talk of the town when you host dinner parties. Make all kinds of cookies and pies and shit.”
I was still giving him the finger and turned back to smile. I thought he might fall off the bar stool he was laughing at his joke so hard.
All kinds of photos hung on each side of the hallway wall. I stopped to look at a few. One of them was me, Aiden, and Ethan out in front of our old college dorms. Aiden towered between us and had an arm around each one of us. We were so damn young. I think one of the reasons I always liked to visit him was the nostalgia. It always brought me back to who I was and where I came from, even though ironically I had to leave home to see it.
I glanced to another photo, Aiden and me in front of Bizzell before a show. Other pictures were of him playing ball in college and the NFL, and then a ton of pictures of him and his family.
I glanced down to Kelsey’s tits on my screen and hurried to the room. The king-size bed called my name and I did a giant swan dive at it, then remembered my cock was still semi-hard and I definitely did not want to land on him. I attempted to rotate to my back midair and barrel-rolled right off the bed and into the wall.
“Motherfucker!” I reached a hand behind me and arched my back.
Aiden came thundering down the hall and ran into the room.
He clutched his palms to his face like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. “What’d you dooo?”
I couldn’t think of a lie fast enough and told him what just happened.
His entire torso shook and his cheeks puffed out like a laughter bomb on a countdown. He finally schooled his features and folded his arms over his chest. “Now, look, Matthew. If you want to stay here, we do not jump on the bed. Okay?” He pointed his finger at me and mocked me with a stern schoolteacher’s voice.
“Yes, ma’am. I promise.”
He wagged his index finger in the air as he walked out of the room and then I heard him burst into laughter in the hallway.
The shooting pain in my back subsided and I grabbed my phone, which had shot across the floor during my brief stint as a stunt man. I swiped the screen and tapped on Kelsey’s contact information.
It started to ring and butterflies twisted my stomach into a knot.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me. So
rry. I was hanging out with Aiden and this was my first chance to call.”
“You don’t have to apologize. You went there to hang out with your friend, not talk to me the whole time.”
“What if I want to talk to you the whole time?”
“Well, I would probably tell you, hmm…” She paused for a second. “To stop acting whipped and hang out with your buddy.”
“You really are perfect. You know that?”
“You think I’m blushing right now, but I’m not.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“Okay, Stallworth. I will.”
Fuck, the shit it did to me when she called me by my last name. I didn’t know if it was because she called me by my last name, or just because it was her saying it.
“Good.”
“So…”
I didn’t know how to bring up the whole picture incident.
“Umm, yeah, so the message you sent…”
“You sound apprehensive. You didn’t like it?”
“You fucking kidding me?” The words came out fast and loud before I could stop them.
Kelsey laughed on the other end. “Why were you talking all like it was the end of the world, then?”
“Yeah, about that. So, Aiden might’ve gotten a peek, too.”
“What? Matt! You showed your buddy? What the—?”
“No, no, no! Just listen, please. I wouldn’t do that.”
I heard teeth grinding in my ear. Fuck. “Okay, so I handed him my phone because he’s like the goofiest guy on the planet and not some cocky, womanizing athlete. And I told him to take a funny selfie. I was going to send it to you to be like, ohhh, Aiden says hi, or whatever. Just so you’d know we’d spend most of our time playing Xbox and just talking about old times and stuff. And he went to take the selfie—”
“Oh my God. Seriously?”
“Yeah, his eyes about popped out of his head and he covered his face and held the phone out at me.”
Kelsey chuckled and it soon turned into hysterical laughter. I didn’t know if it was laughter I should laugh at or laughter that said, I’m so fucking embarrassed I’m just going to laugh until it goes away.
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