by Claire Adams
Ron had still been asleep when I had left. Since I had eaten breakfast at home, I could go straight into the gym to start lifting. I had been training here for a while already, so it wasn't hard getting into a rhythm, though it was different being at the facility when it was full.
I recognized some of the guys who were coming back. I had gone through the team's roster, checking out my new teammates. The newbies were pretty easy to spot, too, especially the guys who had never made the trip to the facility before today.
Right after that was practice. I had been waiting for this. It was the first day of training, so I wasn't sure how many people we'd have watching us. I'd make sure I told Ron, in case she wanted to come. That way I wouldn't feel so bad not seeing her practically the whole day. I was lacing up my cleats, sitting in front of my locker when I heard a couple guys walking in. They were talking. One of them came over to the locker next to mine.
"Hey," I heard him say. I looked up at him. He had taken his shirt off and all the skin on his back and arms was covered in tattoos.
"Hey," I said back.
"Where'd you trade in from?"
"I got picked after the Houston combine."
"Yeah? What position?"
"QB."
"So this is your first season?" he asked, laughing a little, "Buckle up."
"That bad?"
"No. Worse," said the other guy. He wasn't tall, but he was built like a house. Stocky and muscular. "After this month, you'll see why they make us sign before camp begins. I'm Jackson, by the way. That's Andre," he said. He reached his hand out for me to shake.
"It's too late to back out now," Andre said next to me. "Hey, if you came through the combine, what was your best test?"
"Leave him alone, Dre," Jackson said.
"No, he wants to know?" I said. "42 reps on bench press."
"No shit," he said, actually sounding a little impressed. "What school did you go to?" I told him as the locker room filled up. A good number of the guys it turned out had gotten drafted right out of college, especially the ones who had gone to the bigger schools. Not many – none, in fact – had gone through a year of active service right in the middle of their career.
Practice was about two hours, the first of the day, there was another practice session in the afternoon. A month of this and I'd probably end up having everyone's name down. Hanging out literally the whole day, day after day, I wouldn't have a choice. I was ready to leave when the sun started dropping in the sky, but then they said we still had more meetings to go to. It was two more hours before I was back in the car heading home, almost ten at night.
I called out to Ron when I walked in, locking the door. I heard her voice, distant, telling me she was in the bedroom. At least I got back before she was asleep. I walked through the apartment, dropping my bag on the ground when I got to the bedroom. The bed was rumpled like she had been sitting on it. The sliding glass door of the balcony was all the way open and Ron was standing there, arms on the railing looking out at the beach. The light from the moon was reflecting off the water and all the homes along the water were lit up bright. I came up behind, wrapping my arms around her.
"Hey," I said. She spun around, leaning up to kiss me.
"Hi. How was training?"
"Good. Got to meet the team today. What did you do all day?"
"Nothing," she said smiling, "and it was perfect."
"Did you go?" I asked, pointing out to the water.
"Not today. I want us to go together."
"When we have a day off I'll take you," I said. "Did you finish unpacking?"
"Mmhmm," she said, sighing. "I'm gonna need more bikinis."
"That's why I left my card behind, babe. Get whatever you want," I said.
"Don't tempt me, Roman. I could get used to this."
"That's what I want. This is home now."
"Give me a few more months. It'll grow on me," she said, smiling. She was taking this well, better than I could have hoped. We had landed last night and I hadn't been with her most of the day, but she seemed fine. I hoped it would continue like that. I didn't want her to regret coming here or feel homesick. I had to train, but it was my job to make sure that she was as comfortable and happy as possible.
"Maybe it'll be better once you start school?"
"Hm. Maybe. I'm going to visit the campus tomorrow. It looks like a cool place, but only one way to find out for sure."
"I wish I could come with you."
"I know you would if you could," she said, rubbing her hands over my biceps. "You're busy. I have to get used to that."
"It's not going to be like this all the time," I told her.
"I know what I signed up for. I get it," she said. I didn't want her to think that I had asked her to come here just so I could ignore her. I wanted her to be able to start school so she had something, too. So she wasn't just here for me and my job.
"Have you heard anything from them?"
"Just confirmation for the campus visit," she said. "I hope it works out."
"It will," I said, surer than I felt.
"Fingers crossed. I just got here. I'd like to be able to stay."
"I'd like that, too," I agreed, kissing her. I could get used to coming home to her. Even if she wasn't there when I did get home, it would be good knowing that she would be soon.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"Do you want to order something in?"
"No," she said smiling. "I cooked."
She was in the kitchen when I joined her ten minutes later. I had been up in the morning to get to the facility before she had gotten up, so I had just eaten a bowl of instant oatmeal standing by the sink before leaving. The dining table I had told Rachel I'd never use was all set up. Two place settings, a bowl full of salad, and dishes I was certain I hadn't seen in my life.
"Do you need help?" I called into the kitchen. She asked me to get the salmon out of the oven. We were eating it with baked potatoes and pasta salad.
"Are these new?" I asked when she walked into the dining room.
"Some of them. You didn't have anything that could go in the oven," she said. "Is this okay?"
"You know you don't have to cook, right?"
"I want to. Especially now before I start classes and might not be able to anymore." With her around, at some point, this place would start feeling like home. I poured us both some water as we sat down. I definitely wasn't complaining if what she wanted to do was cook dinner every night. I liked it. That was a good thing. It would probably save money on restaurant food anyway and her cooking was good. It would just take getting used to.
This was a change for both of us, even if it was a good change. I didn't want this to feel like work for her, like she was trapped. I had already had some time to get used to this place. Now it was her turn.
"Do you have any idea about your course load this semester?"
"Nope," she shook her head. "I might be looking at some course repeats because there's a chance not everything transfers, but I might be able to ask during the campus visit."
"Don't take too many," I said.
"Why? So I can be here every night before you to cook dinner?" she asked slyly.
"No. Because you're in a new city. Why would you spend all your time studying? I know you've always wanted to be near the water."
"I also want to get all this book learning done off top so I can take some time off," she said.
"You just spent all of the summer in school. You can take it easy this semester."
"We'll see," she said shrugging.
"Are you happy?"
"I'm excited. I never thought I'd be transferring out. Finishing my degree somewhere else."
"I am, too," I said, honestly.
That had to become my new priority. Making sure this was the right move for her, for us. I needed to make sure that whatever was happening, it was what she wanted and there was nowhere else she would have rather been. It was a tall task, but I was up for it. I already knew wha
t it was like to be without her and nothing, nothing would get me to go back.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Veronica
I rolled onto my back and stretched my arms out. I could feel a breeze, like the balcony had been left open. I opened my eyes and squinted around the room. It was still pretty dark, save for the early morning light from the sun rising. My arm stretched across the bed, not even touching Roman. It was a big bed, but I knew he was up already.
I leaned up on my elbows looking around the room. The bedroom was empty, but the light in the closet was on. I could hear rustling and movement in there. He must have opened up the balcony. It wasn't cold. It was sort of nice since it was so warm here anyway, but it had woken me up.
When he had told me that training camp was starting, I thought I had had an idea what that meant. I had not because my guess had not included the almost 6:00 a.m. start times. The facility was really close to the house, but he still had to be there early. This wasn't college ball anymore. This was a multi-billion dollar industry, and he had signed a contract. This was his job. I lay back on the pillows.
"Roman?" I called. His head popped out of the closet. His hair was wet, and he didn't have a shirt on yet.
"You don't need to be up yet, babe. Go back to sleep." I slid out of bed and found a t-shirt on the floor. Mine from last night. Roman had peeled me out of it after dinner when we came to bed. I slid it on and walked out to the balcony. The wind coming off the water was fresh and cool. Maybe I'd go to the beach today.
"This woke me up," I said, coming back inside and sliding the door closed.
"Sorry about that," he apologized coming out of the closet. It was huge in there, like a whole other bedroom attached to ours. One side was for my stuff and the other was for his. He had told me that I could get basically whatever I wanted on his card, and he needed to be careful for the day that I actually took him up on that. With a closet that big, the challenge he presented me with was obviously to fill it. I walked up to him and hugged him around the waist.
"You don't have to leave now, do you?"
"Yes, Ron. I do," he said, kissing me gently unwrapping my arms from around him.
"I hate your job," I pouted.
"I'll be back as soon as I can."
"That's not soon enough," I said. I stalked back to the bed. I peered at him over my shoulder and pulled the shirt back off, throwing it on the ground so I was naked again. He was staring at me when I looked back at him. We had both fallen asleep naked the night before. With any luck, I could get him out of those clothes again. He didn't even have to take it all off. Just the pants.
"Can't argue with that," he muttered, walking over. I crawled onto the bed, feeling him palm my ass and run his hand up my back, up my neck and then grasp a handful of my hair. He tilted my head back to kiss me. His tongue plunged into my mouth, curling with mine. I whined when he broke it.
"Wait for me," he said, planting another kiss on my forehead. He smacked my ass again on his way out the door.
I flopped onto the bed and sighed. Well, I gave it my best shot. He obviously had his priorities straight, and I wasn't going to start complaining about that. This was the reason we were here. One of the reasons. I was getting a new reason today. I was and wasn't looking forward to it all at the same time.
It was going to be a journey, finding out our routine, together and apart. Then changing it when regular season started, when he was on vacation, I was on vacation, or when he had to travel. The most important thing was going to be making sure we were on the same page. We had done so well with that in the past. So well it had led to not one but two breakups.
Things would be different now. This was the real deal. It had been real before, but this was more than that. It was the two of us separated from what we used to know and do, setting off on our own. The beginning of our life together. Our journey.
My part started today, checking out the campus. Rome had been right about me not needed to be up, though. I dozed in our unmade bed for another couple hours before I started getting ready to leave.
Roman had taken the car, so I ended up calling a cab. I'd have to get my car down here from Aberdeen or get another. I knew how Roman felt about my car, but it still worked, I didn't know what his problem was. I had to be there at ten. I was meeting a woman from the alumni society, Betty Lange, for the tour. She was a short woman with frizzy black hair, dressed in a weather appropriate sundress. I had looked at a map of the campus online, but it was massive and I didn't trust myself not to get lost. Betty apparently didn't, either. We met at the main admin building.
Five minutes into the tour, I was glad that I had worn flats that morning. My college back home had been smaller than this, but maybe some of the size here was just an illusion since I wasn't familiar with my surroundings yet. It was beautiful, though. Green and lush, loads of flowers and tall palm trees everywhere. Maybe it would feel smaller when it was filled with students. There weren't a lot of people still on campus since fall semester hadn't started yet.
"Do you want to see the residence halls?" Betty asked me.
"No need. I'm living off campus."
"I thought you transferred. Where did you get a place?"
"I live about fifteen or twenty minutes from here. I have an apartment."
"Yeah? That's a nice area," she commented, sounding complimentary but also curious.
"It is," I said, agreeing.
"Right by the water, too. Right?" she asked. I giggled. She was digging. The area Roman and I lived was definitely not in the budget of the ordinary college student who no longer lived with her parents.
"I don't live alone. I live with my boyfriend."
"How did you make the jump from South Dakota to here?"
"I transferred after summer semester at my old college because he got signed to play for the Hurricanes."
"Ooh, an athlete. I guess I don't have to ask whether he'll be joining us too since he's already a pro."
"Yeah," I said proudly. "He worked hard to get here, and we wanted to be close. Transferring wasn't too much to ask for us to be able to stay together."
"You must really love him," she said. She didn't know how right she was. She asked me questions about myself after that, mainly what I wanted to study. I looked after every question for a way to steer the conversation back to Roman. She didn't care, obviously, but it felt good talking about him.
It took coming up the elevator, letting myself into the apartment and face-planting on the bed to realize how tired I was when I got home. I rolled onto my back, trying to summon enough motivation to at least wash my makeup off. It had to be the heat. I hadn't acclimatized yet. It sucked the life right out of me. I closed my eyes, telling myself I'd open then again in five minutes. Yeah. Five minutes and I'd get up. It would be easier getting up and washing my face now than it would be to try to wash it off the sheets later.
I sighed, feeling the bed depress behind me. Roman's arm wrapped around me and pulled me back into his chest. He was back. I smiled, rubbing my hand up his forearm.
"What time is it?" I grumbled, remembering that I had meant to get up again.
"A little past ten," he said. There was something else about training camp that I had had no idea about – how long the days lasted. They weren't running around practicing all the hours that they were gone, but it was a long, stressful workday. I respected the hell out of him for it.
He would tell me about it when I asked, but he wouldn't talk about it like it was hard, or share just how demanding it was. It made me want to go full Stepford Wife, have food on the table and turned down sheets for him when he would get home.
"I wasn't supposed to fall asleep," I sighed. I rolled over so I was looking at him. He had gotten some color already, it was so hot here. He looked a little tired too though.
"Sorry I woke you. Again."
"No. I have to wash my makeup off anyway. Are you hungry?"
"I ate before I got here. How was the tour today?"
&nb
sp; "It was good. The woman who took me around the campus was nice. It was nice," I said dreamily. "I'll be able to register no problem in a couple weeks."
"That's great, babe," he said.
"I need to bring my car down from Aberdeen."
"No. You're getting a new one. I'm getting you a new one."
"My old one still works."
"It won't survive the trip down. Let me get you another one."
"Okay," I conceded, sighing. I was agreeable when I was tired. "How was practice?"
"Counting down the days to my first day off."
I touched his cheek. "Was it that bad?"
"No. I'm just away a lot. I don't like spending all this time apart, not right now when you just got here." I leaned in and kissed his forehead.
"I understand that you have to do it. One day, the tables will turn and you'll be the one waiting up for me."
"You weren't waiting up, you were asleep," he said, grinning.
"I should really get up," I said, not moving.
"What'll happen if you leave it on?" he asked. I thought about the breakouts I could look forward to having if I kept lying there and finally pushed myself up onto my elbows.
"Bad things," I sighed, pushing up to a sitting position. He got off the bed and stood in front of me, offering me his hand. I took it and let him pull me up. His hands held my hips and he trailed them up under my t-shirt. I raised my arms, letting him pull it off. "I don't need to take this off to wash my face," I said. He unhooked my bra behind my back with one hand.
"I know. I want you to take a shower with me," he said. He unbuttoned my shorts, and I let him. I pulled his shirt off, and we took turns till we were both naked. I ran a hand down his abs. Could we skip that shower and just jump into bed?
"Don't worry so much about me," I said, looking up at him. "I want to be here from you. I'm ready for whatever's going to happen." He kissed me gently.
