Chapter Twenty-Seven
Roman
I woke up and checked the time. A little while before six, typical. I shut my eyes, rolling over, pulling Ron into my chest. She had spent the night after coming over Saturday. It was Monday today. Out of the last two weeks, I'd say maybe I'd woken up alone four or five times?
Veronica's apartment was nicer, I'd admit to that, but she hadn't said no once when I had asked her to come over. I hadn't when she had asked me, either. I didn't know whether that meant we were living together or what. All I knew was it was great. Really great.
Her alarm started ringing. She buried her face in my chest with a groan. I chuckled. I had tried to get her to bed at a reasonable time last night, but she had had other ideas. As a result, we were both still naked.
"What time is it?" she asked, not moving.
"Time to hit the snooze button," I said, kissing her forehead. She sighed heavily and sat up, reaching down to the floor for her phone. Whenever she did that I'd tell myself I had to get nightstands, but I hadn't gotten round to doing it yet. She stopped the alarm and fell back into the pillow.
"You alright, babe?" I asked, brushing her messy hair off her forehead.
"It's too early," she grumbled.
"You're right. It is. Stay here."
"Huh?" she said, looking at me. Her lips were swollen, pouty from sleep, and her brows were furrowed like she was upset.
"Stay," I said again, simply. I leaned over and kissed her. She moaned, running her hand over my chest.
"I have to get ready to leave. It takes longer to get to school from here than it does from my place."
"You can miss your early class, right?" I asked lightly. She giggled as I kissed her neck.
"With the amount of debt I'm going to owe, I need to get my money's worth," she said.
"It's one class," I insisted, kissing down her chest. I cupped her tit, rolling her nipple between my fingers. She moaned again, pushing her chest into my hand.
"Not now, babe," she said, running a hand through my hair.
"I'll be quick," I said, disappearing under the covers. She laughed, pressing her thighs together so I couldn't get to her. I kissed the back of her thigh, nipping lightly with my teeth. She squealed.
"Roman," she whined. I laughed, doing it again. She scooted away from me, pushing herself up so she was sitting with her legs hanging off the bed.
"If we do this, I'm gonna end up falling asleep again," she complained.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," I said, coming up behind her. I kissed her neck wrapping my hands around her waist.
"I can't skip class for you," she whispered. I tried to cop a feel, but she moved my hand. "I'll be back in a little while."
"What am I supposed to do till then?" I asked, kissing her neck again.
"Wait for me," she said, turning and kissing me on the lips. I let my hands drop as she stood. I knew she wouldn’t let me convince her to stay, but it had been worth a shot. Maybe one day it would work, and I was going to make sure that when that day came, it was the one when I asked her.
I checked her out as she walked away into the bathroom. She never really got a lot of color, but her pale skin was soft and creamy. Her body was tight and toned. I didn’t really get those exercise videos she liked to do online, but they worked for her. Fuck, she was sexy, waiting would be worth it.
I got out of bed and pulled on some underwear before leaving the room. I brewed some coffee in the kitchen so it would be ready by the time she came out. I was just pouring in the almond milk when she walked into the kitchen.
"For me?" she asked. I handed her the cup. She took a deep, long sip. She was still in the clothes she had been wearing yesterday, so she'd have to pass by her place to get changed before getting to campus.
"I don't know why I'm being nice to you. You won’t even spend one morning with me."
"You know I can't, babe," she said. I sighed dramatically, pretending to be hurt. She came up and kissed me again. "How about you come over tonight? I'll cook."
"You have to make whatever I want," I said, smirking. "Then I get to have you for dessert." She giggled and kissed me. We finished our coffee standing in the kitchen before I walked her out to her car. I thought about breakfast, but figured I might as well hold off till after the gym.
I had been keeping up with my workouts trying to bulk back up again and last week even started practicing again. Coach Fitz didn't let me join every practice, but it was something. My phone started ringing on the bed as I packed up my gym bag. I didn't know whose phone number it was, so I hesitated before finally picking up.
"Hello?"
"Roman Blake?" It was a man's voice. Clipped and scratchy, but not a wrong number if they knew who I was.
"Yeah. Who is this?"
"Lawson Hayes, the Miami Hurricanes coach. We never met, but I saw you at the NFL combine a couple weeks ago. I have to say, we were very impressed." I was standing already, but suddenly, I felt like I had to start moving. I started pacing around the room.
"Thank you, sir. That's always good to hear."
"That's why I'm calling you today. I don’t know if you’ve gotten a lot of calls like this already, Roman. Honestly, we hope you haven’t. We're very interested in signing you and we want to make you an offer." I stopped cold and suddenly, I had to sit again.
"Sorry?" I asked.
"You're our first pick for this upcoming season, son," he said. For a second I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.
"Uh, thanks. You were right about me not getting a lot of calls like this."
"Does that mean we have you?" he asked.
"I couldn't tell you today, sir. This is...unexpected."
"I understand," he said, laughing a little. "Take a little time to get back to us. Sleep on it, whatever you need. This type of offer doesn’t last forever, though; I hope you understand that."
"Of course. Just give me a few days. I'll get back to you in a week."
"You have until Friday," he said in a way that wasn't really mean, but sort of sounded like a threat. I thanked him anyway, and he said that he would be looking forward to hearing from me.
I didn’t know what happened for the ten, maybe fifteen minutes after the phone call. All I know was I realized I had been sitting on the edge of my bed, staring into space when my phone accidentally dropped out of my hand, hitting the floor.
Did this mean... Was I in? Were they recruiting me? What the hell was going to happen on Friday if I told them yes?
First thing in the morning was the worst time to get news like this because it was all I could think about the whole day. I tried to forget while at the gym, then at practice, but it didn’t work. All I could think about was Miami and how much fucking space was between here and there.
Don had texted me back by the time I got back home. He suggested that we hit a bar, but we couldn’t do that today. I needed him focused. I headed out to his ranch. He didn't live in the farmhouse that his dad stayed in, even though his place and his dad's were on the same property. His house was smaller, a little less than a quarter mile from his dad's. A porch wrapped the whole way around and it had two stories, even though he stayed there alone. He answered the door with wet hair and no shirt on like he'd just come out of the shower.
"Hey, man," he said. "What was up with those texts?" All I had said was that I needed to talk to him and that it was important. I followed him inside and shut the door behind me.
"Remember that trip I took a couple weeks ago?"
"To play football? Yeah. What about it? I thought it went well. Didn’t that guy on the plane or wherever tell you that he wanted to get you on the team he works for?"
"The coach called me today," I said. He turned to face me, holding a beer in each hand that he'd pulled out of the fridge.
"That's good, right? What did he say?"
"That I was their first pick. I have till Friday to accept or refuse their offer."
"What the fuck, Rome, that's great," he said, slapping me on the arm. "I don't see what the problem is here. You told him yes, right?"
"I asked for the extra time before I had to decide," I said. He put his beer down and crossed his arms.
"Why the hell would you do a thing like that?"
"Because the team's in Miami." He was confused before it dawned on him. He scrubbed his face with his hands.
"Godammit, Roman. I swear to God. I'll drag you to Miami myself if that's what it's going to take to make you go."
"I can't leave. Not now."
"Yes you can and you're going to," he said forcefully. "Don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about throwing this offer back in their faces."
"If I have to trade it for Ron, then yeah. I just might." He swore, crossing his arms again.
"What the fuck are the chances that this will ever happen again? If she was out of the picture, just think. After a whole year not playing, a team picks you out of hundreds of guys and offers you a spot. How often do you think that happens? How many guys would murder you to take your spot?"
"I can’t make this decision like I don't have other things that matter to me. If you asked me a year or two ago, I would have said yes and been in Miami tomorrow – no hesitation. This is different, Don. Football's not the most important thing to me."
"But the girl you just got back together with is?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I know I don't want to leave her."
"You did it before and look what happened. When you got back, she was still in one piece."
"You can't compare this to that time."
"Why not? You had to go then, and you have to go now. You had to leave her then, and you have to do it now. Talk to her, whatever you need to do, but fuck it, man, you have to take this deal. "
Why did it feel like this meant more to him than it did to me? I knew he was my friend and supported me, but what was the big deal? He had backed out of his own sports career, maybe it would make him feel better somehow if I went through with it?
I didn't get it, though; he had quit. He had loved baseball, too, and he had still hung up his mitt to work here every day. He had chosen what mattered more to him and it hadn’t been baseball, so why couldn’t he see that I felt the same way?
"I have till Friday to tell them. I'll wait till then," I said, sipping some of the beer. How long had it taken him to make his decision? Had he just been so worn down by his dad that he'd thrown his hands up and quit, just like that?
I knew I had asked for more time and things could change over a couple days, but far as I could tell, I had to pick. Ron or football. Right now, it wasn't looking that good for Miami. Right now, if someone asked me straight up to pick, I was picking her. I didn't want football if it meant she and I would have to split up again.