“She died hating you.”

That was the drunken jeer we heard as we approached the taco stand we’d stopped at on the way to the hotel. Drew needed some “hold me over” food and it didn’t seem like the worst idea considering there was no one else waiting at the taco stand.

Of course, we failed to factor in the sports bar a few doors down – and the fact that it was full of L.A fans watching post-game coverage of Drew’s win tonight.

“Hey, sweetie, get away from him while you can!” yelled some guy hanging outside with the bouncer. “Make a run for it! Now!”

I ignored the shouts, my neck tense till I looked up at Drew. His eyes were somewhat covered by his baseball cap but his jaw was relaxed and he looked utterly unfazed. The only giveaway that he’d heard was the fact that he held my tighter to his side.

“You good?” I whispered up at him.

“As long as you are,” he whispered back, looking down at me with a crooked grin touching his lip.

After he ordered and paid up with the cashier, he sat me at the colorful metal stool in the window, while he leaned against the counter. It made us sitting ducks for the heckling, but the way Drew smiled at my number twenty Maddox jersey and denim skirt had me easily ignoring the occasional jeers from a few doors down.

“Think you might have to come with me on all my road trips now,” he said.

“Oh yeah? Why is that?”

“You made it easy tonight. The game just went by fast. I didn’t feel the usual shit as much,” he confessed.

“What do you mean the usual shit?”

The cotton pulled tight on Drew’s T-shirt as he shrugged his big shoulders.

“I don’t know. I just didn’t feel the stress as much. The shit they said to me – I wasn’t just pretending not to care this time. I really didn’t,” Drew said, his brows pulling tight as if he was realizing all this as he said it.

“And you think that has to do with me?” I laughed gently. He didn’t return my amusement.

“Yes,” he said, looking me in the eye. He stood closer now, stroking the back of my calves as he gazed down at me. “Helped just knowing I had you to come home to tonight. Kind of made it feel like everything the fans were saying didn’t mean shit. Pattie, Tim – the fans use them against me because they think that’s as personal as it gets with me. That that’s what I care about most.”

“But… it’s not?” I asked slowly, feeling a dorky smile curl my lips. Drew laughed as he watched me.

“No. It’s not,” he said.

“What is it then?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss me softly on the lips.

I didn’t even care that he didn’t say it out loud. You’re what I care about most. It would’ve been nice to hear but I knew how hard it was for Drew to say even as much as he’d just did. So as I kissed him back, I told myself to give him time.

Eventually, he’d come around.

“Aww, look at these fuckin’ lovebirds.”

I heard the jeer and immediately pulled away from Drew’s kiss, but he caught my jaw with his hand, pressing his lips to mine for another hot second before letting me go. Then he eyed the heckler standing in line to order.

“Don’t let them get to you,” Drew murmured just as our orders arrived.

“I won’t,” I said calmly, though I could feel the tension rising as more bar patrons trickled over to the taco stand, all of them hawking us like a damned zoo exhibit.

Fuckin’ Drew and his hunger emergencies, I groaned inwardly as the hecklers got closer.

There were two in particular who worried me. They were in their fifties with ruddy faces and beer bellies. They looked like actual pigs to me, especially as they talked loudly about being about to see up my “slutty little skirt.”

“Don’t,” I whispered under my breath to Drew. “Don’t give them a reaction.”

He had his back facing them and his eyes staring straight ahead into the kitchen, but I could see as he chewed on his food that his jaw was tightening. I could tell from the way he stopped blinking that he was focused on these assholes without looking at them, and his sudden concentration scared me. He seemed suddenly locked in the way he was when he was on the mound, and it made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up at attention.

“Save yourself, sweetie,” the one with the ponytail said, waving at me in the corner of my vision. “You don’t wanna end up like that poor Lillard bastard.”

“Team Lillard!” someone shouted from a few doors down as Ponytail’s friend laughed.

“Yeah, you get this guy fired up enough and who knows what he’ll do. I’m sure he’s hit a woman before.”

“Plenty, in fact.”

Disgusting assholes. My jaw clenched as I folded my paper plate and tossed my unfinished food in the trash.

“Let’s go, Drew,” I murmured, exhaling in relief when he simply nodded.

“Oh, no, sweetie, you leaving?” Ponytail asked me as I got off my chair, though his bleary, mischievous eyes were on Drew as he said it. “You sure you wanna go with him? We won’t mind taking you in for the night.”

“No, we’d love it. In fact, I’ll let you sleep in my bed if you take that Maddox jersey off.”

“Watch it, motherfucker,” Drew barked, making my pulse jump.

“Drew.” My heart slammed as I pulled him closer to me, feeling eyes in all directions pinned on me as I looked frantically for where our car had parked. Dammit, where the hell did it go?

“Alright, bye, guys. Nice talkin’ to ya,” Ponytail chuckled as we successfully passed him without saying a word. Thank God, I exhaled just as I spotted the car. But then I heard him whisper to his friend about whether or not he was recording.

And before I knew it, I was gasping from the sensation of ice-cold liquid splashed all over my back.

“Drew!” I screamed, pulling him back even before I fully processed that someone had thrown a beer at me. “Stop. Stop, Drew! Stop!”

I said it so many times so many ways that I barely recognized my own voice anymore. All I knew was that my heels were digging into grass, and I was exerting every muscle in my body to get in front of an unhinged Drew. He looked like a raging bull. His jaw was so tight the veins in his neck were protruding, and my heart pounded because it felt like I was hugging the mouth of a cocked and loaded gun

“Drew, stop. Look at me. Look at me!” I pleaded as the drunks around us hooted and hollered, egging him on with talk of how good I looked all wet. “Look at me.” I grasped his face and tilted it down, repeating for him to look at me until he finally did, his green eyes wild on me. “They want this reaction from you. They’re recording you now. They’ve got no stakes but you do, so breathe. Calm down.” My calf muscles strained as I dug my heels to push him backward, unblinking as I kept his glinting green eyes locked on mine. “This is what the world expects of you, so prove them wrong. Show them the Drew I know. Show them that nothing comes before a championship. Do it for me, baby, please,” I begged breathlessly, grasping handfuls of his collar. But my grip loosened as I listened to his jagged breaths slow down, and I was convinced I had him pacified.

But then another holler rang out.

“Stay with him long enough, and you’ll meet Pattie Lillard real soon!”

“Drew!” I threw my weight against his rock-hard chest, but then I realized he wasn’t moving.

He hadn’t charged. He hadn’t reacted. Standing there, he simply looked down at me, his shirt stretched tight around his heaving chest. There was still fury in his tight shoulders, and fiery wrath in his eyes, but as primed as he looked to knock someone the fuck out, he didn’t.

Yes. Perfect. Breathe, baby, I willed him to hear as I stared up at him, in awe of the fact that I had wrangled such a beast. But I knew my job wasn’t done till he was safely in the car, so with two hands flat on his chest, I whispered in his ear.

“I know you’re pissed, Drew, but if you turn around and start walking now, I promise to blow your fucking mind once we get back to the hotel. You can choose my pussy or my mouth, but either way, I’ll make you come harder than you ever have in your life. Okay?”

When I pulled away, his wolfish stare was still hard on me. But he let it linger another second before pulling me tight and cupping the back of my neck as he crushed a furious kiss to my lips.

Then with a gaping crowd behind us, we got back into the car.