Hail Mary: An Enemies-to-Lovers Roommate Sports Romance(106)

“Mi amor, mi cari?o, mi cielo,” I whispered against her neck between soft kisses. “I love you.”

“I love you,” she whispered back.

And in the quiet dark of that hotel room, I silently promised to never hurt her again, to never put her second to anything, to never let her push me away even when her defensive instinct told her to. I promised to do everything in my power to always make her stay, even when things got rough.

Mary Silver was finally mine.

It was the sweetest win of my life.





Five Months Later

Mary

Not a single one of us could hold our shit together when Julep walked down the aisle to Holden on April sixteenth.

It didn’t matter that Giana, Riley, and I had helped her get dressed, that we’d already seen the way that elaborate cream lace hugged her body in a perfect hourglass shape. We still lost it when the doors opened at the back of the garden and she walked through them holding Coach Lee’s arm.

The fact that he was crying might have been what made me lose it more than anything.

Julep’s father beamed with pride just as much as he broke with heartache as he took the slow steps toward giving his daughter away. Julep’s deep brown eyes were glossy, too — her hair swept up into a classic updo with curls and a thick braid, a small flower crown thread through the strands, and a simple, yet gorgeous, pearl-drop necklace adorning her neck. She’d found the wedding dress at a thrift store, along with every accessory from her pearl-stud earrings to the designer high heels on her feet. Every piece was old and borrowed, and yet they looked as if they’d been made just for her.

And while everyone in that garden was transfixed by Julep, she couldn’t take her eyes off Holden.

Sniffing back my tears, I glanced at where he was waiting for her, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Because one look at him completely falling apart at the sight of his almost-wife made me cry again, too.

He was like a GQ model in his garnet tuxedo, the gold pocket square and trim making him look like an NBU legend. And I supposed he really was. The deep red against the lush green of the botanical garden was dreamy, like a fairytale. But he couldn’t fight back his tears, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, shoulders shaking before he wiped his face and stood straighter with a smile like he couldn’t believe he was so lucky.

That smile was aimed right at Julep.

When I looked back at her, she rolled her eyes on a playful laugh like she was making fun of him for crying, but she was a mess, too.

My eyes drifted to Leo then, who was standing behind Holden as his best man. He had the rings in his pocket and his eyes on me.

It was entirely unfair how he and the rest of the guys looked so good in their suits. We all knew they were hot in football pants and jerseys, but seeing them dressed to the nines was enough to make every girl in their vicinity feral. I wished I could say I was excluded, that I was immune, but watching Leo with that devilish smirk on his face and knowing I would get to strip him out of that suit later made my skin tingle with heat.

His eyes were hooded where they stared at me, as if he was saying without words that this would be us one day. I felt his possession in the air as if it were hands on my hips, and I bit my lip a little, tearing my gaze away from him to look down at my flowers before the whole garden of people caught on to our little show. Then again, I didn’t have to look to know Zeke and Riley were eyeing each other the same way, and Giana and Clay, too.

When the music died as Julep reached the end of the aisle, there was a chorus of sniffles through the crowd, which made us all smile and wipe our faces and laugh a little at ourselves. Coach Lee gave his daughter’s hand to Holden, who stared at her like every dream he’d ever had was coming true in that moment, and the ceremony began.

It was sweet and short, which didn’t surprise me considering Julep hated being the center of attention. And when Holden dipped Julep back in a dramatic kiss to seal the deal, we all went wild, cheering and throwing rose petals over them as they walked back down the aisle.

Then, the party began.

Edison lights came to life as the sun went down, casting the garden in a beautiful glow as the band began to play and guests flooded to either the bar or the dance floor.

“I have to pee so bad,” Giana said when we were free of our ceremonial duties, and she abandoned her bouquet on the wedding party table before practically running toward the bathroom.

“I need a shot,” Riley chimed in. “I’ve never cried so much in my entire life.”

“Besides when you realized how much you love me, right?” Zeke said, sliding up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back into his chest, and she smiled, leaning into the touch.

“Those were tears of frustration,” she shot up at him.

“Oh, that’s right. You were still pretending to hate me, huh?”

“Trust me — I didn’t have to pretend very hard.”

“Sure,” Zeke said, nuzzling into her neck. She flushed and turned into him, and I looked away just as they started to kiss.

So much had happened in the last five months for all of us, it was almost dizzying.

The Rebels had gone on to have their first undefeated season since the nineties, sending them straight to the championship game. Sadly, they’d lost by a last-minute field goal, which had crushed all of us. But even with that loss, there wasn’t a graduating senior who didn’t get a call during the draft.