The Perfect First (Fulton U, #1)(17)

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I slipped it out and answered the call.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Don’t hey mom me. You were supposed to come over this weekend.”

“The weekend is still young. It’s only Saturday. That still leaves another weekend day where I could come visit.”

“Yeah, you say that, but I bet it would have conveniently slipped your mind when I called tomorrow night.”

“I just left practice and I’m heading to lunch.”

“How was practice?”

“Good. Coach is working us hard to make sure the championship is ours this year.”

“You’ve been playing well this season.”

“Only well? Have you been watching the games?”

She laughed. “Fine, more than well. I might have to get your dad to work on the front door before you come, though.”

My eyebrows dipped. “The front door?”

“I’m not sure your head will fit through with as big as it’s gotten.”

“I’m only speaking the truth.” This was my best season ever, more touchdowns and yardage than any season before.

“Is Dad at the office?”

She sighed. “Of course. He’ll be home soon. Who are you heading to lunch with?”

“Someone I met the other day.”

“A girl?”

“She is, in fact, female.”

“Are you dating her?”

“No, she’s not really the dating kind.”

There was a sharp sound from the back of her throat. “I know those kinds of girls. I remember them well from when your father and I were in college together.”

“She’s definitely not that kind of girl. There’s something she needs help with and I’m going to see what I can do to help her. She’s a little socially awkward.”

“Aww, is she a nerd? I was a nerd.”

“Was?”

I could feel her eyes narrowing through the phone.

“That’s how your dad found me, sitting under a tree in the quad reading when he smashed his ball into my face.”

“Boundaries, Mom. I don’t want to hear about your extracurriculars with Dad.”

“Hush. I know you have a game on Tuesday, but next weekend, we’d like you to come by.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“And bring the young lady you’re having lunch with since you’ve said she’s not one of those girls.”

“At this point, Mom, I’m not even sure she eats, but it’s not that kind of meeting. I’ll talk to you later. Love you, bye.”

I ended the call before she broke out the giant overhead lights and slid a clanking metal chair up to the table to begin the interrogation. Most people would love to have parents as in love as mine were. Sometimes they were slightly embarrassing, but no one could miss how much they cared about each other. It scared the shit out of me.

That was the kind of thing you could lose yourself in completely, the kind of thing that could make you forget about all the plans and goals you had for yourself, where you were so blissfully happy nothing else mattered, until it did. Maybe not today or in ten years or even thirty, but how could you give up something you’d worked your whole life for and not eventually have that hit you in the face?

Dad worked hard for my grandfather. He put in crazy hours sometimes and missed a good chunk of family stuff because of work. Wouldn’t it be better to make bank and then retire? Leave all that behind and then focus on family? At least that was how I saw it.

I jogged down the steps to The Vault. I wrapped my hand around the outstretched one of the bouncer then we smacked each other’s backs and hit our shoulders together. He let go of my hand.

“Haven’t seen you here in a while.” He sat back on his stool at the entrance.

I’d hung out at The Vault a lot before. All I’d needed to do was sit back and the women came to me, but that wasn’t my focus anymore.

“I’m meeting someone here. Maybe you’ve seen her, about yea high.” I held my hand up to my shoulder. “Probably dressed in a suit or something. Light brown hair, maybe all braided up.”

His eyebrows jumped up. “You’re here to see her?”

“Yeah, you’ve seen her?”

“She got here like twenty minutes ago. She’s not really your type.” He smirked at me and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back on the wooden stool pressed against the wall.

I shrugged. “I’ll catch you later.” What was I supposed to say? Stepping into the restaurant, I scanned the room. A few heads popped up and people waved. I nodded at them and walked around the bar, spotting Seph. She was studying the menu in front of her like it contained the cure for cancer.

“If you stare at it any harder, you’ll burn a hole through it.”

Her head snapped up and she smiled at me. “You came.”

With the way she lit up when she saw me, I couldn’t have stopped the smile from spreading across my face if you’d held a gun to my head. Stepping out onto the field with thousands of people cheering for me didn’t come close to how she’d just made me feel—and that meant trouble, which was why sleeping with her was a one-way ticket to fucking up my future. You don’t sleep with girls who look at you like that and get away unscathed. Just look at my dad.