that desperate? “So what? If I don’t play, you’re going to get Rory thrown out of the program? Fine. She’ll get a job somewhere else.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure. If Doctor Frolla believes her assessments were incorrect this year…” His eyebrow rose. “It might call into question her medical license.”
Jesus. I knew the bastard was an asshole, but I had no idea he’d ruin an innocent woman’s life.
But I’d do anything I could to protect it.
“What the hell do you want from me?” I asked. “Want me to play? I’ll fucking play.”
“The championship?”
“I’ll suit up.”
He patted my shoulder. “You’re a strong man, Jude. Fit. In the prime of your life. You have another season left in those legs. Who the fuck cares what happens inside that head.”
Not me.
I couldn’t care, not anymore.
Rory wouldn’t forgive me for playing another season, but I couldn’t risk the coach fucking with her career. Without me there, without her license to practice medicine, she’d have nothing but a hungry baby and broken dreams.
I wouldn’t let it happen.
“I’ll play. But what happens if I get hurt?”
“If you get hit, try to land on your millions of dollars. You’ll be fine.” Coach Thompson scowled. “Go home, Owens. Get some rest. You’ve got to prepare for the biggest game of the season—the only one you’ve never won.”
And the game that would finally end it all.
My career. My life.
And any chance I had with the woman I loved.
21
Rory
The baby wasn’t a pain in the ass—it was just a little cramp in the tummy.
Nothing crazy. Only Braxton Hicks contractions, but they landed me on the couch. At thirty-eight weeks, that was where I was staying.
Forever.
Jude’s couch was a deep-seated leather monstrosity—the domestic equivalent of quicksand for the third trimester. My need to pee wasn’t urgent-urgent, but I started the wiggling process to get up.
The keys in the door caused me to jump. The baby flinched too.
It was like Genie knew he was home.
Wasn’t it bad enough both of our hearts skipped whenever he talked? Once she was born, Genie wouldn’t want me. She’d want Jude.
I didn’t know where he would be then, but there was only one place I wanted him.
Right beside me.
Phillip trotted to the door, glanced at the giant box in Jude’s arms, and gave his own doggy sigh.
I tilted my head, reading the box.
“Bumper Slumber?” I asked. “What…is that?”
Jude smiled, but he couldn’t look at me. I didn’t expect him to. After last week, after the fight and his second opinion, I doubted he’d ever forgive me.
“It’s a present,” Jude said. “I wanted to get you something special.”
“Can I…can I eat it?”
He laughed. “You can try. Doesn’t taste like root beer and you’d probably deflate it…but if it makes you happy.”
I edged to the end of the couch, but getting up seemed impossible. The fatigue won this round.
As did my curiosity.
“It’s a…” I frowned as Jude pulled an oversized pool raft out the box. “I don’t know.”
“Take a guess!”
He held it up for me, gesturing towards the rounded hole in the middle.
I had no idea. “A giant…donut cushion? My butt isn’t that big!”
“It’s for you to lay on.” Jude heaved a breath and started to blow up the pink plastic. A second and third breath didn’t help the inflation. “This might take a while.”
The box had a happy, smiling, heavily pregnant woman resting in the cushion, dropping her swollen tummy into the hole so she could rest on her front.
“You mentioned you were uncomfortable in the bed,” he said. “I wanted to see if this would help. You lay on it.”
My stomach twisted, but it was nothing an inflatable mattress with a belly pocket could fix. “Yeah, you said that. It looks interesting.”
“I just…” He took another deep breath and pumped a lungful of air into the mattress. “I want to make these last weeks…nice.”
His silver eyes briefly glanced over me. My chest tightened.
“I can’t believe it’s almost time.” I rubbed my belly. “It’ll be strange to use her crib as a bed instead of a place for extra storage.”
“We can let her sleep in the diaper genie.” Jude smiled. “Has her nickname on it and everything.”
It was funny the first and second time he’d said it too. I laughed anyway, but I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure if Jude believed me when I said he was repeating himself more often…or if he knew and it scared him just as much as me.
He sucked in another breath and blew it into the mattress. His was not