The Wall of Winnipeg and Me - Mariana Zapata Page 0,175

bounding toward his daddy.

Immediately crouching down, Aiden scooped up his blond ball and hoisted him up into those brawny arms that seemed so at odds with the now ten-pound puppy. His eyes swung from Leo to Zac then to me. I was sure we looked pretty suspicious just standing there like deer caught in the headlights, but oh well.

I smiled at him, hoping I didn’t look as flustered as I felt. “Hey, big guy.”

“Hi.” With the arm that wasn’t holding Leo up, he reached up to stroke down the length of Leo’s spine, his irises bouncing back and forth between Zac and me once more. Walking toward us, he tipped his chin down to nuzzle the puppy before stopping in front of me and dipping his cheek to plant a soft, dry kiss on my cheek that had me rooted in place.

What the hell was happening?

What in the hell was happening?

“I’m going to shower,” Zac said, shooting me a smirk that said ‘See?’ With a smack to my lower spine, he left the kitchen, leaving me there alone, confused and wondering if this was a dream I hadn’t woken up from.

Restraining the urge to pinch myself, I gulped and glanced at Aiden as my insides went haywire. “How was your day?” I pretty much croaked out.

The big guy shot me a funny look as he rubbed the other side of his cheek against Leo’s fur. “Fine. Meetings and practice.” Aiden had Leo so high up, the puppy’s body hid everything below his eyes. “How was your run?”

“Tiring. We did twelve miles on the hill setting at the gym.” He kissed Leo’s nose and something in me died. “Your kid’s already run around outside, and he’s pooped and peed.”

At ‘your kid’ a small smile curled the corners of Aiden’s mouth. Those brown eyes switched back to me and asked, “You’re still coming to the game tomorrow?”

“Oh. Yeah. Of course. Is that fine?” I’d gone to every home game since that first one with Zac. While Aiden hadn’t invited me to any games away, I hadn’t invited myself either. I didn’t want to spend the money when I could go to a perfectly good game minutes from our house.

Aiden made a noise on his way toward the refrigerator. “Don’t ask me stupid questions, Vanessa.”

“Well. I don’t want to just assume, thank you.”

He huffed and said over his shoulder, “You know I would tell you if I didn’t want you there.”

“I figure, but you never know.”

Aiden’s attention was forward when he replied with something that had me wondering if he was dying. Or delusional. Or maybe this entire moment was just a dream. “You don’t ever have to worry about me not wanting you somewhere. Got it?”

And like the idiot I was, the one who didn’t know how to process hints, or roll with things in a clever, cute way, I said the dumbest thing I could have said, “Oh. Okay.”

Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot.

It haunted me the rest of the day.

* * *

The booing was overwhelming.

More than overwhelming. It was so deafening even my soul could feel it.

Three Hundreds’ fans in the stands were roaring with disapproval and disappointment. To say that they were pissed would not adequately describe the situation at all. The game had been awful. In the first quarter, Zac’s enemy, the team’s quarterback was sacked—or tackled—and had his arm broken. In the third quarter, Christian Delgado was tackled so hard his helmet flew off and he sustained a concussion. I didn’t cheer.

And that had just been the tip of the iceberg for bad luck. Zac, who was my bodyguard for the game, had been gripping his heart from the very beginning, and that was saying something from the man who hadn’t rooted for the Three Hundreds once since he’d been let go.

The offense played terribly and Denver had taken advantage of how rattled and distracted the Three Hundreds’ defense was. Well, every other player on defense other than Aiden. Every time the camera landed on him, and every time I managed to catch a glimpse of his face thanks to how close my seats were, he had that stone-cold expression on his features, like his role alone would be enough to get the team through.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t been.

The booing had started before the game had even finished, and when the players for the Three Hundreds walked off the field and in the direction of the sidelines, the third biggest player on the team had stopped before making his way