his way down the steps of the stadium. In an instant, I was the one on the massive Spartan scoreboard. Elena moved next to Floyd, “He may not be perfect, but that man is your prince. He’s here for you.”
Floyd kissed his wife, “Thank you for being my queen.”
“Girl, get down the steps. Go!” Elena said as she and Floyd pushed against their seats to make room. “Get your king.”
Ignoring whether I was still being highlighted on the scoreboard, I made my way down the steps to the section eight opening to find wherever Anderson was. At the landing, I looked over the field. I was going to miss the kickoff, but I needed to talk to Anderson more.
“Can you give this up?” As if I had called him to me from wherever he was, Anderson was now standing behind me. “You left me.”
“You said I wasn’t important.”
“You are the only thing that’s important.” My breath caught, and his hands cradled my face. “You being in my life is the only important thing.”
“You said...” The words finished in my head, but I didn’t want to repeat them out loud.
“I said what I said to my father. He will meddle and go out of his way to remove anyone that cares about me. Baby, breathe.”
It was as if my brain had forgotten that I needed to take in oxygen, and I gasped to get my breath. “We should take this somewhere–”
“Private.” Anderson tilted his head, waiting for me to see the irony in that statement. “I love you.”
“I love you–” His lips pressed against mine, and he pulled me into him.
The crowd around us cheered. The sound exploded around the stadium. This was happening in front of the world, and I could not have cared less in that moment.
“Please come home with me. Be with me.”
A tear rolled down my cheek. “Can we watch the game then worry about getting home?”
His hands slid around my waist, and he pulled me tight against him. “Home?”
“Home.”
Hand in hand, Anderson led me to the coveted Huffington Bank Club House atop Spartan Stadium. Derrick was leaning against a half wall with a plate of food in his hand. The way he was watching me, I knew he was worried about keeping all of this a secret.
“I love you, and I’m not mad. Thank you for getting me out of bed this morning.” I squeezed Anderson’s hand before releasing it to embrace my friend. “So, this is what has to be done to get you to come to a game?”
“This is the only way to watch a game. Everything good?”
“Better than good. I shouldn’t have left. I was scared.”
“I know.”
Anderson offered his hand when we joined him on the other side of the wall. He wrapped his arm around my waist while still holding my hand. My body found a spot next to his as we walked into the main club area.
“The guys came with you. This is going to get out.”
Anderson leaned in to whisper in my ear. “That’s right. The entire world will know you are off the market. Taken by this lucky bastard.”
“I don’t know how lucky you are, but you are one cocky bastard.”
“I’m going to make you repeat those words later in bed.” His words stopped me in my tracks. “Just so you know, I know you’re aroused and thinking about me being inside you.”
“Whatever.”
“Oh. Whatever?” Anderson moved me a couple inches from his body. There was a draft where the warmth had just been. “Shall we watch the game?”
We made our way to the outside seats and sat just as the game kicked off. MSU won the toss, and before I knew it, the first half was over. Everyone retreated into the Club’s giant room for refills and snacks. Anderson and I remained seated and silent.
“I’m sorry you heard what you heard. You and I haven’t really talked about my family much.”
“It seemed like a sensitive subject. I wanted to respect your privacy.”
Anderson nodded. “I was in love once.” He had my full attention as he continued, “the night I took her to meet my parents, my dad offered her a large sum of money to remove herself from my life.”
“What?”
“My dad offered my ex a check to leave her job, her house, and me.”
“And she–”
“Oh, she took the money. She took the money so fast that she had my father call her a taxi and tell me himself.”
“Did she really take a cab from the dinner?” I smiled at