All The Wild Ones | Wildfire Series

Grayson: Winning

GRAYSON

Nessa was staring at me like I'd lost my mind. And maybe I had. Because I couldn't figure out why the hell she was upset. I knew she wasn't overly fond of football players, but at this point, it shouldn't exactly be a surprise that she was dating one. After all, we did meet at my game. Did she think I would quit once we got together?

She sucked in, taking slow breaths to calm herself. Which, incidentally, was only freaking me out more.

"I didn't think you would be playing this year," she said eventually, and I frowned.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Nessa's eyes bugged out even more, and I immediately realized my question was not the right one.

"You had a stroke, remember?" she hissed. "For crying out loud, you had heart surgery a few months ago."

I swallowed as the realization sank in that she wasn't upset I was playing for any reason other than worry. My chest ached.

"Nessa...I know that was scary, but I promise I'm fine."

She mouthed the word scary as though testing out the truth of it. As if it was a ridiculous description.

"You told me yourself that you have to keep a close eye on your blood pressure," she argued. "I don't think that sprinting across a football field and getting tackled is a great way to combat that."

I grinned wolfishly, hoping a little teasing might snap her out of this. "I think we've more than tested my physical endurance throughout the last few weeks, don't you? I didn't see you worrying then."

Quite the opposite, actually. Adler had met and surpassed all my expectations of how wild she could get in bed, and I felt like I was out here living the dream.

But my quip was met with a stony glare, and my smile quickly dimmed. She clearly wasn't amused. Shit.

I sighed. "Listen, Adler. I'm good at listening to my body. I'm really good at it. I've been doing this for years, and—"

"If you're so good at it, then how did you end up in a coma, Grayson?"

"Because—fuck." Her sharp words were making my pulse tick up. She didn't understand half of what I'd gone through in all my years playing football. She didn't realize that this was the norm for me. The one thing that hadn't been normal over these past months, though? Her. And everything she meant to me.

I lowered my voice. "Because even though I felt the warning signs, I had more important things on my mind, okay? One thing, in particular. And it had nothing to do with football."

"No, it's not okay," she insisted. "What could possibly be more important than your heart, Grayson?"

Shit.

You, Nessa. It has always been you.

But I couldn't tell her that. I refused to give her that information because I knew what she would do with it. And that was the last thing I wanted for her.

Clearing my throat, I looked down and shook my head. "Forget about it, Nessa."

"Answer the question," she demanded through gritted teeth.

"I won't." I shook my head again, regretting everything about this conversation. "I won't answer it."

"Answer the goddamn question."

Fuck, I didn't know how to ignore her when her eyes were blazing that hot and beautiful. I didn't know how to resist her, didn't know how to deny her.

"Fine," I snapped. My fist fell onto the table, my gaze finding hers. And then it spilled out. "It's you, Adler. It's you. You're what's more important. You're more important than anything. And don't you dare tell me that you don't understand that. Because I've already told you how much I fucking love you. How much I'm in love with you."