Anywhere With You (22 page)

I feel tears leaking from my eyes but I don’t move to wipe them away. I’m afraid that if I move, this moment will end or maybe it isn’t real and I don’t want to wake up if I am dreaming. Liam wants me, forever. He gently wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. His eyes find mine again and they are also wet with emotion.

“Allison, I don’t know what my future holds with the NFL. I know that it’s rumored that I will go in the draft, how do you feel about that? Are you okay with being the wife of an NFL player? Because baby, if you don’t want that, I will withdraw and start searching for jobs in sports medicine.”

“Liam, the NFL is your dream. It’s what you have always wanted,” I counter.

He shakes his head no. “No baby, the NFL
was
my dream. Now my dreams consist of you, you and me and a long happy life together wherever that may be. I refuse to make a decision about our future without you giving me your blessing. What do you see for our future, beautiful girl?”

I study him, this man that has completely captured me heart and soul. He is telling me he wants to marry me. That he will give up his lifelong dream just to make me happy, to be with me. Liam, the guy with a major fear of commitment, is telling me that he is committed to me for a lifetime. I feel more tears roll down my cheeks. “I have never told you this, partly because I didn’t want to scare you away. It’s also not all that ambitious for a nineteen year old.” He scoffs at that but I keep going. “I’ve never had the desire to go to college. I’m here because Gran wants me to experience life and not taking care of her all the time. I’ve focused so much on school to honor my parents that I’m burnt out. My dream has always been to be a wife and a mother. I want a family, a house full of love and happiness. My parents, when they died both had large life insurance policies. I received ten million dollars at the time of their deaths between the policies and the court settlement. I live off the interest.” I watch his expression and he is simply listening to me hanging on every word. “I could never allow you to give up your dreams for me, Liam.”

“Allie, I can get drafted to a team hundreds of miles from here.” He pulls me tighter against him. “I can’t go into the draft knowing that I’m going to be leaving the love of my life behind. I need to know that wherever I end up that you’ll be with me, by my side. I know it’s a lot to ask but none of it would mean anything without you there.” He kisses my forehead “We can bring Gran with us, she can live with us and you guys can be together daily. Hell, we can build a house and give her her own damn wing; I don’t care as long as you are next to me.”

My heart is racing, beating so loud I’m sure that he can hear it. I take his hand and place it on my chest, right above my heart. I can tell by the expression on his face that he can feel my heart’s thunderous rhythm. He places my hand on his chest in the same position and I can feel his heart mirroring the beat of mine. I take a deep breath and repeat the words that he said to me in the ER a few months ago. “Liam, I will go any anywhere with you. You’re my dream,” I whisper. I watch as a single tear leaks from his eyes. I gently kiss it away. When I pull back he’s grinning so widely I think his face might crack.

“You’re really mine, you’ll come with me,” he swallows hard. “You’ll marry me?” he asks softly.

I nod my head yes.

“I will give you the perfect proposal, but just knowing that you want a future with me, forever with me, you have made me the happiest man alive. I love you, Allison,” he says as he draws me tight against him and we fall asleep in each other’s arms.

I’m jolted awake at seven by Liam’s alarm clock that is screeching with its annoying beeps. I reach over and turn it off then roll over to wake Liam up. “Liam, it’s time to get up, babe.”

He grumbles, “I’m awake,” as he moves me back against his chest. “Good morning, beautiful,” he whispers huskily in my ear. I snuggle back into his arms seeking his warmth. “Do you remember last night?” he questions me. “Do you have any regrets in the light of day?”

I rolled over so that I’m facing him. “No regrets, you’re stuck with me, MacCoy.”

“Allie, I promise to make all of your dreams come true,” he says as he kisses me. I thought about protesting that I have not yet brushed my teeth, but I know he doesn’t care. Every morning that I have tried to warn him he acts as though I’m crazy. Going as far as to tell me he will take me anyway that he can get me. “As much as I wish that we could lie here all day, I need to get up and get moving because we have to be at the field at 9am. The game starts at noon, are you and Hales still coming with my parents?” he asks me.

“Yes, they’re picking us up here and we are all headed to their house for dinner afterward. Your mom made a huge meal just to wrap it up and put it in the fridge.” I smile thinking about Mrs. MacCoy going through so much trouble so that Liam and I could spend Thanksgiving with Gran. “I really appreciate her delaying dinner so that we could go to Gran’s yesterday,” I tell him.

“Baby, she loves you just like I do. This works out great so we can all be there to celebrate today’s win,” he winks.

I giggle at his cockiness. “That is the most beautiful sound,” he says kissing me quickly and rolling out of bed.

I slip on a pair of his sweats and head to the kitchen to make breakfast before they had to leave.

I am standing at the stove flipping pancakes when I feel Liam step behind me and place his hands on my hips. “Can I help baby?”

I look over my shoulder at him, “No, you just relax. You have a big game today.”

He rests his head on my shoulder and tows my hips back against his. I continue making pancakes while he holds me close.

“Mornin’,” Aiden mumbles as he slides into a chair at the table. “Ash I just want to say that you being with Liam, which leads to you being here all the time, which leads to you feeding us, has to be the best chain of events ever!”

Liam and I laugh as I serve them their breakfast and place the extra batter in the fridge for when Hailey wakes up. “You look rough, man,” Liam says as he slides into his chair next to me.

“I slept on the couch,” Aiden replies with his mouth full.

“Why?” Liam asks him perplexed that he would sleep on the couch when he has a perfectly comfortable bed just down the hall.

Aiden shrugs his shoulders. I have a feeling it has something to do with Hailey. He is very protective over her and he is always watching her. I think Hailey has a thing for him as well. Every time I try to talk to her about Aiden, she changes the subject. I make a mental note to keep an eye out for more clues from these two. Liam and Aiden scarf down their food. They have to be at the field at nine. I hear Hailey moving around in the living room, so I get up to start on her pancakes.

Liam removes the batter from my hands and sits it on the counter. He then picks me up and sits me on the counter beside it. He steps in between my legs and cups my face in the palm of his hands. “Thank you for breakfast.” He kisses me. “I bought you a new hoodie to wear to the games since its getting colder. It’s hanging in our closet,” he winks at me. He is always referring to it as our room, our closet. I guess after last night and the decisions we made about our future I should stop arguing the fact and embrace it. He kisses me again and it’s a good thing I’m sitting, he literally makes me weak in the knees. He rests his forehead against mine. “I love you, beautiful girl. I’ll see you at the game.”

Hailey walks into the kitchen, Aiden behind her. “Damn, make sure you clean the counter,” she scoffs. At that we all laugh. Liam kisses me one more time before setting me back on my feet so that he and Aiden can leave for the stadium.

When Hailey and I arrive at the stadium, we find the seats that the guys have reserved for us and their parent’s, front and center right on the fifty yard line. Of course, this also has us sitting right behind the team. Liam says he likes knowing that I’m so close. I am a little nervous for the game, we are playing Duke which means Liam and Aiden are playing against Todd and Jason. Neither Hailey nor I have heard anything from either one of them. I hope that there is no drama today in the game.

We win the coin toss. I feel the nerves in the pit of my stomach as I watch Liam and Aiden line up on the field. Both Todd and Jason are defensive lineman, so guess what that means. Yep, they take the field as well. Liam currently has the team in a huddle; I can only imagine what he is saying to them about the Todd and Jason.

At the snap, Liam shuffles his feet, throws his arm back and launches the ball to Aiden. He catches it with ease, just before being smashed to the ground by two members of the opposing team. The hit is hard and I stand waiting for him to get up. I feel a tight grip on my hand. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Hailey knolling on her lip with worry all over her face. Aiden slowly gets to his feet and the crowd roars, as he throws his hand in the air waving. Aiden then points to our group and smiles. I relax and Hailey releases the breath she was holding. There is something definitely going on there.

The next two downs, Liam repeats the same play. He throws to Aiden who catches it, again with ease before being mauled to the ground. They are now on the twenty yard line and Aiden is getting the shit beat out of him. The line is doing a great job of protecting Liam, but I’m fearful for Aiden, he has taken three hard ass hits. They break from the huddle and take the line. I watch holding my breath to see if we can get the first touchdown of the game. I watch as Liam swiftly hands the ball off to Aiden, he then starts to run. It is at this point that I realize they are pulling a quarterback sneak and Liam still has the ball. I go psycho fan girl and begin to scream, “Run Liam, you got this, baby!” That’s when others around me realize that Liam indeed still has the ball. I see the other coach yelling at his team to get the quarterback, but it’s too late. Liam glides into the end zone, touchdown! I grab Hailey. We are jumping up and down and screaming, “That’s my man!” Yeah not exactly my finest moment but hey, my man just scored a touchdown!

Hailey and I are still hugging and talking about how awesome the play was when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look over to see Mrs. Mac smiling widely as she points towards the field. Liam is running towards the sideline ball tucked under one arm helmet in the other. I watch him as he nears but doesn’t stop instead he by-passes his teammates and heads straight for me. I watch as he hands his helmet off to a photographer and scales the wall. He climbs over the side and grabs me with his free hand behind my neck and kisses me, hard. The kiss is brief but doesn’t lack once ounce of the passion that we share. Liam rests his forehead against mine. “I missed you, beautiful girl.” He backs away and hands me the ball, pulls me in for a hug and kisses my temple. “See you in about an hour, baby” he says as he jumps back over the wall, takes his helmet back from the photographer and waltzes back to the bench like nothing happened.

Mrs. Mac leans in and bumps her shoulder into mine. “You make him happy, Allison. It thrills me to see him this way.”

I smile at her, tears in my eyes. “I love him.” I realize what I have said and slap my hand over my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I am not embarrassed of Liam or the love that we share, but holy shit I just blurted it out to his mom. I can feel my face heat with embarrassment.

Mrs. Mac just laughs. “He loves you too, Allison.” She smiles and turns her attention back to the game.

I take some ribbing from the guys on the team for my display with Allison. What they don’t realize is that girl is my world. They can rib me all they want, but at the end of the day my girl is coming home with me and they are going home alone.

We end up winning the game 36 to 22. Not only am I coming off a win, but that fuckstick Jason broke his arm and will be out of the rest of the season. Serves the fucker right for what he did to Allison.
Karma is a bitch, baby!

Dinner at my parents is great as always, only this year I have a little something extra to be thankful for. I watch Allison as she helps my mom in the kitchen and talks to my dad about football. I can’t take my eyes off of her. She is currently helping mom and Hales wrap up the left overs. Dad, Aiden and I are in the living room talking about the game; only I’m not paying attention to the conversation, not when I can watch Allie.

“Liam,” my dad says with a smile as Aiden smacks me on the back of the head.

“Ow! What?” I bark at them. They are both laughing at me.

“Aiden was telling me that the guy who landed Allison in the ER broke his arm tonight in the game,” Dad inquires.

I smile, “Karma,” as I turn to look at Allison again. The memories of that night rushing back. The night that I stopped fighting what I feel for her and made her mine.
Best day of my damn life!

I feel a strong hand on my shoulder and I look over and see that it’s my dad with a grin on his face. He points his head towards the girls and mom in the kitchen. “I remember when your mom and I first got together. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her either.”

I chuckle, “Dad, you still don’t take your eyes off of her.”