Page 109 of The Catch

"You're in line for an MVP award. Do you think you'll get it?"

"I'll keep working real hard for it." I put on a big smile that I hope looks confident. "I want it. For myself and for the team. Aiming for it is partly how I'll show everyone how much the Strike means to me."

Including the GM, the owner, and Coach Clark. I'll show them all I want to stay, and why they should keep me.

I need to stay. The ring and trophies aside, my people are here. Including Ames. If I dare ask for a future with her, one where the love they write about is ours, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by telling her I have to leave in the same breath.

Scary, the way I'm thinking about us like there's a future in the making.

"Your performance this season has been exceptional. Which skill are you most proud of?" someone else asks.

Deep somewhere in my mind, I know they mean on the field. Still, Ames takes precedence. She fills my mind, and it stops me in my tracks.

The things I want. The things we've done. Knowing her sounds now. The way she looks when I pull a third orgasm from her. The time I got six out of her. Yes, I keep track.

Giving her multiple climaxes may not be something others may consider my best skill, but it's certainly something I'm grateful for these days.

I don't know what my face shows, but the people surrounding me must get a feeling of what kind of thoughts clash in my mind.

A cheeky smile takes over my face, and I let it. I play the game with them.

"We know your fame, Santiago," the reporter says. "But don't get naughty on national television."

"I haven't been naughty." I raise my eyebrows in an innocent gesture. "But I can't say you're wrong to imply… you know."

They snicker.

"You don't have to worry." I grin harder. "I'll show you what I pack— game-wise. I promise you'll like what you see regardless."

They laugh this time, and I make my way to the showers.

In a little while, we'll come back to the field to receive the conference trophy. Afterwards, we'll get together in the hotel penthouse to celebrate. Somehow, I'm sure I'll continue to entwine the high of the win, with the high of my feelings for Ames.

If we win the biggest sports trophy in the country, maybe I'll get to stay… and have a fighting chance with Ames, too.

The team and half the coaches fill the presidential suite at the hotel. The space is grand, almost to the point of stuffy, with its ornate golden frames and heavy leather furniture. It's fine. It all fades to the background, when we're celebrating the Strike has won its first conference title.

The main suite is large, with several rooms no one occupies, a large bar, and an imposing dining table for twenty people. Big people of mixed ethnicities and boisterous voices fill the space, drink, and make merry. My closest friends and I, plus Rafael, sit on the couches. It's a rare occurrence to have the quiet defensive tackle with us. He's in the chat group, he's part of the group, but he lets himself fade into the background. Quite the feat for a man nearly as big as Bear, but we don't push him. We let him be. He's dealt with plenty already, and we're celebrating.

I sigh. It's a good moment. Hope and joy drift in the air like a gentle breeze of our own making.

"This is it," Damián says. "This is what we've worked for all these years."

"Now our first ring." Logan lifts his drink in a mock toast.

"The only thing missing today is those we love here with us," Bear says.

Damián and Logan agree. I hold back. It's a touchy subject.

"And those we don't love, but could have fun with, right?" Dom adds my way.

He's asking for complicity. I would have given it freely in the past. Dom and I have been the playboys in the group for years.

They don't know I'm the furthest from a serial casual dater I've ever been.

I sip from my beer. The hoppy liquid and its million bubbles are all I have to drown the voice in my head. The one telling me I don't need to label it as a relationship for it to exist. That it's real, and I'm deeper in it than I thought, nevermind my fears about it.

Whether I crush and burn, it doesn't change what I already feel.