My Future Husband

Chapter 35

I smirk, swallowing the shot and trying not to show on my face how much it burns. I’m more of a tequila guy.

“May Parker. People in this town have a lot to say about her, but that comes with the territory when you’re as honest as she is. It can piss people off when you refuse to conform, but thank fuck she never has, because she’s exactly who she’s supposed to be.” That’s the girl I know.

“So she's always been this way?”

“Ever since she was a little girl, threatening to stab me in my basketballs if I didn’t put her on the court her first season out.” He laughs, pouring himself another shot. “She's authentic, unapologetically herself. That girl’s only flaw is how much she's willing to sacrifice for the people around her. Did she ever tell you how she fucked her ankle?”

“No, she was playing, right?”

“Last game of the season, and we’d been struggling. We had a few injuries, a few sick, even Milo couldn’t play, but there she was front and centre. She’d played every game, refused to come off the court even when I told her too, didn’t want to let the side down. We were playing Ralstown, and their captain didn’t take too kindly to having a girl run circles around him, so he had his whole team make her a target.” Twat. “I tried to call her off, she’d been getting attacked from all sides the whole match, and it was brutal, but she knew we’d lose the championship without her, so she refused. One basket, one fucking basket and we’d have that trophy. So she ran a play we’d done a hundred times, directing everyone like she was the captain, the one she was born to be, but he saw her coming. He didn’t give a fuck about the game, he wanted to take her down.”

“He injured her?”

“He ruined her. She threw that ball, it went straight through the net, but the second her feet hit the floor, I knew something was wrong. She buckled, a fluke injury caused by exhaustion, but that wasn’t enough for them. The captain and his second stamped their weight straight down on her ankles as she lay there on the floor. A fourteen year old girl, being destroyed by two eighteen year old boys, just for being the best on the court. I’ve never heard screams like that, but they just kept going, until they knew she’d never recover. If Eli hadn’t got to me, I would’ve killed them.”

She never told me. Every single day she walks around in pain, because two dicks couldn’t take she was better than them.

“I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been for her.”

“It was, but she never let anyone see, never let herself be a burden. She couldn’t watch games anymore, but she’d still come to my office, let me know who had potential and who I should be pushing. She supported Milo every step of him getting her dream, because that’s who she is. Someone who can put other people first like that, who doesn’t become bitter, who can still find so much joy in other people’s happiness, and pick herself up every time the world knocks her down... Trust me, she's rare, a girl like that is only going to come along once in your lifetime.”

That girl, the one he’s describing, that’s the exact same girl I spent two years searching for.

Her. It was just her.

“She’s...” Everything.

“Yes she is. So you’d better decide what you want, son, because trust me, if you don’t, someone else will.”

They can’t have her.

Even as I throw my bag into the trunk, his words keep rolling around in my mind. The thought of anyone else being with her, them touching her, pleasing her, being the one to see her smile and laugh, to look at them with love in her eyes... I can’t fucking stand it.