She stuck out her tongue, but then the ball was snapped, and her hand wrapped around my arm as she watched the play. The play didn’t last long, and to me, it looked like nothing even happened at all. But Gemma released her death grip on me, clapped, nodded, and said, “Good start, boys! Now, let’s go!”
I found myself zoning out again, even when Gemma jumped up and down after the next play and cheers rang out around me. She said something about what an awesome catch it was, and I smiled, checking my phone again.
Then, the absolute last thing I expected to hear over the loudspeaker made me almost drop it.
“Pass complete to number thirteen, Makoa Kumaka! And that makes another Chicago Bears…”
The crowd cheered first down! to complete the sentence, but I stood there with my jaw unhinged, blinking as I tried to decide if I really just heard what I thought I did.
When I turned to look at Gemma, she was watching me with the same confused look until both of us glanced up at the scoreboard.
On the screen was a replay of the catch.
And beside it, a professional headshot of my boyfriend in a Chicago Bears jersey, smiling, his name and position and stats in a neat line underneath.
“Oh, my God,” Gemma whispered, covering her mouth with both hands. She shook her head, looking from the board to me and back again. “That can’t be… is that…”
“It’s him,” I confirmed. There was no mistaking it. That name, that beastly build, that goofy one-of-a-kind smile.
“I don’t understand… I thought he was in real estate?”
My eyes scanned the field for his number, and when I found it, he was already lining up for the next play. The ball was snapped, but the guy carrying the ball was tackled down quickly, and then they were lining up again.
I knew it was him, the way he walked and carried himself.
I knew it was him, that broad chest, that tight ass, those monster thighs.
I knew it was him, and yet I still couldn’t believe it.
I unlocked my phone so fast I nearly dropped it again, typing out his name in the Google search bar. I’d only written the first four letters when the search auto-populated the rest, and when I hit enter, the screen filled with pictures and videos and articles.
Makoa Kumaka Signs as Free Agent with Chicago Bears.
Chicago Bears Training Camp Spotlight: Makoa Kumaka.
Makoa Kumaka Leaves 49ers as Free Agent, Team Says “He Will Be Missed.”
Makoa Kumaka University of Hawai’i Wide Receiver Stats
WATCH: Makoa Kumaka Catches Flimsy Pass, Runs for Fifty-Two-Yard Touchdown
Video after video, picture after picture, article after article populated as I scrolled and scrolled. One page, two pages, three pages. I shook my head the more I clicked, trying to swallow but coming up empty.
“Belle…” Gemma said, her hand softly finding my arm.
“He lied to me.”
It sounded like someone else’s voice instead of my own, and I kept scrolling, shaking my head as more and more proof popped up.
“I’m sure he can explain.”
Those words almost made me vomit, and to stop it from happening, I jerked up out of my seat. “I have to go.”
I shrugged her off before she could argue, muttering excuse me to all the other fans I passed in front of to get out of the row. Some of them cursed me for not waiting until the next play stop, but I didn’t care.
He lied to me.
The words flickered at first, like a neon sign slowly blinking to life, but then they were there, hot and bright, front and center with nothing else to focus on.
He lied to me.
He LIED to me.
My phone buzzed in my hand, Gemma’s face on the screen, but I ignored the call. Then, I promptly turned the phone off completely, shoving it in my back pocket.
Question after question bombarded me as I rushed out of Soldier Field. Why did he lie? Why would he keep this from me?
What else is he keeping from me?
Is this just a game to him? Did he mean anything he said at all?
Who even is he?
Tears stung my eyes the more I shoved through the crowd, and it was all I could do to keep it together when I finally made it outside. I hailed the first cab I saw, climbing in and rattling off my address before my head hit the headrest and I closed my eyes, forcing as deep a breath as I could muster.
I thought he was different. I thought I could trust him. I thought, for the first time, there was a guy who could prove me wrong. I thought he meant what he said. I thought we had something real, something special, something unlike anything I’d ever had before. I thought maybe, just maybe, Gemma and Zach were right about him, about me not having to play the same role, about there being a chance to find something real.
I thought I was falling in love with him.
My chest ached so violently I surged forward, wincing against the pain. When my eyes blinked open, I saw his condo in the distance, and I shook my head as more tears blurred my vision.
I won’t hurt you.
It was a lie.
All of it.
And I was a fool to have ever believed otherwise.
Makoa
We won.
Sure, it was just a pre-season game. It wouldn’t mean shit for our record, and for most of the players on this team — especially the veterans — the win was nothing to celebrate.
But for me and for any of the other guys vying for a spot on the team, this was huge.
Gerald clapped me on the back after my shower, ruffling my hair with his massive hand. “Eleven receptions, one-hundred-and-eighty-nine yards, and a touchdown?” He shook his head, his wet curls bouncing with the effort. “I knew you came here to prove a point, Kumaka, but damn, save some for the rest of them out there, eh?”
I tried to fight the
