Cross My Heart by Darcy Archer

Author:Darcy Archer [Archer, Darcy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64108-750-6
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2024-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

TYLER AWOKE to Josh’s arm draped over his chest, their legs tangled beneath the sheets. He cherished these quiet moments together as before the clock forced them out of bed. A week had passed since their first passionate night, yet it felt like a year cocooned in their hometown bubble.

Tyler nuzzled into the curve of Josh’s neck, dreading his imminent return to San Diego. The season was already half over, and the owners wanted him to make a show of strength before the Super Bowl stole everyone’s thunder. How could he bear leaving this, leaving Josh behind?

His career itself felt precarious. Thirty-three years old on the gridiron felt different than twenty or twenty-five. The injuries hit him worse. He healed slower; he made mistakes. Anyone in the league could tell you why guys got out so young. Head injuries and joint problems did a number on your long-term viability. At its core, the NFL was a business. Cogs in the machine got replaced once they wore out.

Though his cardiologist had cleared Tyler, doubts plagued him. Could his heart handle the rest of the season? Was he making things worse?

Even watching football games now, the violence of the plays bugged him in a way it never had before. Each bone-jarring hit, every player carried off the field left Tyler more conflicted, more unsure.

Yet the outside world would not wait.

Meanwhile, he’d watched Josh wage his own quiet battle to protect the library’s “dangerous” books, pushing back against the pressure campaign from parents and even a few uptight faculty members. Tyler didn’t want to abandon Josh to these fights alone. Just to buy time, he’d requested another couple weeks, another checkup with Reynolds before doing anything rash. He glanced at the clock.

They had to get up in a few hours so they could get Josh to school in time.

When Tyler held Josh close like this, their bodies snug as two puzzle pieces, everything else faded. The past and future disappeared; only this moment existed. And Tyler knew with sudden clarity he would cling to it, to Joshua, for as long as fate allowed.

Beside him, Josh stirred. “Hi.”

“Hey, handsome. Mmmh.” Tyler squeezed him and kissed the top of his mussed head. “Five more minutes.”

For the past week, they’d fallen into an easy rhythm.

Each morning after a quick breakfast, Tyler drove Josh to work in Josh’s truck. They’d run side by side at the track as the mist burned off and then part at the truck before the first bell. Then Josh spent the day at Hamilton coaching and teaching while Tyler went back to Nadia’s to work the phones and charmed volunteers for the book-ban battle. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he saw his therapist, which he didn’t dread anymore. Then at day’s end, Tyler would pick Josh up and squire him home.

Principal Carver had really stepped up with their library campaign. As soon as Tyler had offered himself as a public face for the literacy drive, Carver had given him permission to organize media coverage, a book-club crawl, the story adoption drive, and the library lock-in for next month.

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