“You’re saying I’m not?” I wave at several freshmen girls as they walk by. It does make my head a little big that I’ve got women staring at me everywhere I go. It makes it worse that I live in the best dorm on campus, while Renata lives in a triple dorm room with two other people watching her every move. Seems like my single room and the catered food and all the attention could go to better use. Even though I want to punch my cousin in his pretty face, I get what he’s saying and why he’s saying it. I get it instinctively. This is a career path, yes. But it’s not serious, not like marketing or public relations or the MBA Ren is planning on getting at Berkeley after this four-year stint is over. I’m just planning on playing ball and living in a big house.
The thing is, Wingate doesn’t get one other thing, not like I do. There is one thing I’m serious about, one thing I’ve always been serious about. It’s Renata Young. It’s keeping her close to me each and every day of her life. It’s growing old alongside her and having at least three kids running around that big house. It’s sharing my career with her and listening to her advice, because I know she’ll have plenty.
It’s every man’s dream—or at least it should be—when he meets a woman who’s smarter and savvier and more ruthless than he’ll ever be. And beautiful. My God, so beautiful. She’s got the full, red lips of an angel—and the body of a sinner. Somehow she always manages to look professional, even when she’s wearing jeans and flip flops. That’s most everyone’s uniform in California, all year round. But she pulls it off with a swagger that I find unbelievable. It’s like she’s not even human with how good she looks in a simple t-shirt and jeans.
And I can’t wait until I have enough money to spoil her, to buy her whatever she wants and dress her in all the finer things. Not that I know anything about that stuff, but I know her clothes are mostly from Walmart—because mine are too. What other options do two people from Tick Bite, North Carolina have?
I guess Wingate is letting it stand, shrugging off the possibility that I’ll ever make it with Renata Young. She’s been our best friend for years, but she’s never wanted to mess with a football player. I caught her in a moment of weakness, though, and I intend to take advantage. I’ll pull out all the charm, make sure she knows how I feel, now and forever. And I’ll always be there, no matter what.
The clock chimes one, and I know both of us need to be getting to class. After that, I’m back to my dorm, getting ready for the date I’ve been wanting for years. Tonight is the night that I start the rest of my life with Renata, and I don't intend to ever let go.
I just have to get through this night—and hell, through the next three years and some—without messing anything up.
Then, on our last night of school, we’ll be engaged.
And God willing, I’ll prove to her each and every day of our lives that I was the right choice, that getting away from our trifling parents and their farm was the right thing to do, and that spending our lives together as we take off in our careers was the very thing both of us needed most.
I walk to class with a saunter—because I know this is the first day of the rest of my life.
CHAPTER TWO
Three Years Later…
I said yes. Macklin Pride just got a contract with the NFL, and I said yes. We’re getting married. Doesn’t matter when. Doesn’t matter where. But we’re getting married.
I’m standing by the little diner in my home town, home from Brooks University. And finally, I’m done with school, graduated and ready to start my life. There’s no better feeling. After four years of scrimping and saving to pay for my textbooks and my rent, I’m done with it. There’s a lead on a job out in California, and Mack Pride is coming with me.
And tonight—well, tonight is extra special.
My hair is freshly done, curled at the ends like Mack likes it. Normally I don’t give a single hot damn about what a man thinks looks good on me, but tonight is different. Tonight, we’re going out, we’re making plans, and we’re talking about the when and the where. The job in Cali and the house we’re eventually going to build together, where we’ll have all of our children and raise them to be good people—and football fans. We’re finally going to be together—for real. For the first time ever.
My former roommate Dianna thinks I’m crazy for holding out this long. Three years of dating the hottest guy on the football team, and we held out. I haven’t told Dianna exactly what we have done, but the answer is absolutely everything else. Just not sex. We were waiting. Both of us. Maybe it was some romantic ideal. Maybe it was the town we grew up in and the way everyone always knows what everyone else is doing, even when you’re away at college all the way across the country. If we’d had sex, I always thought, I’d certainly get pregnant right away, and then my Mama and every one of her gossiping friends would know exactly what I was up to with that no good Macklin Pride.