Epilogue
The following summer at Rebels’ Roost
Tawny and Jack stopped and visited with several of his teammates on the upper level of Rebels’ Roost since this was Family Night, a gathering for old and new teammates to show off their significant others and kids, if any.
“He’s a bruiser, isn’t he?” Jimmy Bronson asked as he hoisted his two-month-old in the air then cradled the baby to his massive chest. Julie looked on at her two men, her smile indulgent.
“She’s let her hair grow out,” Tawny told Jack after they’d chatted a few minutes with their friends.
“How do you know?” Jack couldn’t care less. Julie Bronson might be the most gorgeous of the Rebels’ wives, but he didn’t look at any woman besides Tawny.
Tawny grinned. “Julie doesn’t have a wig that short. Let’s go over and see Coach and Susan’s little one.”
Jack walked out on the patio with Tawny after watching her look adoringly at little Emma Zanardi. “Would you like one of our own?” he asked her.
“Someday. I want to finish up my master’s degree first. Besides, I’m not ready to share you just yet.” Tawny knew the day would come when her hormones would change her mind, but until that day she wanted her husband—her sex slave and lover—all to herself. “Did you see who Sid brought with him?”
“Yeah. I hope he doesn’t get hurt. Talia’s a head case if I ever saw one.”
Tawny agreed. She and some of the other team wives had tried to figure out what had happened to Talia that made her crave abuse—not just dominance on the part of her lover but out-and-out sadism. Privately, Tawny thought the woman must have grown up being abused by her father or some male authority figure, but that probably came out of one of her old psych texts more than from anything she’d actually observed. “Sid’s been crazy for her as long as I’ve known him. I was surprised that he didn’t hop on a plane and go kill Vic after he hurt Talia so bad last winter.”
“Me, too.”
When Tawny saw Ty come across the parking lot with Calvin Jones after the two got out of their own cars, she smiled. “I wonder if they’re ever gonna come out.”
Jack tightened his arm around her waist. “I doubt it, as long as they’re both on the team. Calvin may not be a Rebel for long, though, since Coach drafted another quarterback this spring. The kid’s not a very good passer, but he’s determined not to switch to running back or receiver, where he’d probably do pretty well.”
“That’s sad.”
“You’re a little softy. What that is, is life in the NFL. I don’t want you worrying too much about Ty—I’ll be fighting him this year for the number-one spot and I intend to win. Hey, there’s Matt, and he’s wearing clothes.”
“You!” Tawny laughed with Jack at the irony of his joke. “He might say the same about you. I wonder where Keisha is. She doesn’t usually let him out alone.”
“I overheard her dad mention to the other coaches yesterday that she’s in the hospital. Something about her heart and blood sugar bein’ out of whack.”
When Tawny pictured Keisha, who had to be at least a hundred pounds overweight, she got worried. She liked the brash Domme who had the Rebels’ killer linebacker right where she wanted him. “I hope she’s gonna be okay.”
“She’s got her mom and dad to take care of her. And Matt, if she’ll hand him the reins for a while. I like your style of Mistress a lot more than I do what I’ve seen of hers. What say we go home and watch the moon over the Atlantic from our new deck?”
“I’d like that.” Tawny enjoyed renewing acquaintances, but right now she wanted to be home, in Jack’s strong arms. Loving him and the life they had together.
The End