CHAPTER ONE
"Jesus, I hate flying coach," grumbled a voice next to me. "I swear the only way to get through flying in the cheap seats is Xanax and gallons of spiked eggnog."
My gaze slid to the young woman crammed next to me in the too-small seat and I took a sip from my plastic cup of ginger ale. Flying always made my stomach do flips no matter which section of the plane I was in, but the headache I had brewing had nothing to do with hurtling through the air in a tin can while choking on the clouds of cupcake scented perfume my seat mate had obviously bathed in. No, this headache had sprung up the moment I knew I would have to go back to Texas, back to the one place I had never wanted to see again and face the one girl I never could escape.
"You look really familiar to me, have we met some place?"
"I doubt it." Or rather I really hoped not. There were plenty of women roaming around Florida who knew me in a biblical sense, but none that I was interested in seeing ever again.
"Are you sure? Because I could swear I've seen your face somewhere before." She cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips while she stared at me. It made her look like a deranged cocker spaniel and it was everything I could do not to promise to scratch behind her ears if she'd just quit yapping at me. "Oh! I know! You're Cody Jackson aren't you? You play for Florida State! My brother drags me to all of your games, I just didn't realize it was you with your helmet off. Oh-em-gee! My sorority sisters are going to just die when they realize that I got to meet you!"
Her lips kept moving, but I was no longer listening to her, searching instead for the flight attendant. If I was going to be forced to listen to this woman the entire flight to Dallas, I was going to need something stronger than my ginger ale or I would stop pretending that I was calm and let loose with all the turmoil bubbling inside me. With the way things were going this week, the whole thing would get live-tweeted and wind up on ESPN before I even landed. I could just see the headlines now. “Heisman winner Cody Jackson verbally assaults woman on flight, ruins Christmas for everyone on board, invitation to carve the Whoville roast beast rescinded amongst allegations of general grinchiness.”
I sighed and instead of saying what I wanted to, I forced my face into what I hoped was a passable smile while she took a half a dozen selfies with me, all while hinting not so subtly how willing she would be to keep me company for the holidays instead of going home to see her parents. I could practically see her calculating the easiest way to land herself a future NFL pro for a boyfriend and just how many holes she could poke into a condom before getting caught. I just wanted to land and get as far away from this chick as I could.
I didn't even want to think about what was going to happen after that. Luke had offered to pick me up at the airport, but I had hung up before he could finish his offer. Going home to scatter the ashes of the last family member I had left was hard enough; there was no way in hell I was sitting in a truck with my former best friend for the two hour drive back to the ranch from Dallas on top of it. I had been planning on spending the holidays in Key West with some of the other guys from the team just so I could avoid going home to see Gran for the holidays like I had every Christmas for the last four years. My guilt would eat me alive if I didn't go home to honor her final wishes.
My chest ached. Gran was dead and I would never get to spend another holiday with her again. I was such an asshole. I knew she wouldn't leave the ranch, but I still hadn't been back to see her since I left for college. I should have made time, but I had been avoiding going home and having to see Luke living happily ever after with the love of my life. She understood that I didn't want to see them,
"Jesus, I hate flying coach," grumbled a voice next to me. "I swear the only way to get through flying in the cheap seats is Xanax and gallons of spiked eggnog."
My gaze slid to the young woman crammed next to me in the too-small seat and I took a sip from my plastic cup of ginger ale. Flying always made my stomach do flips no matter which section of the plane I was in, but the headache I had brewing had nothing to do with hurtling through the air in a tin can while choking on the clouds of cupcake scented perfume my seat mate had obviously bathed in. No, this headache had sprung up the moment I knew I would have to go back to Texas, back to the one place I had never wanted to see again and face the one girl I never could escape.
"You look really familiar to me, have we met some place?"
"I doubt it." Or rather I really hoped not. There were plenty of women roaming around Florida who knew me in a biblical sense, but none that I was interested in seeing ever again.
"Are you sure? Because I could swear I've seen your face somewhere before." She cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips while she stared at me. It made her look like a deranged cocker spaniel and it was everything I could do not to promise to scratch behind her ears if she'd just quit yapping at me. "Oh! I know! You're Cody Jackson aren't you? You play for Florida State! My brother drags me to all of your games, I just didn't realize it was you with your helmet off. Oh-em-gee! My sorority sisters are going to just die when they realize that I got to meet you!"
Her lips kept moving, but I was no longer listening to her, searching instead for the flight attendant. If I was going to be forced to listen to this woman the entire flight to Dallas, I was going to need something stronger than my ginger ale or I would stop pretending that I was calm and let loose with all the turmoil bubbling inside me. With the way things were going this week, the whole thing would get live-tweeted and wind up on ESPN before I even landed. I could just see the headlines now. “Heisman winner Cody Jackson verbally assaults woman on flight, ruins Christmas for everyone on board, invitation to carve the Whoville roast beast rescinded amongst allegations of general grinchiness.”
I sighed and instead of saying what I wanted to, I forced my face into what I hoped was a passable smile while she took a half a dozen selfies with me, all while hinting not so subtly how willing she would be to keep me company for the holidays instead of going home to see her parents. I could practically see her calculating the easiest way to land herself a future NFL pro for a boyfriend and just how many holes she could poke into a condom before getting caught. I just wanted to land and get as far away from this chick as I could.
I didn't even want to think about what was going to happen after that. Luke had offered to pick me up at the airport, but I had hung up before he could finish his offer. Going home to scatter the ashes of the last family member I had left was hard enough; there was no way in hell I was sitting in a truck with my former best friend for the two hour drive back to the ranch from Dallas on top of it. I had been planning on spending the holidays in Key West with some of the other guys from the team just so I could avoid going home to see Gran for the holidays like I had every Christmas for the last four years. My guilt would eat me alive if I didn't go home to honor her final wishes.
My chest ached. Gran was dead and I would never get to spend another holiday with her again. I was such an asshole. I knew she wouldn't leave the ranch, but I still hadn't been back to see her since I left for college. I should have made time, but I had been avoiding going home and having to see Luke living happily ever after with the love of my life. She understood that I didn't want to see them,
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