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Back Love in Play Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Dominique’s attraction to Jake was not only undeniable, but almost frightening in its intensity.
  2. Also by
  3. Title Page
  4. Epigraph
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
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  30. 25
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  32. 27
  33. 28
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  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
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  42. 37
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  62. 57
  63. 58
  64. LOVIN’ BLUE
  65. Copyright Page

Joining the throngs of people in the stand, Dominique looked up into the full bleachers, waving at a few of the parents she’d gotten to know since becoming an avid Hurricanes supporter. A movement caught the corner of her eye and she turned to see Travis’s mother, Kathy, waving her up to where she sat, with space next to her. Dominique mounted the stairs, opened her purple and gold Hurricanes bleacher seat and placed it beneath her before sitting down.

“Hey, girl,” she said, giving Kathy a hug. She leaned over and waved at Kathy’s husband, Ian, who was decked out in a loud purple sweatshirt and a gold and purple knit cap. He held a large, homemade sign that read: WE TEAR IT UP! His eyes were as sparkly as those of the boys on the field. Dominique noted that while Ian was not his biological father, somehow Travis resembled him. They both had light brown hair, hazel eyes, and similar builds. She guessed it was love rubbing off.

“Well, here we go,” Kathy said, holding up her cherry cola for a toast. “To 6 and 0.”

Dominique clinked her water bottle against Kathy’s styrofoam cup. “To 6 and 0.”

The game started and soon the whole crowd was enveloped in the electricity coming from the field. The Panthers were matching the Hurricanes, touchdown for touchdown, and Dominique noticed that Justin seemed to be having another off day. He’d dropped one pass and fumbled another. Meanwhile, everything the Panthers touched was turning to gold.

The longer the game continued the more quiet the crowd became. The Hurricane players seemed out of sorts while their opponents were squarely in control. The fans watched in disbelief as the Panthers made one great play after another and when the scoreboard showed 28–14 in the fourth quarter with four minutes left, you could have heard a pin drop on the Hurricanes’ side in the stadium.

In the last two minutes, Justin caught a slant pass seven yards out and ran fifteen more yards to score his only touchdown of the game. But it wasn’t enough. The Hurricanes experienced their first loss of the season. The final score: 28–21.