“Give me a minute.” He stood. A moment later, Jamar heard a door close. “There’s a Fortnite competition taking place in the living room,” Micah said when he reappeared. He reclaimed his seat and took another sip from his mug. “I wasn’t going to say anything because I honestly thought you were done with the League, but I’ve been hearing a few rumors lately.”

“You’ve gotta give me more than that, Micah. What kind of rumors?”

“Have you been keeping tabs on Demario Simpson at KSU?”

“It’s hard not to,” Jamar said. “Every sports magazine out there has him as the top running back prospect this year. What about him?”

“I hear that he’s rethinking entering the draft early and may stay another year in school.”

Jamar drew in a sharp breath. “How sure are you?”

“As sure as anyone can be.” He shrugged. “Who knows, it may just be rumors.” He paused, then added, “But maybe it isn’t. It wouldn’t be the first time a top college athlete decided to give all agents a heart attack by sticking in to earn his degree.

“And that’s not all,” Micah continued. “Van Johnson is planning to retire this year.”

“Bullshit,” Jamar retorted.

“He is. That last concussion scared the hell out of his wife. She’s worried about CTE, and based on the rumor mill, she gave him an ultimatum.”

“She has a right to be worried,” Jamar said.

He didn’t blame Van for leaving early. The brain disorder was always at the forefront of his mind. But the running back’s decision made it even more important that he should do what he could to get back in the game. Van’s exit created a space for him. And if Demario Simpson decided to sit out the draft, that was yet another starting running back who would not be taking up a spot on a team’s roster.

After talking with Micah, one thing was abundantly clear: If Jamar was going to make a return to the NFL, this was his year to do it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Taylor stood before the Keurig K-Mini, mindlessly twirling the wooden carousel of coffee pods as she obsessed over how to approach today. The day after.

Her instincts were telling her to treat it like any other day. Just pretend that everything was normal. Well, as normal as it could be when she was already pretending to be in a relationship with a client.

A former client, her brain reminded her.

“Oh, shut up,” Taylor snapped.

Telling herself that she and Jamar weren’t technically working together anymore had served as a convenient excuse for playing naked Tetris on the kitchen counter, but with every decision she made, consequences followed. More often than not, those consequences turned out to be excruciatingly inconvenient.