"Love how y'all just gonna go out without inviting me" Celine said as she watched my movements adorn the room.

"You could come too, but I'm just letting you know Chris might be there" I said fixing up the guest room a bit. I was already fully prepared and ready to go, but didn't want to leave the room messy.

"What if I put on a wig, you think he'll notice it's me?" She asked seriously

"Bitch" I said as I busted out laughing

"What? It was a serious question" she said throwing her hands up

"I say you and him need to stop playing games and just get together already" I said nonchalantly

"Fuck no" she laughed

"Suit yourself" I said as I walked out the room "Hunter probably waiting for me downstairs, and you can stay here if you want"

"I have to drop mom and dad at the airport, so I couldn't go anyway for your information" she said sticking her out

"Childish" I said rolling my eyes before exiting the room and heading down the steps.

Before I could start down the stairs I felt my phone ping in my bag. Pulling it out and unlocking it, I smiled:

Laurel and I haven't talked in a while, and I found it thoughtful of her to send me a message on Christmas.

I wrote a quick response before heading down:

Hunter was seated on the couch and immediately stood up at the sound of my footsteps.

"You ready to go?" He asked tiredly

"I am, but are you?" I asked raising an eyebrow "you look tired" I pointed out

"Just a little, but I'll be fine don't worry about me" he said brushing me off before walking towards the door

"Okay then" I whispered under my breath.

Once we were situated in the car, I began to observe him. He was sluggish in all his movements and the bags under his eyes were becoming prominent.

"If you're tired, I could drive Hunter" I said catching his attention. We were still sat in the drive way of his house.

"You don't even know the way to his house and like I told you before I'll be fine" he said slightly irritated as he quickly rubbed his eyes before started the car.

Sighing I turned away from him and stared out the window.

This was gonna be a long night.

"Aye Hunter my man, didn't think you would come! Merry Christmas" Tevin said hugging Hunter

"There's free food why wouldn't I?" Hunter joked

"And this must be Nadia? I don't believe we've met yet" he said sticking out his hand for me to shake "I'm Tevin"

"Nice to meet you and Merry Christmas" I said shaking his hand with a smile

"Hunter, what a pleasant surprise!" This woman seemingly came out of nowhere and proceeded to hug Hunter—squeezing him.

Who the hell is this?

I decided to remain calm, 'cause I was not tryna look like a fool.

"Alexis, how are you?" Hunter asked pulling away from her with a bright smile on his face

"I'm good" she said smiling.

Nudging Hunter's side, I caught his attention giving him a quick glance.

You gonna introduce me or what?

"Oh and this is my girlfriend, Nadia. Nadia this is Tevin's fiancé, Alexis" Hunter introduced

"Oh my gosh! She's gorgeous" she said to Hunter excitedly before turning to me "You are so beautiful"

"Thank you so much, you're beautiful yourself" I said back kindly. It wasn't a lie either, Alexis was beautiful.

Her hair was cut short in a shoulder length bob with beach waves in it. She had smooth caramel skin and the prettiest hazel eyes.

Thank God she was Tevin's fiancé cause I was about to have the 'keep your hands to yourself talk'. After what happened with Ruby, I frankly trust no one.

"Aye Imma be over there" Hunter said pointing in the direction where his teammates stood "you good?"

"Yeah she'll be fine, I'll keep her company" Alexis reassured.

"Alright" Hunter said before leaving in the other direction

"And then there were two" Alexis laughed lightly "Come on then, I have a couple of people I want you to meet" she said gesturing for me to follow her

"Who would that be?" I asked curiously

"Just some wives and girlfriends of the players. You are the girlfriend of the Quarterback, I think it would be good for you to get acquainted with some of them. If you plan to be with Hunter for the long run, you'll be seeing them at a lot more functions"

"Oh okay" I said out a forced smile as she continued to lead me to the group of women by the couch area.

"Hey guys this is Nadia, she's Hunter's girlfriend" Alexis said excitedly "be nice"

I felt like I was being inducted into the football wives club. Some of these women were the same ones I saw all up on the Shade Room—their husbands with various cheating scandals.

I wish the fuck Hunter would.

We were all introducing ourselves and I concluded that Alexis was the only one I actually vibedwith out of all of them. I could just tell who was the drama queen and who was the entitled bitch. There was probably one or two I possibly saw myself befriending, but I wasn't one to talk to someone unless they talked to me.

"I mean I feel like since you already had your first cheating scandal you're already one of us" Kyra the wife of one of the players said before sipping her wine

"Oh no, Hunter didn't cheat. The girl made all that stuff up" I said clarifying

"Yeah, but the pictures" another one said raising her eyebrow

I tried to find a good way to respond to that, but no matter how I played the response in my head, it still sounded pathetic.

'Oh she forced her self on him'...didn't sound too good. It made me look naive even if that really was the truth.

"Let's not talk about this, it's Christmas" Alexis said saving me from even responding

"You're no fun" Kyra said sipping her wine with a smile.

Hell I need a glass if Imma be dealing with this all night.

As time went on, I just knew I had to take a break from it all. I was sitting with them for thirty minutes and seemed to absorb all the tea I needed to last me a life time. I made sure to keep my shit private, they only know what was already online other then that—hell no.

It was times like these I wished Celine was here to keep me company.

Tapping Alexis' shoulder, she turned to me. "I'm going to get some wine" I said standing up

"I'll come with you" she said standing up also before turning to the women "we will be right back"

When we were out of the vicinity of the other women she finally spoke up "I just had to get outta there, sometimes you can't be around them for too long before you start to lose your mind"

"You're not wrong" I laughed before finally reaching the refreshments table.

Filling my cup and taking a sip, I began to look around the room only to be shocked at who I saw talking to Hunter.

What the hell is Bryce from fucking Walgreens doing here?

"You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost" Alexis laughed

"Who is that Hunter's talking to? I've never seen him before" I questioned nonchalantly as I faced her. I obviously knew who he was, but I hoped by acting clueless I could get more information as to the reason he was here.

"Oh that's Bryce Gibbs, Tevin's little brother. Plays college football for Clemson"

Makes sense now.

"Oh okay" I nodded before turning back to watch Hunter interacting with him. That's when he made eye contact with me.

A look of confusion and then a big smile crossed his face.

"We should head back" I said quickly to Alexis

"Okay then" she said looking at me weirdly

"Who are you smiling at?" I asked Bryce with a smirk on my face as I turned to look in the direction he was looking only to see Nadia and Alexis walking towards the living room.

"This girl I seen at the store when I was buying Tevin chips is here" he smiled

"The one you were just telling me about that was feeling you? How is that possible?" I asked shocked

"I don't know, fate maybe" he chuckled

"Then what are you waiting for? Go talk to her" I said playfully pushing his shoulder

Bryce was like a little brother to me, I always had his best interest in mind. We did butt heads at times because Bryce like to stir shit up, be we never fought for long.

"Yeah, but she went into the living room with Alexis. She's probably taken, you know all the wives and shit are over there" he sighed

"Oh she's definitely taken" I said patting his shoulder. The second he said she was with Alexis, I realized he was talking about my Nadia.

"It wouldn't hurt to ask though right?" He asked quizzically

"You talking about Nadia right?" I asked to make sure

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Bryce's eyes full of curiosity

And with that information I would have to talk to her, cause according to him they were really hitting it off at the store.

"She's taken" I nodded taking a sip of my beer "...by me"

"You and her? I don't believe it" he said laughing. The laugh low key irritating me.

"Believe it" I smiled smugly

"I'm surprised is all. She doesn't seem like the type you'd go for" he said nonchalantly

"What do you mean?" I asked crossing my arms

"She's black and you're white, is what I meant. Your last girlfriend was white and so was the one before that" Bryce shrugged

He the second person—Nadia's father being the first—today to point that shit out to me like I gave a rats ass.

"I don't see color" I rolled my eyes

"If you don't see color, then you don't see injustice, Hunt" he challenged "that's a stupid thing to say"

"You know what the hell I meant. I simply meant I don't care about Nadia's skin or my skin, I love her regardless" I said standing up straighter—I towered over Bryce by a good four inches.

"That's not what you said though" he mocked as he stepped up to me

"I think you need to bring it down a couple notches, Bryce. Point being, she's taken end of story. Don't need you tryna flip shit to make me seem racist" I was already irritated from the lack of sleep this was the last thing I needed.

"Nadia's a pretty girl, I just think it would be best to date your race is all" he said back causing me to cock my head at him in disbelief.

"Aye aye what's going on?" Tevin said pushing up back

"Your brother's got a smart mouth" I said irritated

"Ain't said nothing that wasn't true" Bryce said laughing as if this was all a joke

Shaking my head letting a small chuckle out, I turned to Tevin "it's been fun, I'm out. Merry Christmas" I said before leaving and walking towards the living room

"Hunter wait-" being the last words I heard from him before leaving

"Nadia lets go" I said stoned faced

"Oh, uh...okay"

After explaining to her what happened and getting my frustrations out while Nadia listened—the rest of the car ride home was completely quiet, not a peep coming out of anyone's mouth.

That was until, I heard a giggle come out of Nadia's mouth, it went from that to becoming a full blown laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked confused

"I just think it's funny how It's always you getting googly eyes and me fighting girls off and it was nice to finally have it happen to you so you know how it feels." she shrugged

"Nadia don't try me right now, this was totally different"

"But kinda the same" she laughed lightly

"Why is everything a joke to you? He was being hella disrespectful" I said annoyed

"Hunter, based on what you told me, he seemed like the type to purposely get under peoples skin" she said waving me off "Hell people say that shit online all the time, it doesn't even bother me anymore"

"Did you flirt with him at the store?" I asked calmly

"No, Hunter. He simply asked me a question I responded when I saw he was getting flirty I left. Don't even start" she said with annoyance in her voice "Why are you so damn grumpy anyway? How 'bout that? Every since we got in the car you've been irritated" she said rolling her eyes

"Because I'm fucking tired, okay! Then I gotta deal with bullshit on top of that!" I yelled frustrated

Once I heard silence in her end, I finally turned to face her when the car stopped at a red light.

"Look I'm sorry, I shouldn't have screamed" I sighed "it's just been a lot today"

I heard no response on her end, leading me to believe I pissed her off.

"Nadia please-"

"You can't sleep can you?" she asked causing my mouth to immediately shut as she continued.

"You're having dreams about what happened" Nadia said before pausing "for how long?" She asked staring forward

"It's been about two days now" I said defeated.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked finally looking at me

"Because I didn't want you to worry" I said softly

"You need to go to therapy Hunter. I don't care what you do, find a way to squeeze that in your schedule" she said sternly

"I'll schedule an appointment" I nodded

"Promise me"

"I promise" I said grabbing her hand

Right on time, the light turned green.

A/N: 2 more chapters 🙂

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Chapter not edited. Grammatical errors