Intercept My Heart

Chapter 36

I watch as Autumn scoops a forkful of Alfredo into her mouth. A little moan escapes her lips as she closes her eyes and the appreciative hums by her is enough to make my dick twitch. Watching her eat shouldn't turn me on as much as it is, but it does.

I've been worrying about a lot of stuff these past few weeks, football, my friendship with Austin, the month of October, but now Autumn is on that list.

I don't want to overstep but Zed, the coffee shop guy, felt like it was important to let me know that Autumn hasn't been eating much. She's a petite girl, very beautiful, flawless to me, but flawed in her own eyes. He said she will come order a breakfast sandwich, will only take a few bites, or other mornings she just won't show up like she usually does.

"I haven't eaten all day." she says as she continues to eat. I freeze for a second as I shift in my seat to give her my full attention. I don't want to assume anything, if there's a problem she's having with herself, I want her to be comfortable enough to tell me.

Before I can respond her phone vibrates on the arm rest between us. When it finally stops ringing, notifications fill her screen from an unknown number. There's 20 missed calls, several messages and even voicemails left by this unknown number.

I watch as the color from Autumn's face slowly leaves, her lips slightly parted, and she's fidgeting with her dainty fingers. She doesn't make eye contact with me, instead she stares out of the window.

"Autumn?" I try, and she quietly responds. "Hmm?" I take her chin into my hands and force her gaze to meet mine. "Hey, what's going on? Do you need to answer that? I don't mind you taking a phone call."

She shakes her head rapidly before quietly responding, "He won't leave me alone."

She never says his name. She won't say it. She just refers to him as "he" or "my ex". I sit silently waiting for her to continue.

"He's been calling a lot lately, even late at night, I was up all night because of the constant calls, hence why my morning wasn't so great." I watch as tears fill her brown eyes and I hate it so much. "Every time I see his number come across my screen, I get sick to my stomach. I lose my appetite because I'm so disgusted. Yet, I feel like a horrible person to say I hate him."

Only Autumn will be hard on herself for having emotions. Valid emotions at that. She has every reason to not like him, to hate him even, but she feels as if it's a crime to admit it to herself.

This explains why she's barely been eating as Zed noticed. Because her douchebag ex boyfriend is making her appetite nonexistent. "Have you thought about changing your number?" I offer.

She nods. "Yes, but I'm waiting to hear back from the places I've applied to be an intern at. Once I hear from someone, I'll change it. But until then..." She just shrugs.

I take her hands into mine and bring them to my lips. "You have every right to be upset. You have every right to feel like you hate him even, it's not a crime to have emotions, baby. You can't be so hard on yourself." She gives me a small smile.

"Could I stay over at your place? I won't have to look at my phone much if I'm around the person I wait to text me all night anyway." I watch as her cheeks turn a rosy pink.

I smirk. "Yeah, of course."

"Really?" she beams up at me and I nod. "Thank you." she says as she reaches over the console and pops a quick kiss on my lips.

And it is at this very moment that I've realized I would do anything for her. I would do anything to protect her.

Autumn is my person.

****

It's Halloween.

But not only Halloween, it's game day versus Georgia.

Bulldog fans are fucking relentless. I mean, Alabama fans are too, but the stadium is filled with an even amount of fans for both teams. I like to feel confident that we're playing at home, but their defense is crazy good. Which is why it's 31-27 with 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Georgia has the ball at the 50 and their wide receiver, Cane McGee has been trash talking me all game.

We've been going at it since the very first play of the game. Trash talking and pushing each others buttons.

Georgias quarterback calls a play and everyone springs into action. McGee runs his route and the ball comes flying his way. I jump up just in time to bat the ball away like it's a volleyball. He grunts in frustration as I hold my arms out, smirking, signaling that it's incomplete.

We line back up and another play is called. McGee pushes me hard, causing me to stumble backwards a bit as he sprints forward, running his route. I catch my footing and sprint after him. I see the ball coming his way and we both jump for it. Our arms reach out and I just know this is going to be an interception. It's just a few inches away and I can already smell the victory.

But then, my helmet is yanked to the side and I lose my balance and McGee catches the perfectly thrown ball. I yell out in frustration as my body collides with the turf. There were no flags called from the obvious face mask and I am fucking livid!

I yell at the referee nearest me, "You couldn't make a call from the phone booth!" and I remove my helmet and toss it to the ground as all of the Georgia fans come to life in the stands.

A flag is thrown for unsportsmanlike conduct on me, as I make my way to the sidelines. There's a little under a minute left and if we could get in field goal range we could take the lead back and win.

But Georgia goes for two extra points and they fucking make it, thanks to my penalty, the extra yardage given to them made sure they remained undefeated and we earned our first loss of the season.