I watched the clock tick around slowly on the dashboard, each second taking an eternity as we raced down the roads to the gym. When we arrived, a crowd had gathered outside, and all eyes fell on me as I jumped out of the car and sprinted over to Jimmy-Don, Lexi, and Cass.

“Thank Christ you’re here!” Jimmy-Don cried, his usual smiley face stricken with panic.

I grabbed Cass’s arms. “Where is he? What’s happened?”

Her expression was dumfounded. “Hell if I know, girl. Austin said the coach said something to Rome in private and he started shoutin’, goin’ all crazy, and when Chris Porter made a stupid joke to him over somethin’, he lost it and started poundin’ on him. The team took Porter away to clean him up; he’s a mess.”

I held my stomach, fighting back the nausea. “Jimmy-Don, where’s the gym?”

Taking my hand, he led me through the crowd of gathered students who were whispering and staring at me as I passed.

We went through the double-door entrance and raced down a corridor to find Austin with his thoroughly inked arms crossed over his chest, leaning against a shut door.

When he heard our footsteps, he tilted his head back and sighed in relief. “Thank f**k, Molly.”

“Is he in there?” I pointed to the door.

Austin nodded. “He’s not in a good place, Molls. Be careful.”

I tapped his arm in reassurance and opened the door to utter carnage. Mats, footballs, and weights were scattered on the floor, the high-tech workout equipment littered with debris. Romeo had trashed the gym and he sat, drenched with sweat, shirtless, wearing black gym shorts, slumped on a bench, head in his hands.

The door clicked to a close and his head snapped up at the sound, glaring my way. When he saw it was me, he leaned back against the wall, letting out a long groan, arms on the back of his head, staring at the ceiling.

I tentatively walked over.

When I was only a few feet away, he snarled. “Guess who’s hosting the f**kin’ SEC Division Championship dinner two days after we get back from the game in Georgia?”

My stomach plummeted. “Oh no, baby—”

“It’s a f**kin’ joke! They’ve never given a shit about football my whole life and now they suddenly volunteer to host the biggest dinner of the year… at the plantation! It’s a f**kin’ trap to get us there, Mol!”

I held out my hands, and he edged backwards off the bench, away from my embrace, as though he were scared to touch me. It cut me like a knife.

I noted the blood on his knuckles, his burst lip, and yellowing left eye. “Romeo, you need to calm down! Half the college is out front, you’ve beat a teammate to a pulp—”

“He f**kin’ deserved it. He started spoutin’ shit about you… to me! He had a f**kin’ death wish the minute he opened his stupid mouth!”

“I don’t care what the hell he said about me. Look at the state of you! You’re acting insane!”

He taunted me with a dark laugh. “My parents have staged this whole thing. Remember last time, the way they attacked us? This is just a more elaborate trap. They knew I’d never go back voluntarily. Coach has agreed to it. They’ve already invited the governor, mayor, and a million other boosters who’ve all eagerly accepted. They made sure the college couldn’t refuse! Fuck!” He kicked a gym ball that flew across the room, crashing loudly into a treadmill.

I moved to sit on the bench, out of his destructive path, and watched as he paced furiously around the room.

“We’re not goin’. There’s no f**kin’ way you’re goin’ to them in your condition.”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “You have to go, Romeo. You and I both know that you’re getting MVP of the season. The Tide is probably going to the BCS Championship, and this dinner is to get your team ready for that. If it makes you feel better, I’ll stay at home.”

“No!” he screamed. “No f**kin’ way! Why shouldn’t you be there with me? The college needs to change the venue, f**k my parents. I know them, Mol. Somethin’ is goin’ on, I just know it, and I won’t have them destroyin’ my family—I’m over their mind games.”

His expression morphed from anger to hurt as he stormed towards me, dropping to his knees and laying his head on my lap, his arms wrapping like a harness around my waist. “If they find out about our little angel in there, f**k knows what they’ll do. I can’t lose you both.”

He pressed a kiss to my slightly rounded stomach over my cream, flowing top. I massaged his head with my hands.

“Romeo, I understand why you’re like this, but it’s one party, with hundreds of people around. They won’t do anything so publicly. They wouldn’t want the embarrassment. I’ll stay by your side the whole night. They won’t have a chance to get to me. You’ll protect me; I know you will.”

As he showed his face, now slightly calmer, I took my old pink rose hankie from my pocket and dabbed at his eyebrow, stopping a small trickle of blood.

Romeo caught my wrist, dusting a kiss on my pulse. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if they hurt you or our little angel, baby.”

I cupped his cheeks, my fingers splaying around his ears. “Nothing will happen.”

Water misted his beautiful cocoa eyes. “Why do they always have to interfere? We’re doin’ so good. You’re healthy, our baby’s goin’ strong, and the Tide’s the clear winner of the SEC Western Division and heading to the National Championship. Then they come in with their plottin’ and schemin’, ruinin’ my life again. I’m tellin’ you, it’s all rigged. They’re plannin’ somethin’. Somethin’ big.”

“They’re powerful people, Romeo. The party won’t be moved. We need to go and put on a united front. You need to be a leader for your team.” He nodded in agreement and glanced away.

“You really lost it.”

He licked a drop of blood from his lip. “Coach knows about our situation with my folks and came to give me a heads-up. He tried to change the venue, but the decision came from a higher suit. I f**kin’ freaked.”

I lifted his knuckles, laying my hankie over the marked skin. “I don’t like it when you lose control. You need to be better than this, Romeo. I don’t want to have to worry about your temper, especially when the little one arrives.”