Page 98 of The Penalty

She moans and asks, “How do you know just what I need?”

I nuzzle into her neck. “Because you’re mine.”

“Tyler!” she calls my name as she comes again.

I lose all of my control when I feel her squeeze me. I pull back and push her knees up. Her nails dig into my ass, and my thrusts speed up. Before I’m ready, I’m spilling inside her.

My body collapses, and I put my forehead to hers.

“I love you. I never stopped, and I never will,” I tell her.

“I love you too.”

I kiss her again before she goes to the bathroom to clean up. While she’s gone, I think about what I’m supposed to do next. Does she want me to go? Should I stay? Would it be too forward of me to ask her if I can stay? Now that I’ve got her back, I don’t want to leave her for a second.

When she comes back, she wordlessly pulls back the covers and motions for me to join her in bed. I hold her for most of the night while we talk about things just like we used to. At some point, we hear her roommate come home. I offer to leave, but McKenzie asks me to stay. I can’t tell her no, so I pull her closer until we both fall asleep, knowing that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.

I know we’ve got work to do. Nothing about our relationship is going to be easy, and I know people aren’t going to accept the age gap between us. That’s fine. Our relationship is no one’s business but our own.

Kylie will eventually come around. I know she’s not happy about this, but she’s been more supportive recently than when she first found out. I know I’ve broken her trust, and I’m doing everything I can to build that back up with her. I’m giving her space just like she’s giving me, but I’m not hiding anything anymore. She knew about my date with McKenzie and even sent me a good luck text before I left the house earlier.

McKenzie and I have a long way to go, but as long as she’ll have me, I’ll be by her side. I can’t wait to see where life takes us because I know as long as we’re together, it’ll be the best life I could ask for.

MCKENZIE

Four years later

It’s game day.

I’ve been to a lot of game days over the last few years, but today feels extra special. It’s the last game of the season at Tyler’s new school.

Last year, I accepted a job offer with a big-time sports network. After working the past few years as a sports contributor on a Nebraska radio station and writing articles for online magazines, I was ready for something more.

I’d been applying at several stations and sent a few audition tapes to the big stations just as a shot in the dark. I wasn’t expecting to hear from any of them no matter how many times Tyler insisted that I was every bit as deserving as anyone else.

So I was more than surprised when I got a call for an interview, then a second interview, a camera test, and finally. . . a job offer.

My dream job.

There was no way I could turn it down.

But the problem was. . . I would need to relocate to California. I’d have to leave Nebraska and ultimately leave Tyler.

Tyler didn’t even blink when I told him I got the job. After he congratulated me, he got on the phone, made some calls, and found a few schools in California that were looking for a new coach. He did some interviews and within a few months, he also had a job in California. Still as a head coach but at a smaller school.

He took a huge step back in his career, not to mention a pay cut, for me to be able to live my dream. And he didn’t question it once. He just did it.

I have so much confidence in our relationship that I’d even suggested we do long distance for a while until he could get hired at a bigger school, but he shot that idea down quick. “I’m not going to be away from you. My whole life has been about my career. I’ve lived my dream. It’s your turn now, and I’m going to be by your side and watch you succeed. Being in another state is not an option.”

I didn’t bring it up again after that.

There was nothing holding Tyler to Nebraska after Kylie graduated and moved to Seattle to be with Jake, who was signed to the NHL there.

So, we packed up, sold the house, and moved to California. It’s been almost eight months now, and neither one of us regrets it. We’re closer to Kylie, and the warmer weather isn’t bad either. Of course, I miss my family, but I’ve been able to fly them all out here to visit at least once. And they text after seeing me on TV. Their support has been everything to me. My brothers even came around to Tyler. . . eventually. There were a few tense dinners, but once they realized we were serious, they dropped the tough guy acts and accepted him into our family.

Tyler’s parents were also shocked when we told them we were dating, but they got over it quickly. They even flew out to California to see our new place when we got settled in.

Kylie was a little harder to forgive and forget, but no one blamed her for that. During her senior year, we did one family dinner a week. She brought Jake most of the time, and the four of us would have a meal and talk. It was weird at first, but eventually, she got used to seeing Tyler and me together. By the time she graduated and was getting ready to leave for Washington, we’d become friends again. Even now, we text almost every day. I’m the one she video-called after Jake proposed last year, and I’m the one she calls to help with wedding plans. For a while, I thought I’d lost her forever. I’m so grateful she was willing to give our friendship another chance.