PREGNANT FOR THE FOOTBALL KING

Episode 5: Someone Watching

Lucas spun away from the empty doorway, jaw clenched, and you could see his face harden—gone was the openness he’d had just seconds ago.

“There’s nobody there,” he said.

“There was. I saw her.” Ava’s words came out sharper than she meant. She could still feel that jolt of adrenaline buzzing under her skin. “Ice-blue dress. She was watching us dance, and now she’s out here, and both times she vanished the instant anyone else looked.”

“Ava—”

“Do you know who she is?”

For a fraction of a second, something flickered in his eyes, but it disappeared before she could pin it down. “No,” he said, quiet but firm. “I don’t.”

Ava couldn’t decide if she believed him, but before she had a chance to press, Priya stepped forward, phone in hand, thumb ready over the ride app. The moment to dig deeper slipped away while Ava stood there in the chill, feeling the clock ticking in her chest, like the chance to ask was draining away with every second.

Priya gave them a half-smile, eyes curious. “I’ll call us a car. Just text me,” she added before turning away to handle the details.

Now it was just Ava and Lucas, alone on the marble steps, one step between them—the space where the woman in blue had stood.

“You didn’t have to follow me,” Ava said.

“I know.”

“So why did you?”

He tried to sound steady, but you could hear it—tension just below the surface. That woman in the blue dress had rattled him. “You walked away like nothing happened,” he said, voice tight. “But it did, and I don’t like that she was staring at you so hard.” He hesitated, then went on. “Whoever she is, she wasn’t just passing by. She was locked on you, and I don’t like that.” His eyes narrowed, like he was trying to solve a riddle right there.

“Watching us.”

“No. Watching you,” he said again, quieter, more careful. “I’ve been photographed a hundred times at different events. This wasn’t that.”

Ava hugged her arms close—not because of the cold anymore, but because of the crawling unease in her belly. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

He exhaled, the edge slipping from his words. “I’m being straight with you. I don’t know who this woman is and it’s driving me crazy because I wish I could just give you an answer. But I can’t let you walk to your car alone until I’m sure she’s not out there.”

“That’s a pretty intense way to offer someone a ride.”

He cracked a small, crooked smile, a little self-conscious. “I’m guessing you’ve noticed by now, I’m not exactly a guy for small gestures.”

You like to hang on when you grab someone’s wrists, don’t you? You don’t really let go.

“Only if they’re worth it.”

Ava caught her breath, the whole world suddenly tipping gently back towards something softer. She looked at him, searching, and said, “When you talk like that, I never know if you really mean it, or you just want to see how I’ll react.”

He didn’t flinch, eyes steady on hers. “I don’t say what I don’t mean.” For a second, the whole mystery of the ice-blue dress faded to the background. It was just the two of them. “Come back to my place,” he said—and there wasn’t any doubt in his invitation.

“Lucas—”

He let out a soft, disbelieving laugh, like he’d finally run out of clever things to say—which didn’t happen often tonight. “I just want a place where we can actually talk. I don’t want to have to weigh every word, or wonder who’s eavesdropping or lurking. I just want some time. Us, figuring things out, no one else’s eyes on us.”

Ava’s heart punched once, right in her chest.

“That’s a lot to ask,” she said. “We barely know each other, and we met in a pretty weird way. Who even meets over a torn shirt? And now, after all this, it’s kind of a lot.”

“I get it.”

“You could be anyone under all this. People lie at parties all the time. And some wear ice-blue silk and vanish into thin air.”

“Send Priya the address. Make sure she knows exactly where we are.” His voice got serious, all the playfulness gone. “I’m not telling you to trust me on instinct. I’m asking you for an hour. Just one more hour tonight—before you decide this night was a mistake, or let someone else decide for you.”

The rain finally started, fine and cold, slipping onto her bare shoulders. Ava studied him. The famous face, tired eyes, and whatever it was he hadn’t told her about the woman in the doorway.

“One hour,” she said finally, her voice strong but just a little desperate. “And I want everything you actually know about her—no more playing dumb, no more ‘I don’t know who she is’ stuff.”

His expression shifted, caught off guard, and for a second it felt like she’d edged closer to the truth than he was ready for. He hesitated, a beat too long, before he nodded. “Alright. You’ve got an hour. I’ll tell you what I can.”

“What you can. Not what you know. Interesting.”

“You really do catch everything, don’t you.”

“Occupational hazard. I diagnose people for a living.”

He tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. There was something new there—a wariness that hadn’t been before, back in the glow of the ballroom. “One hour,” he said again, holding out his hand.

Ava glanced at him, looked back towards the warm light from the windows, then finally took his hand.

She nodded, voice steady, “One hour. That’s it.” Then she fixed her eyes on Lucas, sharp. “If that woman comes back, you better tell me everything. No holding back.”

He didn’t respond right away.

A silence stretched—just a little too long. And Ava realized she’d just gotten herself involved in something much bigger than a simple conversation.