Within ten minutes of the post-game celebration for the PAC-12 Championship game, hands-down the biggest football game on the largest national-level stage I'd played in up to that point in my life, the game was completely wiped out of my mind.

I'd never flipped through stronger emotions in my life than I had when I thought Ellie had been taken, to when I went out with half the team in a search party through Allegiant Stadium with vague details that my girlfriend had gotten lost, then Darrius texted me that he'd found her, to when I reunited with her in my arms.

My relief was short-lived when Ellie relayed how the Stevens had threatened her, Jake, even me. Unfortunately, Darrius hadn't heard any of those words and only knocked on the door since all the other executive suites he'd checked were empty with the doors left open. And, like snakes, they slid out through the post-game crowd lines without being spotted by any of us who truly knew who they were.

My ego wanted nothing more than I was the one who found Ellie or sent Ryder to the hospital with another set of broken ribs. Once we left together, I settled for punching my left fist straight into Emmitt's right eye socket while he waited in the concourse hallway outside the exit for the team bus back to the hotel.

"That's for telling those pathetic excuses for humans where Ellie was," I gritted out and absently flicked my left hand's fingers a few times. By Ellie's soft gasp that hit my ear, I didn't even need to turn around to know this news was a surprise to her.

My left fingers twitched against the pain that radiated from my knuckles but I clenched my jaw tight and stood over Emmitt's crumpled form on the black striped carpet beneath us. Soft hands closed around my right fist, which I squeezed so tightly I was surprised the skin on that hand's knuckles hadn't ripped open.

Ellie's eyes met mine as she stepped in between us, then she knelt down next to Emmitt, who had all the nerve in the world at how tenderly he looked at Ellie. Red dots flashed over my eyes and my blood boiled inside my veins when he reached one hand up and cupped Ellie's cheek in his palm, then rasped out a pathetic apology.

"E-Ellie..." His voice was husky and broken but none of me felt sorry for him. "I'm sorry, I didn't -"

Ellie silenced him with one hand clamped over his mouth, then leaned forwards and spoke into his ear. My fists tightened until my nails dug into the flesh of my palms at the sight below me but Emmitt's eyes filled with remorse the more Ellie's lips moved, then she pulled back, stood up, and grabbed my right hand.

When we were a few steps away, a slight bump against my shoulder drew my attention to Jake's presence headed towards Emmitt. His dark eyes narrowed into thin slits, his skin was flushed red, nostrils flared, and an angry vein popped out of the side of his neck. He turned his head in our direction, then grumbled, "Haven't done this since high school."

Before Ellie or I answered, Jake turned to Emmitt and roared out, "Asshole! You even fucking think about touching my sister and -"

"Oh boy." Ellie tugged my hand further down the concourse hallway, where our family converged on her in a small, huddled crowd of hugs and sighs of relief.

I stepped back and leaned against a nearby wall, my arms crossed over my chest and body sagged with relief. After a few assurances from Mom and Brody and follow-up promises from Mr. Reynolds, Ellie was back where she belonged, wrapped up in my arms.

My left hand thumped numbly from residual pain but I ignored it, tugged Ellie closer, and pressed a soft kiss on the top of her head. One calm, slow breath of her fruity shampoo was all I needed before my eyes closed and my pulse returned to normal.

"Hey." I opened my eyes and searched Ellie's expression for a reaction. "What did you say to Emmitt?"

Ellie's cheeks flushed pink but the smile and curled finger gesture she gave me drew me down. Her breath warmly washed over my ear when she murmured, "I told to have a nice life and stay the fuck out of mine. I told him that he didn't lose any chance with me because he never had one, that you are and always have been it for me."

Without a single care of who saw us, I smashed my mouth hard against Ellie's. She whimpered softly on contact but returned the kiss push for pull, her tongue swiped against mine, and her hands fisted my shirt and pulled us closer. My head dizzied with how quickly the blood rushed south but I clutched against me and kissed her roughly until -

"Take it to the hotel room, Adonis," Harper chirped up behind us, but I opened my eyes and caught a genuinely happy smile on her face.

Ellie broke off our kiss with a gasp, her entire face red right before she buried it into my chest. I heaved a few breaths and rubbed my palms over her shoulder and back, but for once, I actually agreed with Harper.

I spent the night in Ellie's hotel room, which was a little awkward since she roomed with her mom, but I wouldn't let Ellie out of my sight until we were back in Seattle. Once we got back home the next day, a small cluster of reporters spotted us in SeaTac's baggage claim area. In the flurry of continuous camera and phone flashes, I shaded one hand over my eyes, offered a tight smile, then turned us in the other direction.

Probably leftover after the game... which is the last thing I want to talk about right now.

By the time I grabbed our suitcases off the belt and turned back to Ellie, my stomach dropped right into the soles of my shoes. The vulture reporters had closed in on Ellie, who stood wide-eyed and frozen like a statue.

Slowed by our bags, my feet moved like I trudged through mud as Ellie was peppered with questions from all directions.

"Miss Harrison! Miss Harrison!"

"Miss Harrison, is it true?"

"Your comments on the allegations, Miss Harrison?"

"Anything to say in your defense?

"I umm..." The color drained from Ellie's cheeks and she leaned back from the microphones shoved in her face.

"No comment," I growled out, pushed a path through, and led Ellie towards the exit.

"The hell was that about?" Ellie whispered to me once we sat inside the quiet confines of my truck interior, surrounded by the cement walls of the airport parking garage.

"I don't know," I admitted quietly. "But I have a bad feeling about this."

We hadn't gone five minutes on the highway back to campus when Ellie's phone rang. She pulled it out, groaned quietly, then answered it on speakerphone. "Hi Mr. Reynolds."

Without a greeting, Harper's Dad got straight to the point, "Eleanor, I'm sorry to bother you but wanted you to hear this from me instead of the news."

"Oh gosh..." Ellie's eyes filled with terror the longer she looked at me. I only tore my gaze away and focused on the road, but gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands. "What?"

"The Stevens apparently are tossing out a smear campaign on you," Mr. Reynold's bitterness was obvious, even through the muffled speakerphone Ellie used. "Rachel Sorenson aired an announcement on her midday sports show that you're one of the witnesses against him, followed up by a few... character interviews."

The phone shook in Ellie's hand while her other one clamped over her eyes. "Oh gawd..." she moaned softly. "I'm afraid to ask, but who?"

"From what I saw, Ryder and his parents but with these things, they release sound bite tidbits to gather interest, then release more the closer the trial gets. ESPN has already contacted my office several times for a response. I've prepared a statement about their false allegations if I can get your approval..."

"Yeah," Ellie mumbled in a weak, defeated voice. The more Mr. Reynolds recited, the further down her shoulders slumped, her chin dipped downward, and a few tears trailed over her cheeks.

"Yeah... it's okay," she choked out once Mr. Reynolds finished with his legal statement and assured her his firm had a response for the 'news' story. "Wuh-why me though?"

"I don't know how your name was released from the dockit but I can assume at this point the Stevens will go after any and all of the confirmed witnesses that they can identify," he replied in a cold, harsh tone that sounded nothing like the Mr. Reynolds I'd known casually at least. "Let my office handle this, you just get through the next three weeks the best you can."

"Right..." Ellie whispered so softly, I barely heard her.

"Hang in there, Eleanor. I'm sending you an email right now with the details but even though I'm still your legal representative, you've been assigned to a Mister Jay Russell from the Santa Cruz County's District Attorney's Office on behalf of the state. We're flying you down here two days before your subpoenaed court date and he'll prep you for what to expect when you testify in the Superior Court."

With my closest hand, I reached out and squeezed Ellie's shoulder. A soft gasp left her lips and I caught her phone right when she dropped it, then I gritted out, "We'll be there. Thanks Mr. Reynolds."

"Hang in there, Logan," his voice was full of sympathy before he ended the call with a goodbye.

"You heard him... and me." I set Ellie's phone down in the cupholder, clutched tightly onto her hand, and pressed a kiss onto the soft skin on its back. "Whatever happens, we'll get through it."

Ellie's only answer was she sighed softly, slid down in her seat, and closed her eyes. The rest of our drive back to UW was filled with an awful, thick silence broken up only by her soft sobs and reassurances from me that I wasn't even sure I believed at this point.

"Thank you Jim." Rachel Sorenson flashed a wide, bright smile across our television. My eyes narrowed as I recognized the Drumhellar Fountain, the same one I passed every morning on my way to my Bioengineering classes, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm standing here on the pristine, enchanting campus of the University of Washington, where normally the students here are concerned with final exams or recovering from the Huskies' recent PAC-Twelve Championship game loss to USC cast a dark shadow over their otherwise Cinderella season behind a surprise stellar performance by first-year transfer quarterback Logan Hightower."

"At this moment, the campus is reeling from vicious rumors announced two days ago about one particular student, Eleanor Harrison." My hands squeezed into tight fists when a picture of Ellie's face flashed up next to Rachel's. "Harrison, a junior from Santa Cruz California happens to be the girlfriend of the Huskies' quarterback and sister of Jacob Harrison, star quarterback at USC."

"While the personal story of the Harrisons and Hightower was recently featured earlier this season in my 'Beneath the Helmet' series, Eleanor Harrison's questionable involvement in the quarterback scandal of Ryder Stevens has come into public light. Stevens, a former stand-out quarterback at both Santa Cruz High School and the University of California-Davis, now stands accused of twelve counts of sexual assault and rape by the Santa Cruz County's District Attorney's Office."

"Come into public light my ass." I snorted quietly as waves of anger rolled in my gut the more this woman spoke.

"Recently Lucille and John Stevens, the parents and legal attorneys for Mr. Stevens, have gone public with evidence against Miss Harrison's character that they plan to present against Miss Harrison's testimony, scheduled for twenty days from now. Miss Harrison's lawyer, a Mr. David Reynolds has released the following statement -"

"Fucking ridiculous..." I muttered and rubbed my hands over my forehead, then dragged my palms down my cheeks.

The next three weeks turned into an absolute media circus hell for me and Ellie. The sports reporters stationed outside our apartment during the football season were model citizens compared to the assholes who pounced on me or Ellie, even Wes and Charlie upon sight and picked for soundbite scraps like vultures that fought over a carcass.

The harassment for pictures and interview bites got so bad that Ellie and I got a parking pass exemption and drove to our classes. Unfortunately, after a few days, the media caught onto our schedules and trailed Ellie more than me, but I was still stopped outside every classroom, practice, even when I walked to the library and did homework through her work shifts. Once the vultures tracked us to the grocery store on Sundays, we switched to a delivery service.

Ellie and I kept up with our weekly video calls with Dr. Sterns, who helped as much as anyone with remote distanced advice helped. She advised us to avoid public appearances, used short, cryptic 'No comment' responses, and recommended that we drew as little attention to ourselves as possible.

In addition, for Ellie's sake, she needed as much support from her close-knit circle of friends and family more than ever. Given Dr. Sterns' recommendations, in an incredibly difficult moment, Ellie broke down and told her friends the truth within the confines of our apartment. We only needed one cryptic text message to Monique, Darrius, Wes, and Charlie before all four appeared in our hallway.

Based on the Stevens' public interviews, which got worse and sounded less like Ellie the more I saw, and locker room gossip, the entire team was understandably confused. Two days into the media circus, Coach Peterson pulled me in for a private meeting with Coach Donovan and Vaughn, where I only needed a short, cryptic explanation of the truth before they said I had whatever support I needed but their focus was understandably on the upcoming Fiesta Bowl.

From the comforts of our living room sofa, once Ellie told her friends that Ryder sexually assaulted her when she was fourteen, she was slammed with mixed reactions from all directions. Our friends released emotions that ranged from disgust and shock to anger and sorrow that even I felt for Ellie, so I tugged her closely into my side and wrapped both arms around her.

"Shoulda broke his neck in Vegas." Darrius stood up and paced steps so hard, I was surprised he hadn't worn down our hardwood floors or worse, fell down to the floor beneath us. "I heard nothing, Miss Ellie, but I shoulda broke his neck..."

"You in jail wouldn't have helped, D." Monique stood up and stilled Darrius' paces with one of her hands on his back, but the same anger in his eyes flashed through hers. "Ellie, girl I had no idea... Shit, I'm so sorry."

"Ellie..." Charlie gasped softly, knelt on the floor between Ellie's feet, and clasped her hands on Ellie's knees. "All this time, you never said... I knew it was something bad because of Dr. Sterns but... Why didn't you tell us?"

"She couldn't," I interrupted and clutched Ellie tighter. "Ellie, her brother, parents, even Harper and I were bound to an NDA not to tell anyone. The same assholes are dragging her name down right now, all because Ellie is testifying in court against that asshole assaulting her."

"Sounds like they broke their own deal then," Charlie murmured softly but a sad, almost wistful look came over her eyes. "What do you need from us?"

"I'll tell you what I need," Wes gritted out. "My fist into a fucking wall!"

"Like that'll help," Charlie snorted. "Save your energy for the Fiesta Bowl, slugger."

Oh... That's right. That.

Given how our arrival back from Las Vegas went, I'd almost forgotten that despite how we'd lost the PAC-12 championship game against USC, Coach Peterson informed us that our impressive season and play had earned us an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl, against whoever hadn't won the Big-Ten tournament between Nebraska and Oklahoma.

At this moment, football was the least of my concerns. Given the Stevens borderline kidnapped her at the PAC-12 game in Vegas, I only cared about Ellie's safety and privacy if I left.

"Ellie..." I pulled back slightly. "Fiesta Bowl. Are you -"

"I'm going," she replied right away with a slight sniffle, then sat up straighter. One of her hands gently pressed into my cheek, although the way her fingers trembled made me want one of my fists punched through a wall. "I don't want to be a distraction though."

"Baby..." I cooed softly and smoothed some of her hair strands behind her ear. "You're not a distraction. If anything, I'd be more worried if you were here by yourself. Do you think Jake would -"

"No," she whispered in a husky, tear-threatened voice. "He has his own bowl game to worry about, the national championship too."

"Rose Bowl isn't until four days later," I reminded her. "I'm sure if he explained the circumstances - "

"I can't ask him," she murmured and a frown creased her forehead, but I'd already pulled out my phone.

"I can," I mumbled and slowly typed a one-handed message while my other hand clutched her tightly into my chest.

me: Need your ass at the Fiesta Bowl for Ellie.

With the notification beep that slowly followed, I flashed my screen to my still unconvinced girlfriend.

Jake: done.

"For fuck's sake," Ellie cursed as another message hit my phone. Her dark eyes glimmered over my screen, accompanied by the slight upward curl of the corners of her lips. "Welcome to my world."

My frown matched Ellie's when I read the second message.

Jake: Harper's not coming, right?

me: Get over it for one football game.

After a long pause and a sarcastic response, Jake agreed and I put my phone back in my pocket. "That's settled. Mom and Brody are coming too."

"And before and after the game, we'll do everything we can," Charlie spoke up from her seat on the floor, her blue eyes fixed up at Ellie.

Ellie was silent for a long time, then her eyes drifted around the room. The gravity of the situation seemed like it sunk in as she met each of her friend's eyes, then mine. Finally, she swallowed hard, nodded, and offered softly, "Thanks."