Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Foster
I learned early how to survive on my own. Keep my head down and my past locked away.
My childhood taught me that nothing lasts and no one chooses you forever. So I built a life free from love—and pain.
Football gave me discipline. Success gave me distance. Silence kept me safe.
Then Eden walked into my house.
My new housekeeper. Someone meant to clean my messes and remain on the edges of my life.
Except she didn’t stay on the edges. She saw me—really saw me—and didn’t look away. Her laugh somehow turned my empty house into something that felt like a home.
With her, the walls I spent years building began to crack.
Loving her means risking everything. It means believing I’m worth choosing. She makes me want to stop hiding… and change the play.
Eden
I know what it’s like to grow up unwanted. To pack your life into boxes and pretend it doesn’t hurt when no one ever unpacks them for you.
Loneliness taught me independence and resilience, to build a family from the people who stay. I never expected more.
Then I met Foster.
He’s quiet and guarded, carrying the weight of a past he refuses to name.
Working for him was supposed to be simple—do my job, keep my head down, don’t cross lines.
But the more time we spend together, the more I see the man beneath the armor. The one he hides from the world.
We weren’t looking for love. Yet somewhere in the stolen moments, we chose each other.
And for the first time, I’m not just building a family—I’m finally home
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Foster
* * *
There’s a fist gripping my heart. The squeeze causes an ache that’s been there longer than I can remember. Its presence is familiar, yet still unwelcome. Today, however, that ache is for something altogether different. It’s not from the tragedies of my past. It’s for the hope of my future.
Sitting next to me on my right is my high school football coach. Coach Nathan Pruitt and his wife, Hope, stepped up for me in a big way my sophomore year of high school. They took me in when I had nowhere else to go, and they saved me from, well, life. I’ll never be able to repay them for all that they’ve done for me.
Coach and his wife are the reason we’re here today. Sure, I put in the work, but they guided me. Gave me a safe place to lay my head at night, food in my belly, as much as I could eat, and they pushed me to be better. To make better grades, to want more for myself. They guided me at a time when I was walking my way through the darkness.
To my left is my long-time girlfriend, Violet. She and I met in our freshman year of college at the University of Cincinnati. We both chose to stay close to home for school. We hit it off immediately, and we both fell hard and fast.
My friends, my teammates, they’ve given me shit more times than I can count for being in a serious relationship in college, but I ignore them, letting their words roll off my shoulders. Violet is the first person outside of Coach and his wife who has ever stayed. My life has been a long line of family who’d forget me and walk away.
Not Violet.
She’s been with me every step of the way during this process. She’s also the reason my leg keeps bouncing like it’s trying to release all the fear and hope I’m carrying at once. Her presence steadies me, even when my body can’t quite keep still, because what she doesn’t know is that I have a ring in my pocket.
Today marks the day my future changes. Our future changes, and I want her by my side. I need her by my side. She’s been there for all of it. Every practice, every game, every pep rally, and every workout session. Violet is my future, and today, we take the first step toward that.
At least, I hope we do.
We’ve been together for four years, and we’ve talked about the next steps. I don’t think she’s going to say no when I drop to one knee, but there’s always that chance, hence the leg bouncing like I’m thirteen again, trying to hide a crush.
Coach places his hand on my shoulder as my phone rings. We’re sitting in their living room, where we’ve been waiting for the call.
“Hello,” I answer.
“Foster Vaughn, this is Coach Warner from the Nashville Rampage. Welcome to the Rampage family, son,” he says.
Tears well in my eyes, and that same bout of emotion clogs my throat. It’s happening. It’s really happening. This has always been my dream. There was a time in my life when I didn’t know where my next meal was coming from, and this dream felt too far away. Too out of reach, but here I am, living it in color.
“Thank you, sir,” I manage to croak. Violet leans in close, and I take comfort that she’s here with me. I’m not doing this alone. Only in recent years have I had a steady presence that I could rely on. Coach Pruitt and his wife gave me that, and when I met Violet, another piece of my pain, more cracks around my heart were filled in by her constant presence and unwavering support.
“We’ll see you soon,” he says, and I nod, even though he can’t see me.
“Yes, sir.” Ending the call, I turn to Coach and grin. “Nashville,” I rasp and swallow back a sob. Coach stands and pulls me into a hug, then steps back, allowing his wife to do the same. Once they’ve released me, I turn to Violet, who stands and opens her arms. I lean into her embrace, burying my face in her neck.
The TV is blaring as the announcer begins speaking. “In the first round of the professional league draft, with the fifth pick, the Nashville Rampage selects Foster Vaughn, University of Cincinnati.”
The room erupts with cheers, and all I can do is hold on to Violet. She’s my calm in the storm. The light in the darkness that’s surrounded me for years.
The ring is burning in my pocket, but it’s not time yet. I don’t want an audience. I want the moment to be ours, and ours alone.
I’m pulled away from Violet by my friends and college teammates, who are here to help me celebrate. Nathan and Hope’s living room is packed, and everyone is here to celebrate me and this accomplishment.