5 years later...
Julian
Getting ready for the second biggest press conference of my life had me feeling exactly how I felt the day of the biggest press conference of my life. What I was about to announce today had the potential to rock the football world as much as my coming out did.
“Dadda!”
That sweet little voice that I had grown accustomed to for the past couple of years knocked me out of my own thoughts, and I looked over my shoulder to see my three-year-old daughter Eve bound into the room, her arms outstretched ready for a hug. The sight of her smiling innocence immediately took me away from the stress of today’s meeting, and I pushed myself onto my feet so I could meet her in the middle, scooping her up into my arms.
“What’re you up to, Evie?” I asked her.
She pointed proudly at the blue marks on her deep brown skin. “I’m drawing!”
“I can see that,” I said with a chuckle.
I carried her back out into the living area where I saw Alexis talking to our nanny Jessica, with our nine month old baby Wyatt in his arms. Alexis had his back to me with his hip popped, patting Wyatt gently on his back. Wyatt looked over Alexis’s shoulder and noticed me, but his eyes fell to his sister and a smile quickly spread across his face. Eve was his favourite person in the world, and I loved watching their relationship bloom every day.
“How’s your preparation going?” Jessica asked me casually.
Unaware that I was behind him, Alexis looked over his shoulder at me, his blonde hair twirling effortlessly with his movements, and that same sweet smile that I fell in love with hit me like it always did.
“Eve, did you show Dadda your drawing?” Alexis asked our daughter.
“I’ll show him now!”
Eve wriggled to get free of me, so I put her down on the floor and she ran across the room to her arts and crafts table to retrieve her drawing. She ran back to me excitedly and thrust the piece of paper into my hands.
“This is beautiful, Evie!” I said. “I like the colours that you used.”
Eve beamed up at me before snatching her drawing back and bounding off to her crafts table.
“I love watching you with our kids,” Alexis said thoughtfully. “It reminds me of why I fell in love with you in the first place.”
I brought my arms up and flexed for Alexis, eliciting a dramatic eye roll from him. “I thought this is why you fell in love with me, baby.”
Jessica laughed and continued cleaning the kitchen, while Alexis leaned down to press a gentle kiss on Wyatt’s head.
“Don’t listen to your silly Dadda,” Alexis said to our son.
When Alexis had told me he was thinking of starting a family, I wasn’t sure I was ready for it. Sure, physically we could comfortably afford the process of starting a family, but I was so used to it just being Alexis and me that I feared that a child would take that away from us.
After looking into our options, Alexis told me that he felt it right in his heart that we adopt to give a child a loving home. We had signed off all the documents, got the necessary checks done, and before I knew it, we were flying home from Sierra Leone with our new daughter. I could tell Alexis fell in love with her at first sight, but I didn't feel as lucky. But as soon as I held her in my arms for the first time, I knew I would do anything in my power to love and protect this child, and my fears immediately washed away.
The first couple of weeks with Eve were an adjustment, especially considering Alexis’s role as a charity coordinator for the OC Sharks.
Look, some people will say that working with your spouse will ruin your marriage, but those people clearly weren’t married to the right people, because I loved every moment I would run into Alexis at Sharks HQ.
We got the hang of being parents and loved spending time with Eve, and my fear that Alexis and I would grow apart were extinguished, because I fell more and more in love with Alexis watching him spend time with our daughter.
When Eve was 18 months old, I suggested to Alexis that we expand our family once again, and Alexis was completely on board. This time, we took the surrogacy route, and nine months later we were blessed with Wyatt. Alexis and I opted to not find out whose sperm was used for Wyatt, and we’re both happy being in the dark about that.
I walked over and wrapped my arms around Alexis, planting a kiss on his forehead. I rested my head on his and looked down at Wyatt, who looked up at his dads with a look of pure innocence.
“Are you ready for today?” Alexis asked me.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Alexis
I looked up into the eyes of my husband and he looked so tired, which confirmed to me that he was making the right decision today.
This season was going to be the last season of Julian Ambrose before he officially retired.
I couldn’t lie; I was excited to have Julian at home more with me, but there was still a tiny part of me that felt guilty as if it was because of me that he was retiring. I mean, sure, when he came out and potentially jeopardised his career, that could’ve been the end of NFL player Julian Ambrose as we knew him, but he persevered and continued to have a very successful career despite the naysayers, and after the Sharks won the SuperBowl that year thanks in large part to Julian, the murmurs that Julian’s sexual orientation would affect his playing died down.
But now, I couldn't help but feel like it was different now. Football had always been Julian’s first love, and I’m so proud to say that he gave it his all. But then he fell in love with me, and then with Eve and Wyatt, and as big as he was, Julian didn’t have enough love to spread across all of us. Julian remained in form and continued to prove why he was the most in demand defence player in the entire league, but I could see in his eyes that he wasn’t completely in it anymore.
Just like he looked now, Julian was tired because all he wanted to do was come home and spend time with his husband and two young children. It helped that the Sharks gave me a role with the company that I was very passionate about and I would bump into Julian every now and then, and Jessica would bring the kids by whenever she could so he could at least see them, but it wasn’t enough for him.
When he told me that he was thinking of retiring, I rocked a sleeping Wyatt in my arms and asked him if the pros outweighed the cons.
“Nothing could outweigh you and the kids,” he said with a tired smile.
I knew the discussion was closed then. He was doing this for the children and me, but most importantly, he was doing it for himself.
“Come on,” Jessica said, snapping me back to the present day. She had her arm held out for Eve. “Let’s get you dressed for dadda’s big day.”
Eve excitedly ran off to her room with Jessica, leaving Julian and I standing pressed together in silence.
“I should probably get Wyatt and I ready as well,” I declared.
Julian pressed his lips against my forehead. “I love you, Lex. I love you more and more every day.”
“I know you do,” I said. “And I love you on every day that ends in Y.”
Julian chuckled and pressed another kiss to my lips before patting me gently on the butt.
Julian
I sat on the dais, looking out at the crowd of reporters, Sharks staff, and my teammates that had come to witness this press conference. Eve sat excitedly on my lap and was looking around at all the people with big eyes, looking over her shoulder to say ‘Wow’ every now and then. Alexis was seated next to me, dressed nicely in a light purple button-up with a cream jacket and matching cream slim pants, and he was holding Wyatt in his arms who was awake but was very clearly fighting the urge to sleep. Sharks management and the coaching team sat on the chairs behind me, along with Vanessa who had finally taken a seat after running around like a maniac trying to make sure everything was perfect.
This time around, I had told management beforehand what my plans were and the purpose of this press conference, and they had backed me completely, which was a very nice surprise. Probably because I wasn't springing it on them last minute like last time.
“You’ll be fine,” Alexis said to me discreetly, distracting me from my thoughts.
“I know.”
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too, baby.”
Eve turned her head to look at us. “I love you too, Dadda.”
I laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love you, baby girl.”
“I love you, Dad,” she said, turning her attention to Alexis.
“I love you as well, Evie.”
Vanessa stood up and patted me on the shoulder as she walked past me to begin the press conference. Alexis reached over and squeezed my knee reassuringly
“Good morning everyone and thank you for attending today’s press conference. As you all know, Julian Ambrose has a big announcement he’d like to share, so let me introduce Julian Ambrose.”
Alexis leaned over to whisper to Eve to stay with him, but Eve shook her head and crossed her arms defiantly.
“It’s okay, Lex,” I whispered.
I carried my daughter up to the mic and looked down at everyone in the crowd. Flashbacks of my coming out came into my mind, and thoughts of the horrible few months that followed played in my head. I let out a deep breath and squeezed Eve tightly to ground me.
“Good morning everyone. Eve says good morning as well.”
The people in the audience laughed which broke the ice enough for me to continue confidently.
“I have dedicated my life to playing football and being the absolute best I could be, and with the OC Sharks, I have accomplished so much. I’m a four-time Superbowl Champion; six time Defensive Player of the Year; but most importantly, I’m a husband and a father.”
Eve, who had suddenly become shy with all of the attention, rested her head on my chest. I cradled her closer to me and kissed her on the top of her head.
“That is why I’ve decided that this season will be my last season.” The volume of chatter in the crowd increased, and reporters had already begun shooting their hands up in the air to ask questions, but I cut them off. “While I understand that this decision might come as a shock to some, the Sharks have completely supported my decision to retire at the end of the season. Rest assured, I will not be taking it easy this season; if anything, I’m going to be playing at 200%. But once the season is done, hopefully as Superbowl champions, I will be hanging it up so I can spend time raising my two children with my husband.”
Vanessa came up to my side and placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Well done, Jules,” she said into my ear.
I nodded towards her and moved Eve around to my side.
“Now,” Vanessa said into the microphone. “Are there any questions?”
Alexis
Once the press conference was over, Julian and I sat down in one of the Sharks HQ meeting rooms with Jessica and the kids. Considering Sharks management were given this news ahead of time, Julian wasn’t being pulled in ten different directions like last time; instead, he got to sit down and decompress with his family.
Julian held his phone out, talking on FaceTime about the press conference with his parents. Eve was sitting on his lap and was smiling at the screen, looking at her Nonno and Nonna.
“It went about as well as it could’ve,” Julian explained to his parents.
Sitting next to my husband, I peered over and said hello to my in-laws. Kathy greeted me with her big, warm smile, whereas I could tell Joe was only paying attention to Eve who had quickly become the apple of his eye.
“Are you happy it’s all done now?” Kathy asked Julian.
“Yeah it’s a big relief. But I’m excited to play one last season and then finally settle down and relax with my babies.”
Kathy frowned. “And your husband.”
Julian laughed. “Alexis is my baby, of course.”
In Julian’s screen, I could see Eve scrunch up her nose at her dadda’s cheesiness. She then returned to the game of digital peekaboo she was playing with Joe.
“We can’t wait to see more of you, Julian,” Kathy said.
“I volunteer to babysit my grandkids as much as you want,” Joe said excitedly.
“I know you would, Dad. We’re about to get ready to go back home, so we’ll speak to you later.”
“That’s okay, son. Congratulations for today. I love you all!” Kathy almost shouted through the phone.
“Love you too,” Julian replied.
Joe also said I love you through the screen but it was very obvious he was only talking to Eve, who giggled and waved at her grandfather before Julian ended the call.
Jessica, who was rocking a now-sleeping Wyatt, gently placed him into his stroller. “What are your plans for the rest of the day now the big announcement is out of the way?”
“I just want to chill out,” Julian said, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe we can have a special dinner tonight.”
“Outback Steakhouse?” I suggested, raising an eyebrow.
Julian shot me a side glance and chuckled. “If that’s what you really want, then yes we can go to Outback Steakhouse.”
Jessica was made aware of where Julian and I ate the night of our wedding and she joined in with the laughter. “Either way, I’m happy to take the kids off your hands if you two want to go do something.”
“We’ll be alright, Jess,” Julian said.
“It’s not every day you get to announce something as big as your retirement! You should go celebrate!” Jessica insisted.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head. “We’d actually love that, thank you Jessica.”
Jessica gestured for Eve to join her, and she excitedly hopped off Julian’s lap and bounded towards her nanny.
Julian put his arm around me and pulled me into his embrace, kissing me on the top of my head.
“What do you want to do, baby?” he asked me sweetly.
I turned my head and softly kissed his jawline. “You know what I want to do.”
Julian swallowed and nodded his head. “Good idea.”
Julian
With Jessica and the kids out for some fun in the park, I picked Alexis up, squeezing his firm ass cheeks, and slowly carried him into our room. He locked his legs around my waist, crossed tightly at the ankles, and leaned down to kiss me. Our lips melted together so perfect just as they had done so many times before.
I leaned down to place him onto the cushioning of the mattress, but with his arms and legs wrapped securely around me, I fell down with him. I laughed against his lips and pushed myself up to look down at my beautiful husband.
“You still look as beautiful as the day I met you,” I said.
Even after all this time together, I loved possessing the power of making Alexis blush.
“I’m so excited to spend the rest of our lives together,” he muttered.
I leaned down and pressed my lips to his. “What am I going to do with all of this spare time?”
Alexis felt down my arms, his soft skin gliding down the muscles in my forearms, and his hands fell down on top of mine. He squeezed them, forcing my fingers to dig into his ass.
“You could do this.”
I chuckled and pressed my lips against his once more. “Yes, sir.”
Leaning down to gently tug at his earlobe with my teeth, I let my breath softly caress his ear.
“How do you want it, baby?”
“Make love to me.”
With a bite of his bottom lip, Alexis slowly raised his arms above his head. I grabbed the top button of his shirt and unbuttoned it slowly. My lips followed the opening of his shirt, kissing an invisible line across his chest as more of his soft skin appeared, making a short pitstop at his nipples as my tongue swirled around him, causing his back to arch and a soft moan to escape his lips.
I tossed his shirt aside and began fiddling with his pants as I kissed and sucked below his navel. Alexis dug his nails into the mattress, still softly moaning as I teased him with my mouth.
Using his arms to support him, Alexis shipped his hips off the bed, silently begging me to take his pants off.
“Alexis Ambrose,” I teased, “patience is a virtue.”
I slowly began peeling Alexis’s pants down, immediately seeing how hard he was for me. I teased kisses around his aching cock through the fabric of his underwear.
“Julian…” he whispered.
“It’s coming, my love.”
Finally, I set his cock free by pulling the waistband of his briefs down. His dick sprung up and slapped his flat stomach, aching for me to touch it, to kiss it and please it.
Alexis slowly began spreading my legs and, following his lead, I stuck the head of his cock into my mouth and began gently sucking on his tip.
“Julian…” his moans got louder.
I began taking more and more of him inside my mouth, paying attention to his body language to see just how he liked it. His body writhed around as I got to his hilt, choking on the sweet taste of him.
Alexis’s head came off the mattress and he looked down at me, his brown eyes full of a desperate need to feel more and more of my pleasure.
I popped his cock out of my mouth and gently sucked on my index and middle fingers. Alexis bit his lip and shifted his hips closer to me. I began by circling around his rim and when I felt his body was ready for me, I plunged both fingers into him which elicited a scream of pure pleasure from him.
While I fingered his tight hole, I took him into my mouth again and worked my mouth and fingers rhythmically together.
“Julian… please…”
With one last slurp up his length, I took his cock out of my mouth and looked up at him, a cheeky grin spreading across my face.
“Not yet, baby,” I said. “I want you to cum while I’m inside you.”
Alexis
I moved up the mattress and watched my handsome husband slowly strip for me. Julian made sure to take his shirt off for me slowly so I could enjoy every single ripple in his torso and band of muscle in his shoulders and arms.
My teeth naturally came down to my bottom lip like the horny bastard I was when Julian pulled his pants down, kicking them off him until he was completely naked in all his ripped, hard, erect glory.
I slowly rolled around onto my stomach and presented my ass to him, just like I knew he liked. I winked at him and he eagerly crawled over and placed his big hands on my cheeks, kneading the skin in his firm grip.
“So fucking sexy, baby,” he whispered.
He immediately bent down and began tonguing my hole, his palms spreading my cheeks so he could get the best access to my rim.
Fuck. If there was one thing this man was put on this earth for other than play football, it was eat ass. He fed on my hole ravenously as if he had never eaten before, and no matter the mood or vibe was in the room when we had sex, he always ate me out like I was his last meal.
My cock was aching hard, but I urged myself not to touch it. I was always teetering on the edge when Julian ate me out, and I didn’t want to reach my climax just yet, especially because he wanted to be inside me when I did. And who was I to deny my husband of that wish.
Julian sat back on his heels and wiped the saliva on his face with the back of his hand. Fuck he was so sexy when he did that.
He gripped my ankles and used his power to spin me over onto my back. Before I could even think of a response, he had crawled over me and kissed my lips.
“I want to look in your eyes and hold you while I make you cum.”
Quickly squirting some lube onto his thick cock, he lined it up at my entrance and began circling my wet hole. I braced myself. No matter how many times I fucked this man, I always had to prepare to take him inside of me, especially because if I had him, I wanted all of him.
He pushed himself into me and paused to let me get used to his thickness.
“You okay, baby?” he whispered.
“Yes. Keep going.”
He worked his way into me and when I felt that he was all the way in, he rolled his head back and let out a moan.
“Jesus fuck me, I will never get over the feel of you around me.”
My body quickly acclimated to me, and once Julian could tell that I was very much into the pleasure stage of taking his big cock inside of me, he wrapped his arms around me and began thrusting. His hips moved slowly but rhythmically, making sure that every single inch of my hole was gaining pleasure from him.
He pressed his forehead against mine and his blue eyes bore into me as he continued filling me up. Our lips collided in a sweet, passionate kiss; not one of leisure or lust, but one of pure unconditional love.
“I love you, baby,” Julian said.
“I love you too, Julian. I love you so much.”
My declaration of love for him stirred something inside of him, and I could tell by his body movements that he was getting close. Reaching down between us, I began to stroke my own cock, relishing in the idea that he was going to release in me.
I wrapped my free arm around his neck while I stroked myself to the limit, and his grip around me tightened as his thrusts became quicker and harder.
“Cum for me, Lex,” he whispered. “Cum for me please.”
“Okay,” was all I said.
A few more strokes was all it took for me to almost scream as I shot my load onto both of our stomachs. Julian looked down at the sight of my crum dripping down his abs, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Fuck, Lex!”
The muscles in his arms tensed as he cried out, shooting his load deep inside of my hole.
Julian collapsed his body on top of mine and he rested his head on my panting chest. I cradled his head and leaned down to kiss his crown.
“That was sensational,” I whispered.
Julian looked up at me and smiled. “Who said marriage ruins your sex life?”
I laughed and leaned down to kiss the tip of his nose.
“Marriage doesn’t ruin it. Wyatt’s crying and Eve constantly barging through our door is what ruins it.”
Julian chuckled and looked at me thoughtfully.
“Who would’ve thought that my drunken bad boy antics could somehow lead me to the most ridiculously attractive and selfless husband, and two beautiful children?”
“I’m not even sure how we got here, but I’m so fucking glad we’re here now.”
Julian smiled. “Me too, baby.”
After a brief silence, I dared to say what we were clearly both thinking.
“I miss the kids,” I admitted.
“Me fucking too.”
Julian pushed himself off of me and rose up onto his feet. He held his hand out for me to take.
“Let’s have the quickest shower known to man so we can go see them.”
I nodded my head and took his hand, letting out an embarrassing yelp when he pulled me up into his arms with ease.
“I am capable of standing up on my own, you know,” I said, pressing a kiss against his cheek.
Julian smiled. “Yeah, but I told you if I could hold you like this forever, I would.”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This concludes Be My Companion. I hope you've enjoyed the rollercoaster ride of Julian Ambrose and Alexis Mendes as much as I enjoyed writing it.
