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One thing I refuse to put a dollar amount on. Because to me, this team has been invaluable in the lessons it has taught me and the person it has shaped me into.
With a frustrated huff, I make my way to the outside of the stadium in search for better service. As I reach the front gate, finally, more than a single bar illuminates my screen. I try my luck again, clicking re-dial—yet before I can lift my phone back up to my ear, I hear the sound of a ring just in front of me. I raise my head, and I’m met with the sight of Warren loading his things into his car and slamming his trunk closed.
“There you are!” I end the call, a sense of relief flooding my chest at the sight of him. I tuck my phone away and skip over to his side. “I've been looking all over for you,” I say with a laugh,my mood instantly brightened. Seeing him has that effect on me. “Where have you been?”
Silent.
He remains silent with a face like thunder. Usually, he’s quick to welcome me into his embrace. Wrap an arm around me, pull me in for a kiss, and whisper sweet nothings into my ear. But now, he’s giving me nothing.
I can’t help but furrow my eyebrows in confusion. This wasn’t the same Warren I had just seen in my office, the one who’d come racing up the stairs to be by my side.
Something has happened. I just don’t know what.
“Hey…” I place a delicate hand on his arm, leaning to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek—attempting to assess the situation. “Are you okay?”
He pulls back before my lips can touch his skin, shaking me free from his grasp as he looks away. I feel a pang in my chest, so painful that I almost flinch away. His eyes dwell on the concrete below us, refusing to meet mine.
“Warren?” I’m left dumbfounded by his inability to look at me. Usually, I have to tell him to stop staring. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
A long, drawn-out pause is surmounted as his brows crease together, and finally, he meets me with a cold stare—those icy blue eyes chilling me to my core, freezing me in place. “I don’t know, Delaney.” His voice is sharp, full of impatience. “You tell me.”
I take a step back. I can’t remember the last time he spoke to me with that tone.
“I…” I attempt to speak, trying to make sense of his behavior, but I’m cut short. My eyes draw me to his wrist.
It’s bare.
He took off his bracelet.
“You…took the bracelet off?” My focus is now drawn towards that detail in a pathetic attempt to distract myself from his earlier remark as I reach for his wrist. “Why would you take it off, babe?”
“Why would you lie to me all this time?” He snaps in response, yanking his arm out of my reach before I can even grasp a hold of him. His eyes cut into me like daggers, and I can feel myself bleeding from the wounds.
Both literally and verbally, I start to stumble. “Lie to you?” I can’t help but repeat his words, stupefied. “Warren, what are you talking about?”
He cranes his head to the side, creases appearing around his eyes as he folds his arms. “It's all starting to make sense now,” he speaks.
“What is?” My voice becomes frantic. I’m so confused, and his half-answers aren’t easing my anxiety in the slightest. “What are you so angry about right now? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He releases a breath, maintaining his steady, intense stare at me while I feel like I’m about to crumble. “The real reason why you really came here. What you’ve been doing this whole time. You lot are clever, I’ll give you that.”
“Warren…” I’m reluctant to take a step forward, terrified by just how much I know it will wreck me if he takes another step back in response. “What do you mean, ‘you lot’? You know why I came here.”
“Don’t play me a fool, Delaney,” he speaks sharply. The way he says my name is nothing like the way he’s ever said it before. Instead of gentle, loving, nurturing…it’s angry. Condescending. It forces my body to flinch at the sound. “I heard what your parents said to you,” he continues, nodding and staring straight at me as he speaks. “I heard what you said to them. Your plan allalong. It wasn’t to help us. It was never about that, and you know it. It was to fulfill Daddy’s checkbook. Wasn’t it?”
He’s evidently waiting for a response, but I’m at a loss for words. I had no idea he was listening in on our conversation. I can’t imagine how much it must have hurt him to hear what my parents had to say, and I know how terrible it all must have sounded, but I need to make it right. The only thing that matters now is telling him how I feel.
“No,” I tread lightly with my words, my voice soft, afraid that at any second he’ll be gone and I won’t be able to explain myself. “You’re misunderstanding. It’s not like that at all?—”
“Did you ever really care?” He shows no remorse in raising his tone. “Hm? Did you?”
I feel my chest rising and falling rapidly, my throat closing up as I stare back at him, speechless. I’m not sure what he’s referring to. Is he alluding to the team, or is he talking about the way I feel about him?
Regardless, the answer is yes. A million times, yes. Of course, I cared. From the moment I first locked gazes with this hardened man with a heart of gold, how could I not? This team has become a part of me.Hehas become a part of me.
Sure, at first, this entire venture was all about proving my parents wrong. Proving to them that I could do something on my own and keep Gramps’ legacy alive.
But since coming to Crawley, all of that had changed.
