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I stood there fighting not to cry until he got into his SUV and drove away. Only once his taillights faded into the darkness did I release the hold on my tears. A sob came choking out of me so hard my knees went weak.
I didn’t hear the door open behind me, but Dad wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug. “It’s okay, honey,” he murmured. “It’s not forever. I promise.”
“I miss him already,” I whispered, pressing my tear-soaked face into his shirt.
He didn’t say anything as he picked me up and carried me into the house. Mom was already sitting on the couch in the living room, a blanket over her legs and a box of tissues beside her. Dad set me down beside her, and she cuddled me close.
I fell asleep tucked between both my parents hours later, the two of them holding on to me, because I couldn’t hold on to the one person I ached for the most.
Chapter 18
Luca
Every muscle in my body ached as I walked into my dorm. College football practices had nothing on high school. I was taking and dishing out hits with ten times more force than I was used to. But it was nothing I couldn’t handle on the field.
My defensive coordinator had told me after practice earlier that I would be starting the first game of the season. I was the only freshman on the defense to start, but I was also taking a junior’s place on the roster. My fellow freshmen were jealous as hell. The guy whose place I was taking was pissed that I had pushed him to second string. He wouldn’t be getting much game time this year, and from what I’d heard, he’d been thinking of going into the draft come spring.
I was making enemies left and right in the locker room, it seemed. But it didn’t bother me. I wasn’t there to make friends. I wanted to be coached by the best, show the world every Saturday what I could do, and get a killer rookie deal when I entered the draft. Nothing else mattered but doing my job and getting things done so I could take care of Violet for the rest of our lives.
We didn’t need the money from me playing pro football, not with both of us set for life with the trust funds our fathers had set up for us. But I wanted to be the one to provide for us. Our trusts could be set aside for our own kids one day. Everything that Vi and I had in life, I wanted to be the one to acquire for us.
I took the elevator up to the suite I shared with three other football players and dropped face first onto the couch in the sitting room. All I wanted was about ten hours of sleep, especially since I would have to get up before dawn the next morning for yet another practice, but I didn’t have the energy to make it all the way to my private bedroom. Just because I’d been told I was going to start didn’t mean I could slack off during practices. My head coach wouldn’t even hesitate to push me to second string, or even third, if I didn’t consistently prove to him I belonged as a starter.
My eyes had barely closed before the door opened and my roommate walked in. Marsh Lewis was a sophomore running back. He was from Washington state and was a second-generation footballer. He’d been groomed from birth to play with the mind-set of go pro or don’t come home. The guy breathed football, and I was glad to have him as a roommate because that meant I didn’t have to worry about some idiot trying to pressure me into doing stupid shit that would get me off track.
The other two guys we shared a suite with I couldn’t say the same about. One was a freshman like me, the other was a junior, and after today, I wasn’t confident either of them would have my back on or off the field.
Marsh saw me, and his lips twitched with amusement. “I was going to ask if you’re hungry and want to grab some dinner with me, but I can see you’ve got other plans.”
I groaned and sat up. My stomach was growling with hunger, but I didn’t know if I could keep my eyes open long enough to eat. I couldn’t lose any mass by skipping meals, though, so I forced myself to pick up my phone. “Let’s just order in.”
“Sounds good. You go grab a shower, and I’ll order the food. I remember what you like, man.” He walked to our small kitchen and pulled out a sports drink before grabbing his phone to make a DoorDash order. “Besides, you need to call your girl before you crash for the night.”
Thinking of Violet put me on alert a little more, and I actually had a smile on my face when I walked into my bedroom. After a quick shower, I texted her to see if she was free. School had started back for her earlier in the week, so I knew she might not be able to talk yet with the time difference.
Me: So tired. Need to hear your voice before I sleep.
Violet: Give me ten minutes. I swear I’ll call you as soon as I get out of this stupid class.
I dropped back onto my pillow, determined not to let sleep make me miss the chance to talk to my girl.
Fifteen minutes later, my phone went off, and I answered it before it could fully ring. “I’m so sorry it took so long,” Violet said. “Someone stopped me in the hall on the way out.”
There was something in her tone that suddenly had me on alert. “Is somebody giving you trouble, babe?”
I heard a huff and pictured her nose scrunching up like it did when she was unhappy. “There’s some new guy who has been hitting on me all week. I’ve ignored him, but he just asked me out.”
I tensed, my free hand balling into a fist. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just did, Luca,” she said with a tired sigh. “I didn’t want to distract you when he was just harmlessly flirting. But when he asked me out, I explained to him I have a boyfriend whom I love more than life itself and told him he needed to set his eyes on someone else because I wasn’t available.”
“What’s this guy’s name?” I gritted out.
“Luca…” She laughed then changed the subject. “How did today go? Did they announce who will be starting?”
“His name, Vi.”
“Remington.” I heard a few voices in the background and recognized Shaw’s then Cannon’s and knew she was getting into his car. “Well?”
