That last sentence is practically whispered but Michaela catches it nonetheless. “And what does she mean to you, Thane?”
“Everything,” I confess. “Marlow means everything.”
She gives me a soft, cheesing smile and lightly punches me in the arm. “Go get her. She’s no doubt at school, getting ready for the game.”
I have to speak to her before the game and right this wrong.
“Thanks, Mic,” I tell her, whirling around. I tap her doorframe once and glance at her over my shoulder. “For being cool and supportive about this.”
I head down the hallway, my pace brisk. I’m not going to grovel empty handed so I grab the bouquet of pink peonies I bought Marlow and the mug she painted.
Except when I twist it around andreallylook at it, I’m floored.
On the football field, she painted herself with her pompoms raised in the air…and next to her?
Me.
She painted me. Right fucking next to her.
In my coaching attire with my arm around her waist.
Marlow has wanted me for keeps and I was too foolish to realize it. It was never about a casual hookup or getting me out of her system.
She saw me as boyfriend material and I ruined it without even realizing it.
No.
No, nothing is ruined yet.
I’m going to fix this.
With the peace offerings and my car keys in hand, I practically run out of the door.
Chapter Eleven
MARLOW
“Go ahead, girls; I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”
My cheer mates give me sympathetic smiles, hand squeezes on my shoulders, and variations of ‘Hope you feel better soon’ as they file out of the girls’ locker room to go set up on the field.
The game isn’t for another ninety minutes and regardless of how I’m feeling, the show must go on. Meaning, I have to be out there since I’m the captain.
Even though my insides feel like they’re shrivelling up and dying.
I fake a smile I don’t feel and drop it the second my last peer leaves.
Lowering myself onto the wooden bench facing the locker, I close my eyes and try counting my breaths, but even that doesn’t help lessen the ache within.
Once Thane and I went our separate ways last night, I changed my clothes, wrote Michaela a note, placed it on her desk for when she returned home from the party, and grabbed mybags. I hailed a cab and found myself a cheap room in a motel. Different from the one Thane and I stayed in, of course. I didn’t think I could sleep in the same place where we fucked each other when my wound was still so raw.
Michaela must have read the note by now. I wonder if she was mad at me. If she was, I hope we could rebuild your relationship anew after this.
For now, I’m going to direct all my energy towards my current plan: moving on from Thane. It won’t be easy. Especially since he’ll be on the field for today’s game.
My shoulders sag.
Whatever. I won’t let my eyes stray towards him and pretend like he doesn’t exist.
