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Asher wanted to say more, to argue I was making a huge mistake, but I’d already made my bed. This morning was just a blip. Surprise at hearing her and Hailee talk about another guy so soon. But it was bound to happen eventually. Felicity might have been quirky, but she had a caring personality and the kind of smile that lit up an entire room. Any guy would have been lucky to have her. I would have been lucky to have her. In another life, maybe.
I shouldered the door, not even bothering to wait for Ash, and headed for the locker room. I needed to hit something. I needed to hurt.
But most of all, I needed to forget.
Practice didn’t help much. I skulked through two classes, barely listening to the teachers, before joining my teammates at lunch. They chatted around me, excited for a week’s rest before the first play-off game next weekend.
“I come bearing good news.” Asher dropped his tray down and sat beside me. “George is no one.” He leaned in, keeping his voice low. “Well, he’s someone, but he’s no one for us to worry about.”
“Us?” I said coolly, irritation shooting up my spine.
“Who knew you could be so possessive?” He pinned me with a sarcastic look. “Anyway, George is the manager at a pet rescue place Felicity is trying to get some volunteer experience at.”
“What the hell does she want to do that for?”
“I heard Hailee telling Cameron she’s thinking of a switching her degree to animal science or something. But she needs hands-on experience for her application.”
So George wasn’t some new guy she was dating. I should have felt relief coursing through me.
I didn’t.
Because I couldn’t help but wonder if her change of plans had anything to do with my knee-jerk reaction to finding out she had applied to Penn.
“Okay,” I grunted.
“Okay?” Ash drawled. “I bring you the four-one-one and all you can say is, ‘okay’?”
“Like I said before, it doesn’t—”
“Matter, yeah, I got the memo. Guess you won’t be interested to know George gave Flick his card and told her to call him if she needed anything. I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot like code for—” Asher groaned with pain as my elbow jammed into his ribs. I casually went back to my sub, pretending like he hadn’t just blown my world wide open.
So George wasn’t a new guy she was seeing. But by the sounds of it, he wanted to be.
I’d pushed her straight into his open arms.
And I didn’t know what the fuck to do with that.
My mood only got worse as the day went on. So when my cell vibrated as I was walking to my car at the end of the day, and I opened the incoming Snapchat message, I almost saw red. The grainy image was accompanied by only two words.
Time’s up.
Fuck.
Thatcher wasn’t backing down, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could avoid him. Maybe it was better to end it now. Him and me. One on one.
Against my better judgment, I typed back.
Name your time and place.
His reply was instant.
No man’s land... Friday after sundown.
It was a stretch of land down by the river not far from The Alley. We used to hang out there when we were kids, before the rivalry between The Raiders and The Eagles became more than just a few harmless high school pranks.
Done. Just you and me.
Oh you know it. I’m going to enjoy making you bleed.
