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Well, he wasn’t wrong. I cut across the field to the locker room, and Jake was right behind me. I just needed to store the bags and grab my gear for practice.
Inside, it was empty, and I double-checked the showers.
“Watch the door,” I told him as I started pulling it on.
“I’m watching,” Jake promised, arms folded as he leaned against the lockers. “What’s going on?”
“I fucked up,” I told him.
“You did not let that skank get to you at that meeting, right?” Jake demanded, and I blinked as I stared at him.
“What?”
“Sharon?” He gave me a look like I was stupid.
“No, I didn’t let her get to me. Hell, no. Even if I never talked to Frankie again…” The idea made me want to puke. “I wouldn’t go out with Sharon again. Period.”
“Good.” He relaxed a fraction. Though I was pretty sure if I’d given any other answer, he’d have pounded me. Overprotective of Frankie? Most definitely.
“I wouldn’t do that to Frankie,” I said. “I’m not that much of a dick.”
“Even better.”
He wouldn’t think so in a minute.
“I was a little screwed up when I left on Saturday.”
“I remember.”
“I talked to my dad.”
Jake winced. “Your dad’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah, he is, but he was already worried about Frankie.” And in as few terms as possible, I told him what my dad had said and what happened when we went up to Dallas and how my dad was worried about her and now…well, so was I.
“Shit,” Jake said, leaning his head back against the locker and staring at me. “I get it. Sure. Her mom’s a raging cunt who deserves to be slapped into next year. But walking away from Frankie is akin to calling CPS—you’re just punishing her because she doesn’t know what she did wrong.”
That thought crushed me.
“Jake, what if we screw this up? What if we make it worse?”
“We won’t.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
“Yeah, I do. Because she’s Frankie. She’s a part of us.” The door shoved inward, and we both shut up. I locked up and headed out with Jake hot on my heels. At the edge of the field, away from the others, he added, “And none of us are gonna let the others hurt her. I won’t let you hurt her anymore.”
“What does that mean?” I pivoted to face him.
“I mean get your shit together and figure it out. She deserves better than this, and you’re way better than this. You got jealous. It’s going to happen. We all do it. But we get over it, and we put her first.”
“You’re the most possessive guy I know, and you don’t care that she’s seeing all of us?”
“As long as it’s us, I don’t. No one else.” Jake spread his hands. “But keep it up, and it won’t be okay with me that you’re a part of us. Fix this, Bubba. Even if telling her about what your dad said sucks, talk to her and give her a chance to talk to you. God—man, she is so worth it.”
Yeah. She was. But…
“I told her about the points.”
