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“Never going to happen.” She ducked out from under his arm. “I’m a free spirit, Bry. No guy will ever pin me down. I’ll catch you guys later.” She threw him an amused wink before skipping off down the hall.
“I think I’m in love.” He pretended to slide down the lockers.
“I hate to say it,big guy,” Ashleigh smirked, “but she’ll only break your heart.”
“But what a sweet fucking way to go.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Ashleigh added. “How is Kaiden feeling about Friday? I heard he’s a sure bet for Homecoming king.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t care about any of that shit. He just wants to play football and—” Something caught his attention over my shoulder, and he stopped himself. “Speak of the devil,” he said.
I didn’t need to turn around to see Kaiden, I felt him. Felt his eyes on me as he approached. He stepped right up behind me, close enough for me to feel the warmth of his breath hit the back of my neck, but far away enough to look innocent. God, I wanted to sink against him and feel his arms around me. Strong and unwavering.
I had underestimated just how hard it would be to see him around school and not be with him.
“We should get to class,” he said to Bryan, moving around him, his fingers grazing mine, sending a warm current rippling through me.
“See you around,” he whispered.
“Yeah,” I said, a little breathless. “See ya.”
Chapter Thirty
Kaiden
“Thatcher get in here,”Coach yelled, and I stalked across the locker to his office, to the rumbles and taunts of my teammates.
“Coach?” I peeked my head inside.
“Come in, shut the door.” He motioned to the empty chair and I sat down. “I just got off the phone with an old friend. He’s head of recruitment at Penn State, and they’re interested, son.”
“Wow, Coach, I don’t know what to say.”
Penn State wasn’t on my list of preferred schools, but it had a solid team and was one of the top ten programs in the country.
It wasn’t Bama but it was still a good option.
An option I’d never considered before because it was in-state, and I’d been looking to get as far away from Rixon as possible. But things were different now… now that I had Lily. It was still early days to be talking about our plans for next fall, but the more time we spent together, the less time I wanted to be apart.
“Bama is a great team, Kaiden. One of the best. But the competition is fierce, and you’ll have to do your time on the sidelines, learning their game, growing into the team. I’m not saying don’t hold out for them, if it’s what you really want. But I think it’s good to have options.”
“I agree, Coach.”
“You do? Good,” he smirked, “because I set up a meeting this week.”
“Holy shit! This week?”
“Frank is a good friend and when he heard I was coaching one of the best quarterbacks in the state he reached out.”
“I don’t know what to say, Coach. I’m blown away, thank you.”
“It helps to have friends in high places.” He winked. “But this is all you, Kaiden. You came into this program with your head screwed on straight and your mind focused and you’ve proved me wrong at every turn.”
Fuck.
I felt like a fraud, sitting here, lapping up his praise when all along I’d been seeing Lily behind his back. He deserved to know the truth. He deserved to know I’d fallen for his incredible, beautiful daughter. That I didn’t just care about her, but I was pretty sure I was ass over elbow in love with her.
Lily wasn’t just some girl. She was the better half of my soul and he deserved to know.
