AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It felt like if I walked out now, the bubble we’d formed around us would burst.
“Tomorrow,” he said in a low, gravelly voice.
My cell vibrated, splitting the tension. I didn’t need to look at my cell to know it would be Bryan.
“Night,” I said.
Xander gave me a small nod, his heavy gaze following me as I slipped out of his apartment.
I forced myself to move down the steps and across the parking lot to Bryan’s car. Judgmental eyes met mine as I slid inside.
“Don’t,” I said.
“What? I wasn’t going to say anything.” A smile played on his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I thought I was going to have to come up there and drag you out.”
“We were—”
“Yeah, I really don’t need to know what you were doing.” His jaw clenched as he forced himself to take a breath.
“Thank you. I owe you.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you could not keep me waiting so long next time, and please promise not to push Carrie-Anne on me again. She’s… hard work.”
Guilt hit me that I’d kept him waiting outside for so long when he was doing so much for me. It hit harder when I thought of his true feelings for me. God, it would be so much easier if he fell for Carrie-Anne.
“Bryan,” I sighed, “you don’t even know her.”
“And I don’t want to. If I can’t have… well, best not to go down that road. Consider this your early birthday present.”
“I am sorry, you know. I never meant to hurt you or let you think that there could be more between us.”
“You didn’t.” His hands squeezed the steering wheel a little tighter. “I just hoped… it doesn’t matter. You’re with Coach Chase now. Fuck, it’s never going to get easier saying that.”
“It’s just for the holidays, then we’ll figure out how to tell everyone.”
“You know shit’s going to hit the fan, right? I mean, I get you can’t help liking him or whatever,” he cast me a sideways glance, “but a lot of people are going to be upset.”
“I know.” It was a small price to pay. Besides, it wasn’t like we were wrecking a marriage or destroying a family. Xander had no one—besides his brother and his family—and neither did I. We were two lost souls who had found some measure of peace together.
Surely the people who cared about us would see that. Once they got over the years between us, they would see how we felt about each other.
We rode the rest of the way with Bryan making small talk about his friends and the team. I didn’t expect him to understand my relationship with Xander. He was his coach, his mentor. Xander was in a position of authority, entrusted with the welfare of his players, and the other students he came into contact with.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew some people would look at us and assume we’d had an illicit student-teacher relationship, but it wasn’t like that.
Finally, we reached the Ford’s house. Bryan applied the handbrake and turned to me. “What will you tell them?” His eyes went to the house.
“They think you wanted to take me out for a pre-birthday movie.”
“What movie did we see?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead.”
“The Wreckage. It’s an end of the world movie, something I’d watch.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah.” His eyes darted away from me.
