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“He told her today on the way to the airport that she should take a break from me. That there’s always time for relationships, but if she wants to get where she wants to be in her career, she can’t have me tagging along.”
“Fucking hell.” Damon looks at Miles. “Adeline’s mom was rough at first, but she never told Adeline to kick me to the curb. I’d be pissed too.”
“But what did Ellery say about it? Did she agree?” Miles asks.
“She flew in early, and instead of coming to talk to me about it, she chose to go to Bryce. Which tells me she was thinking about what her dad said, that she didn’t know what to do.”
I lift my empty mug and try to get the last drop of beer out of it.
“Now you just look pathetic.” Damon takes the glass from my hands.
“You sure are assuming a lot,” Miles says.
I shake my head. “I know Elle. I know how her brain works.”
“Okay,” he says, accepting that I know her best. Better than even Bryce. She might not have been thinking about it consciously, but there’s a reason she sought out Bryce.
My head suddenly feels heavy, and then my forehead hits the wood table.
“Let’s go,” one of them says.
“He paid up?” Damon must ask the waitress.
“He put it all on a tab,” Carmen says.
“Leave yourself a one hundred percent tip.”
My head lifts to argue, but it falls back down. I need a bed.
We all slide out of the booth on one side, each of them taking the weight of half of my body and escorting me out of the bar.
“AGAIN!” Coach Stone screams.
We run the play again. I’m like an elderly man with a walker with my speed out of the pocket, and when I throw the ball, it gets caught by an orange shirt.
Coach Stone throws his clipboard. “God damn it, Rice! What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’ve got a headache,” I say.
“Then take some pain medicine. I’m not your fucking mommy. Get off the field. Give me Beacon. Rice, go sit your ass on the bench.”
I go to the bench, throw my helmet on the ground, and sit down, cursing to myself.
I’ve never gotten drunk the night before a practice. Sure, maybe a few drinks, but I’ve never woke up with cottonmouth and my body aching. I’m sure the heartbreak isn’t helping me either. I wish Ellery would have been at my place when I got home last night.
Suddenly, overwhelming nausea hits my stomach, and I run to the trashcan, throwing everything up from last night.
“Locker room, now!” Coach Stone yells when my eyes meet his.
God, he reminds me of my father.
“Set him up an ice bath,” he tells one of the trainers. “Get in the showers and clean yourself up,” he tells me. “Then come and see me.”
I nod, stripping my practice jersey off. God, the warm water feels so good on my skin. My eyes close and my head rests on the tile, allowing the water to pelt my back.
What did I do last night? I pushed her away because I was upset and angry. That’s what I did. I haven’t had the guts to call and apologize to her yet. I miss her so much.
“Enough, my office,” Coach Stone says from behind me and walks away.
