“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.
Big words for a guy who’s waited almost eight months to get revenge.
All good things come to those who wait.
I didn’t reply. There was no point. We could go around in circles all day about the fact he was choosing now to strike, but it wouldn’t change anything. I just had to figure out a way to walk away from this thing in one piece. Because while he had everything to gain, I had everything to lose.
I was sitting in the yard, drinking a beer, when Hailee found me. “Out here drinking all alone, it must be bad.”
“Just needed some air.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No, I really don’t. But thanks for the offer,” I tacked on the end.
“Someone hold the phone, hell must have frozen over,” she chuckled, dragging another chair over to mine. “You must be excited for the play-offs.”
“I’m ready. It’s like my whole life has been leading up to this point, you know?”
“I really don’t.” She gave me a hesitant smile. “But I’ve been around you long enough to know how important this is to you.”
“So what? We’re friends again?”
“I’m not sure we were ever friends, but I’m done holding onto so much hate and bitterness. I want to enjoy the rest of senior year.”
“To non-friends?” I held up my beer and Hailee frowned. “Here,” passing her an empty, I clinked the neck of my bottle against hers.
“Truce?” she added.
“I think I can agree to that.”
“I know I gave you a hard time about Felicity and I’m not going to lie, I spent a couple of days planning on ways to make you pay, but I think I’ve realized it’s for the best.”
Her words coiled around my lungs making it difficult to breathe.
“Yeah?” I barely managed to choke out.
“Yeah. The two of you are from completely different worlds, and football will always be the most important thing to you. And that’s okay. Felicity needs someone solid, someone who can put up with her brand of crazy.”
“Someone like George?” The words were out before I could stop them.
“Oh God, please don’t tell me you’re jealous of George?”
“Should I be?”
Her expression fell. “I really don’t know how to answer that.”
“So she wants to be a veterinary doctor or something?”
“Yeah, it’s all kind of new. She was supposed to be studying business like her parents both did. But she made this list and it pushed her to reassess things, to go after things she wouldn’t have before.”
“Like asshole football players who don’t know what they want?”
“Exactly like that.” Hailee burst into quiet laughter. “Maybe in another time and place you two would have figured things out.”
“Maybe.” I liked that idea; Felicity and me together in a few years’ time. Me the hotshot NFL player and her the big-hearted animal doctor.
“How did you know Chase was the one?” I asked even though I felt fucking stupid the second the words left my mouth.
“It wasn’t really a case of knowing. It was just a realization that life was better with him around than not, and when things went bad with his mom, I wanted to be there for him. I wanted to be his person.”
I took a long pull on my beer mulling over her words. “I always thought I was his person.” My lip curved in a half-smirk despite the knot in my gut.
“One day, you’ll get it. Maybe not now but one day...”
“I almost had it once you know.”
“Aimee?”
“Yeah.” I stared off into the distance remembering a time that felt so long ago but wasn’t that long at all.
“What happened?” Hailee asked. “I mean, I know a little, but I’d rather hear it from you.”
Sliding my eyes to hers, I let out a weary sigh. “Aimee was... different. Special.” At least I’d thought she was. But that was before I knew the truth. Before I ever met Felicity and realized what I felt for Aimee was nothing but puppy love.
“She hurt you?”
“She didn’t just hurt me, she completely fucking destroyed me.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Felicity
I woke to the sound of my cell vibrating. Leaning over, I fumbled to find it, and lifted it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Felicity, it’s George.”
“George?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes unsure I’d heard him correctly.
“George from New Tail. I hope I didn’t wake you?”
“Is it that obvious?” A soft chuckle left my lips.
“Sorry, I figured with it being a school day you’d be up and at it.”