Every time I catch Coach Prescott glancing her way my molars grind. He’s getting himself involved in something he needs to keep his fucking nose out of. It’s going to be hard as fuck to make her life hell if she’s banging my coach the whole time. My scholarship rides on this team and my ability to play, so talk about a conflict of interest.
We end up beating Kings Academy with a wide lead, and it should put me in a good mood, but it doesn’t. Especially when she doesn’t leave with the crowd after the game. She lingers, hanging out by the parking lot, watching us, and Coach notices. When he makes his way over, I catch the way she smiles at him, pressing her tits up and clenching her thighs together.
As I pass them, I take her attention with me.
“Hey Cullen, great game!” she says, sugary sweet and full of shit.
“Thanks, I mutter.”
“Hey, Ayers. You need a ride home?” Coach asks, and my nostrils flare as I try to keep walking.
“No thanks, Coach.” I hate that he just basically announced how I can’t even afford a car. I have to take the fucking bus everywhere, including home from this game, which means I have to sit at the bus stop for everyone to see. It’s humiliating, and he just announced it in front of the one person whose pity I don’t want.
As I walk toward the road, I hear them exchange numbers, and I let out a groan. Just fucking great. Hopefully it’ll be busy at the restaurant tonight and I can make enough to pay the bills, eat, and buy some of that good shit Gina was trying to sell. No one deserves to get stoned more than me.
On the way toward the bus stop, I spot her car near the back of the lot. It’s a white SUV, tall enough to hide my frame as I lean against the driver’s side door. And that’s where I stand as I wait for her. I just hope she comes alone. I don’t even know my plan, just that I’m not done fucking with her today.
Leaning against her car and watching traffic, I think about how I almost took a scholarship across the state, and I’m wondering now why I didn’t. Because I can’t seem to move on with my life. When I should be taking every opportunity to get out of Florence, something is holding me back. I’m just…stuck.
Her shoes against the pavement warn me she’s approaching, and when she turns the corner around the back of her SUV, she lets out a clipped yell.
“Oh my God, Cullen! You scared the shit out of me.”
“I need a ride home,” I mumble, looking at her with a scowl on my face. “Or do you have plans to fuck my coach today? He’s married you know.”
She does a double take, looking back toward him and then at me. “You have a lot fucking nerve, you know that?” The car door clicks as she pulls on the handle, tossing her purse in and pulling out my mother’s necklace at the same time.
When she shoves it at my chest, harshly letting it slap against my arm, I smile down at her.
“What, you don’t like it?”
“Do you think this is funny?” she asks through clenched teeth.
“I’d love to see you with a pearl necklace,” I mumble, twirling it on my finger.
“I should report you.” She doesn’t say it very loudly as she climbs into the driver’s seat, but she pauses before shutting the door. Staring down at her hands on the wheel, she mutters quietly. “Just get in.”
With a smile, I walk around to the passenger side. I love this power I hold over her. The power to know exactly what she wants without her even knowing it.
I drink in the sight of her as she pulls out of her parking spot, driving toward the road. In a tight pair of yoga pants and a loose-fitting top, I have to admit she has a great body, regardless of the fact that she’s fourteen years older than me. Almost makes her old enough to be my mother, which is a sick thought, but also kind of hot.
“Is he really married?” she asks as we pass the field where the coach doesn’t even notice us.
“Yep. His wife’s a nurse.”
She cringes, keeping her eyes on the road. “Listen, Cullen. No more shit like this,” she says, pulling the pill bottle out of her purse and chucking it at me. “You’ve made your point. Now leave me alone.”
“Why did you come to the game today?” I ask, changing the subject.
She looks almost surprised by my question. “Because I like rugby and the coach invited me.”
“Sure,” I reply with sarcasm.
“And to confront you about the fucking necklace, okay? You need to just let it go now. If I get any more shit like this, I’m going to take it to the administration.”
I keep quiet in my seat for the rest of the drive, stewing and just thinking about how I need to let it go. When we pull onto campus, stopping in front of the dorms, I don’t move.
“Do we have an understanding?” she says, like she’s the one with control here. Like she has any say over what I do. I snap.
I’ve never been violent with a woman before, and I’ve never wanted to, but Everly West represents everything terrible in my life. She is my downfall, the stain on my history, and I won’t sit here and listen to her tell me what I will and will not be doing, so as I spin toward her, I snatch her face in my hands and pull her close, only inches away from my face. I’m squeezing her jaw too hard in my hands. I realize that, but I don’t care. In fact, I like the way she whimpers in my grip.
“Listen here, you fucking cunt. This is the only understanding we have. You ruined my life eight years ago, and you’ve been able to live in peace since then. Do you know what I’ve been doing? Burying my mother after I found her fucking corpse in her bed when I was only ten, living with an asshole of an uncle who spent his weekends beating the shit out of me when he was drunk, and scraping by just enough to stay alive. The only thing that got me through was rugby, and it’s the only reason I’m here at Florence U, so you’re not going to fuck my coach or come to anymore of my games.”
“Cullen,” she gasps, tears springing to her eyes.
“You think the necklace and pain pills were bad, Ms. West? You have no fucking idea the nightmare I’m about to bring into your life. You belong to me now. And if you even think about calling the police on me, you might as well slit your own throat because I won’t let you sleep a wink without wishing for death. Do we have an understanding?” I snap, my tone laced with hatred, spit flying out of my mouth as I grit out each word.
A tear slips down her cheek, and I wipe away with my thumb before tossing her face away from mine.
“Have a good weekend,” I grind out through tight lips as I slip out of her car. For a moment as I march angrily toward my dorm, I start to actually feel bad about how I treated her. Maybe that was too much, but then I remember I didn’t do shit wrong when my life fell to pieces. It all came down to two people: my father and her. When that asshole gets out of prison in roughly twenty years, I’ll be waiting for him. But for now, Everly gets me all to herself.
5
Everly
I manage to make it all the way home without crying, but once I step foot in my shower, I lose it. Fuck, I hate that he made me cry like this, but something about Cullen scared me today. And it wasn’t just his actions that shook me to my core. It was something else. Something in his expression that buried itself under my skin—fear, anger, pain. Years and years of it that came spilling out in the front seat of my car to the point where I feared for my life.