93. king
CHAPTER 93
KING
THE AUDITION
With Marcus, Kenan, and Embry behind me, I led the way to Willow’s dressing room for her big audition. She had another twenty minutes until she hit the stage, which was the perfect time for her to see her surprise.
"You’re a lot bigger than I thought," Embry told me. "I thought you were five-ten."
I chuckled, pushing open the door for them.
"You didn’t look up his stats?" Kenan asked.
"Nope. I wanted to wing it."
It was easy to find Willow's room, there were so many people inside, all of the other people who’d fallen in love with her this summer too. I motioned them to go in and Marcus squeezed my shoulder before he passed the door.
Willow sat by the big mirror, chatting with Kassie while she did her makeup, and at her dad’s booming voice, she did a double take.
" Dad?! "
She jerked up from her seat and her hands flew to her mouth, to her dark red lipstick for the audition, before she flew over to them, shouting with excitement.
I smiled and left the archway, walking down the hallway again.
There were still people coming who had to check in with the front desk and my mom and Jasmine were running late, I had to make sure they found the right building on campus.
Heels clicked against the linoleum and I glanced over my shoulder to see Willow running up to me before she threw her arms around my neck, yanking me in for a hug.
"Hey, hey, Angel," I whispered, squeezing her lightly. "You have to go back."
"You—you did this?—"
"Nope, he wouldn’t let me book the flight."
"But—but you told him?—"
"This is important to you, I knew you’d want him there."
Of course Willow told him about the audition but it was still before her dad was supposed to come to Texas. I talked to Marcus and he decided to bring the boys back a week early, cutting his time with them, but changed his Christmas plans to come to Houston instead.
She reached for my hand, trying to pull me to the dressing room. "You—you have to meet everybody?—"
"Hey." I wrapped my arms around her. "We’re all getting dinner and Kenan and Embry want to come tomorrow to go car shopping. This is your reunion, I have to go make sure everything’s set up." I chuckled. "They were going to come out during your performance, I was worried it was going to mess up your flow."
Willow sniffled a little and I realized why her words were bubbling up.
"Aw, don’t cry."
She just held me tighter.
I leaned down to press my lips to her neck. "You’re going to do so good. I’m so proud of you."
When I finally leaned back, Willow gazed up at me, those dark whiskey eyes shining with tears, but she was so beautiful, it broke my heart looking at her. What a knockout. I stroked her side and nodded to her room again.
"I love you," she whispered.
"You don’t know how much I love you," I assured her, walking her over to the door, gently pushing her inside before I left. It was her big night, she had to get ready for it, and so did I. Before she walked back to others, happy to see her, I had one final thing she needed to know. "I’m going to be front-row, baby. I’ll see you out there."
She smiled at me before she hugged her dad again.
The entire walk down the hallway, I stole glances over my shoulder to look at the archway, at the little view of her hair that I could, before I rounded the next corner.
And almost ran right into Coach, leaning against the wall.
I choked. "Jesus fucking Christ?—"
My heart dropped and I almost stumbled backwards, I really wasn’t expecting to see him there. He’d been standing there for a minute and…he definitely heard everything.
I cleared my throat. "Sorry, sir. Didn’t see you there."
"Uh-huh."
I cleared my throat for the second time and moved to pass him. It’d been pretty uncomfortable between the two of us since senior night, and this was even more awkward. The pinnacle of awkward shit.
"King?"
I glanced back, stalling. "Hm?"
"I’ve been thinking."
As the seconds stretched on, I wondered if this was some kind of trap while there was no one else around.
"If you weren’t…in this situation, would Willow have gone on to Boston?"
I paused. "I wasn’t an influence in that, sir."
"If you think you weren’t, you don’t have two brain cells to rub together for a—" He stopped himself and slipped off his Romans cap. "Sorry. Even if she says you didn’t have a hand in it, you did."
I was silent.
"My question is, would she have stayed?" It was quiet before he frowned. "Kid, I’m looking for an answer. I’m not talking to the wall."
"I—uh—I don’t know, sir."
"Yeah. That’s where I’m at too. I don’t know. It’d be better with a yes or a no, but I don’t got anything concrete and I just don’t know, which makes me think…well…"
I didn’t know what to say.
Coach grunted. "I suppose I should…thank you. I guess."
"For what, sir?"
"Don’t push it."
"Yes, sir."
He sighed. "Sorry. Alright. I think without you, she would’ve left, and we wouldn’t have made it this far."
Slowly, I leaned against the wall too.
"The—uh—dinner. We canceled that one but…the missus and I want to know if you wanted to come over for dinner. At the house."
"We’re all getting dinner tonight?—"
"I know that, I mean another kind of dinner. Later. Just the four of us. I think that’d be the right path here."
"Oh."
"I need an answer, King."
"Yes, sir."
He slipped out his phone. "Do you want me to email the address? Text it?"
"I know the address, sir."
"That’s right, you came to the house when—" His eyes flickered to mine and his words finished. "Now, wait a second…"
A flush crept up my neck.
"That better have been the only goddamn time you’ve been on my property."
I was silent before, but this silence was an admission of guilt. It wasn’t just the one time I came over after the stitches either. I’d been sneaking into my coach’s house every night since, curling up with Willow in her bed.
He breathed through his nose. "I’m getting a rottweiler."
"Yes, sir."
"Seven of them. With big teeth."
"Yes, sir."
"Plus a new security system with an electric fence that zaps the shit out of a trespasser."
"Yes, sir."
"If you hurt her—if you ever raise your voice at her—I will hurt you."
"Yes, sir."
"And—goddammit—I’m sorry for what I said. I shouldn’t have called you King Kong and all of that. That wasn’t right."
The sudden apology surprised me. "I’m very protective of her too."
"I want a new introduction, kid. That’s all." Coach held out his hand and I took it. He squeezed a little too tight, but we shook hands just the same. "And stop sneaking onto my property or we will have a problem."
"Yes, sir."
He clapped me on the back and took off towards Willow’s dressing room. Of all the ways that conversation could’ve gone, I never expected this. I smiled leaving for the entrance of the music auditorium to make sure everything was ready for Willow’s big performance.