Chapter Five #2
I couldn’t fight her on that and piled my plate high.
Grabbing a glass of water, I followed her to the small table.
It was later in the evening, after my failed attempt at finding clarity, by the time I sat across from Fiona at her kitchen table.
We tucked into our food, neither of us talking until we were almost halfway through our meal and the edge of my hunger was sated.
“How are Ares and Brielle?”
Fio had been there when Kylian and I went with Ares to rescue Brielle after her dad’s illicit past had come calling. “They’re good. She practically lives at the condo.” I swallowed another bite. “It’s not that bad having Kylian’s fiancée and Ares’s girlfriend around.”
Fio laughed, setting down her fork and shoving away her plate. “Maybe you’re finally coming around to considering a relationship.”
I glanced through the open-concept living room to where Dad was passed out in the family room and pointed my fork in his direction. “How can I take that risk?”
“You can’t know until you try.” Her voice softened. “You’re not Dad, and really, will you let his shortcomings define you?”
I didn’t bother answering because it was hard as fuck not to do that.
I battled the past constantly, but every failing grade and what’d happened with Skye freshman year were reminders of how I wasn’t good enough.
I badly needed a change of subject. I’d had enough heavy to last a lifetime.
“I have to get tutoring for that stupid chemistry class.”
“Why did you have to take chemistry? That’s not an easy class.”
“My advisor screwed up and thought I’d filled my science elective. That was the only thing I could take by the time he figured it out. As it was, I started chem the day after add/drop closed.”
“Shit. That sucks. How’s the tutoring? Is it helping?”
“Skye is my tutor.”
Water sprayed across the table as Fio choked on her sip. While she coughed and wiped her mouth, I sopped up the rest that’d landed on the table, thankfully just shy of my food. I would’ve been annoyed if her spit take had ruined the rest of my dinner.
“The girl you were so hung up on? The same one who you practically stalked the campus trying to find for a solid month?” At my nod, her eyes lit up. “Maybe you can try dating her again.”
I snorted at that impossibility. “She has a kid.”
“How old is the kid?”
I shrugged. “How should I know? Two? Three?” I didn’t need to ask to know Fio was doing the same mental math that I had.
“Could it be yours?”
“She had dark-brown hair, but so does Skye.” But one thing still hit me hard. “And bright-green eyes.”
“Shit, Liam. Do you think?—”
“She’s probably a hockey player’s kid, and I think that was who Skye dumped me for.” The kid’s eyes were similar to mine, but Mav had greenish-blue eyes, so Lily was more likely his.
Fio tilted her head, scrutinizing my expression too closely. “If he’s not in the picture, you could still date her.”
Life was complicated enough. “No. She’s a flight risk to boot—possibly similar to Mom.” Who’d left us to start another family.
Even with all that, why can’t I get Skye out of my head?
I slid into a back corner booth across from Kylian and next to Ares at Last Call, an off-campus bar that was always crowded after games.
Despite it being a weekday, the place was packed.
It usually was, as it was the go-to college hangout, the it place.
And it had been for me, too, until I had a come-to-Jesus moment in a conversation with my roommates and our head coach.
With it being my last year, the countdown to the combine, and scouts watching our every move, it was time to quit my reckless behavior, stop drinking, and get serious.
Aurora practically lived at the condo, and her meals were a constant reminder of how domestic life could be. I’d never thought much about it before, but with Skye back in my life—even at an arm’s length—it was harder to ignore that I wanted someone there for me too, even if I couldn’t have it.
The steady stream of girls and all the partying that I’d enjoyed over the past few years had come to a grinding halt.
I didn’t miss what it represented, its purpose: to ease my loneliness and distract me from how happy my closest friends were with their girls and that their paths weren’t meant for me.
I’d come to accept it rather than bury my head in the sand and pretend everything was fine.
“Thanks for meeting me.”
“No problem.” Kylian pushed a glass of ice water in front of me. “After your?—”
“Change of heart”—Ares shoved my shoulder—“we were surprised you wanted to come here.”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t ready to go home. Dad was passed out in his usual drunk state at Fio’s. It fucked with my head for a minute. And I don’t know, I just wanted a breather somewhere that didn’t remind me of all the responsibilities and expectations pressing in.”
“Dude, you’ll be fine,” Kylian said. “You were all over ESPN after the game this weekend. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Slouching back against the booth, I ran my hands through my hair. “Maybe.” But that could change with one career-ending injury. Nothing was guaranteed.
“What else is bothering you?” Ares folded his arms and braced his weight on the table. “You seem more stressed than usual. Is this really about your dad or the draft? Or did something else happen?”
“You know the tutor I’m required to see for chem?”
“Yeah.” Kylian’s gaze locked on me as he waited expectantly for my response.
“Fuck it.” I clenched my jaw before letting the story pour out of me. “It’s Skye. The address was for Coach’s house. She lives with him and his wife.”
“Okay.” Ares drew out the word. “Not ideal, but he must’ve set it up because it was at his house.”
“He was involved in it, according to my advisor and Coach Mack.”
“And?” Ares continued. “That means Coach will see you’re committed to improving your grade.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Is it messing with your head? Maybe you should get another tutor,” Kylian said.
“That’s part of it. It’s not just about seeing her again,” I admitted, the words heavy on my tongue.
“She’s everything I want but can’t have.
Seeing her with Mav only worsens the pressure—scouts, coaches, Skye—every part of my life feels like it’s tearing me apart.
” I confessed, running a hand through my hair for the millionth time.
Kylian and Ares exchanged concerned glances while I bared my soul and grappled with conflicting emotions that were too big to manage.
“Have you thought about talking things through with her? Maybe making another go of dating?” Kylian asked.
“She walked, man. I tried to talk to her, to get her to understand why I said what I did, but she blocked me. If she could walk away that easy, then there’s no denying that she doesn’t want me.
” I took a deep breath then dropped the truth bomb that had plagued me since I’d left Coach’s house. “Besides, she has a kid.”
“Does that bother you?” Kylian leaned back, giving up all pretenses of drinking the water before him.
Does it? “Yes and no. I like kids.” But that wasn’t the problem. It was how things ended between us.
Both Ares and Kylian had hard and fast rules about family.
They had moms who would do anything for them, who always had their backs, and who they loved beyond all reason.
I didn’t have that, and I listened to them when it came to the things like family and relationships.
I was too emotionally screwed up to trust myself, and I tried to make sure I wasn’t letting my past infect my present and future—which was a constant battle I failed at more often than I liked to admit.
Ares’s fist clenched on the table. “She’s a single mom. You can’t mess with her unless you’re serious.”
“I know.” The words tasted like a lie. I didn’t want to ruin her life—or mine. But no matter how hard I tried, staying away from Skye felt like fighting gravity. Impossible. My confession hung in the air, heavy from finally being spoken.
Ares leaned back, folding his arms.
“She’s everywhere lately,” I said, my voice sharper than I intended. “Practice, tutoring, the sidelines… It’s like she’s haunting me.” In my head, on the field, in Coach’s damn living room. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the way seeing her again knocked me completely off balance.
I gripped the glass of water like it was the only thing keeping me grounded. The noise of the bar buzzed in the background, barely registering. I wasn’t there to unwind—hell, I didn’t even know why I was there. All I knew was that sitting at home, alone with my thoughts, wasn’t an option.
“She’s probably not trying to run into you,” Kylian said evenly, but his gaze sharpened. “She moved on, right? Maverick and all that?”
The mention of Maverick made my stomach churn. “Yeah. Sure looks that way.”
Before either of them could respond, the door to the bar swung open, letting in a gust of cold air.
All three of us turned instinctively, and my chest tightened when I saw Skye enter.
She stepped inside, glancing around like she was looking for someone.
Her dark hair caught the dim light, and even in the chaos of the crowd, she stood out like a beacon.
“Damn,” Ares muttered. “She’s here.”
“Looks like she’s meeting someone,” Kylian added, his tone careful.
My jaw clenched as I tracked her movements.
She hadn’t noticed me yet, her eyes scanning the room, and I couldn’t look away.
She stood just inside the door, her expression carefully neutral, though I could see the tension in her shoulders.
She was looking for someone, and I already knew who. Maverick.
Sure enough, Maverick leaned casually against the bar, and when he saw her, his grin widened. Something inside me twisted as he pushed off the countertop and closed the space between them. He pulled her into a quick hug, his arm slung over her shoulder like it belonged there.