Chapter 29
JACE
“Great game, everyone,” Andrew exclaimed. We all cheered back. The mood was always filled with an infectious energy after a win, especially one so close to the cup game.
“Meet you in the hotel bar in half an hour?” he said once the bus stopped in front of the hotel.
“Yeah. I’m starving.”
A few others agreed with me.
“I’ll stop by the bar first and tell them to have snacks ready for us,” Andrew continued.
I headed straight to my room with one goal in my mind.
I wanted to talk to my girl. Hadn’t heard from her in a while, and I missed her.
She’d texted me before the game to wish me luck and tell me she’d watch it.
I felt ridiculously proud that she took her time to follow the game, because I knew she did it mostly for me.
I sat outside on the balcony as I called Brooke.
“Great game,” she greeted.
“Which shot did you like most?” I asked, just to tease her.
“Hey, don’t mock me. Now, if you want to know what your sexiest pose is, that I can tell you.”
I chuckled. “That’s what you paid attention to?”
“Oh, yeah. Gave it my full attention.”
“It’s good to hear you.”
“You too. So, listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Go ahead.”
She went on to tell me about some of the sponsors dropping me, which was a bummer. I’d already promised those paychecks to the foundation.
I had plenty of financial backup, so donating was not an issue.
But bringing the sponsors in had had a wider scope—they could provide a network for the students there.
I should have seen it coming though, after the blowout on the gala evening.
Brooke sounded beat about it, and I wanted to put her at ease.
“Brooke, it’s no big deal. I’m not worried. With you on my side, I’m sure we’ll get new ones in no time.”
“You’re the MVP. New sponsors will be beating at your door in no time.”
Something about her phrasing sounded off. She wasn’t including herself in that scenario.
“I can’t wait for the championship to be over. We could go on a vacation afterward, just relax for a week or two.”
“We’ll see.”
There was zero enthusiasm in her voice. I frowned, suddenly feeling off-kilter. Was something wrong with my girl? She didn’t sound like herself.
“Fly in for the semifinal on Saturday, Brooke.”
“No, I can’t.”
“Why not? I’ve looked at flights. There’s one on Friday in the evening, or even on Saturday, and another one going back on Sunday in the evening. You wouldn’t have to take a day off, and you’d get me all to yourself the entire Sunday.”
“Jace… I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“You already have plans?”
“Nothing is set in stone yet.”
That didn’t sound convincing, especially since last time we spoke, she’d said she was just planning to have a lazy weekend. I missed her like crazy. Didn’t she feel the same?
“Brooke, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just can’t swing a weekend trip.”
“Is this about Levi? Because you won’t even see him, I promise.”
I’d managed to ignore him, especially after we lost that first game, and I sure as hell planned to keep him away from my girl.
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
Brooke was usually talkative, yet tonight it felt as if I had to fight for every word, just like on that night before I left. I’d known something was nagging at her but hadn’t wanted to push.
Now I thought it would’ve been better if I pushed more and got to the bottom of the problem, because it was harder to communicate over the phone.
“Just… a lot of things I need to take care of.”
I let out a frustrated sigh, leaning against the railing of the balcony.
“Brooke—”
“Listen, I need to go. Have fun celebrating tonight, okay?’
She wanted to hang up already? I was too taken aback to think about a better way to reach out to her and get at the bottom of this. We exchanged a hurried goodbye. What in the hell was happening?
I was too restless to stay in my room, so I went straight to the hotel bar. Andrew was already there, perched on a stool, eating a sandwich.
“What crawled up your ass?” he asked as I sat next to him. I was surprised he’d picked up on my mood, but then again, I’d been ecstatic just twenty minutes ago. “Problems with your girl?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Just an educated guess. There’s a reason I’m single. Don’t want any bullshit in my life.”
I respected Andrew as captain, but our views differed wildly where our private lives were concerned. Sure, a few years ago I would have agreed with him. Maybe even a few months ago, but not after meeting Brooke.
What she and I had was powerful. If something was off, I didn’t want to ignore it or just assume it’d go away on its own.
In my experience, unspoken frustrations and problems only tended to escalate.
I needed to find a better way to reach my girl, that was all.
I was sure we could work out just about anything.
The next two days blurred into each other. Our schedule was draconian: moving to a new city, working out, watching tapes, working out again just before the last friendly game.
We won, but only by sheer luck. I felt boneless when I returned to my room every night. After the game I was so exhausted that I wanted nothing more than sleep, but I’d promised Milo I’d call as soon as I could, so I dialed Lori’s number. The two of them, Evelyn, and Graham were on vacation.
Milo answered. “Uncle Jace, that was so cool. Dad said it was your best game.”
We went on to discuss every detail. His enthusiasm made me grin. Milo reminded me of myself at his age. He could have probably gone on forever, but I heard Graham’s voice in the background after about an hour.
“Milo, please pass me the phone. I’d like to talk to Jace.”
“Bye, Uncle Jace. Dad wants to talk to you.”
“Great job,” Graham said a few seconds later. “Kind of makes me wish I’d been there for a game.”
Before Lori and Milo were part of his life, Graham used to travel with the team on important games.
“You can always fly in for the semifinal.”
“Nah, and miss out on this? If there’s one thing Milo loves more than soccer, it’s scuba diving. But we’ll make it to the final if the Lords play.”
“Way to lay on the pressure,” I joked.
“Listen, I wanted to talk to you about the issue with Brooke. I just found out today, because I told Tina not to email me anything except an update report every two weeks.”
“What issue?”
“Her contract wasn’t extended.”
I sat up straight, unable to wrap my mind around that at first.
“Wait… she’s been fired?”
“That’s what I got from the report.”
“Why?”
“Haven’t spoken to Tina yet. I opened the report after the game was over.”
“I didn’t know about it.”
Graham said nothing. My heart was pounding. Why the hell didn’t Brooke say anything to me?
“Graham, let’s talk another time. I need to call Brooke.”
“Sure.”
The second the call disconnected, I dialed her number. I got up from the bed, heading to the windows. The room at this hotel was on the twentieth floor, and they didn’t have balconies up here. I opened one of the windows, but I still felt like I wasn’t getting enough air.
Brooke didn’t answer, but I called her again, and this time, she picked up.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t hear the phone. Great game—"
“Why didn’t you tell me they didn’t extend your contract?” I wasn’t in the mood for tiptoeing around.
“Oh… how did you find out?”
“Graham received his report.”
“Okay.”
“Brooke, babe, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just didn’t want you to worry about this when you have so many games to focus on.”
“Fuck the games, okay? I don’t care about that, or the sponsorships. I told you I want to know when something is wrong. Is this why you didn’t want to come to the game?”
“I wasn’t feeling up to facing the team or for you to have to pick sides. And I’m also regrouping. Sending applications, stuff like that. It’s why I don’t even want to think about vacations. I also have to find another place to live.”
“What, why?”
“The apartment is going up for sale.”
“Move in with me.”
“Jace, thank you for saying that, but I don’t want you to feel pressured into this. I’ll find a solution.”
What the hell? Pressured? I’d just offered. I rested against the window, trying to cool down. I couldn’t understand what was going on and decided to ask about the facts. Maybe then I could piece things together.
“What happened?”
“Two of the sponsors first wanted to drop the Lords completely, but Tina talked them into hanging on to the team. They also voiced the worry that I hadn’t been impartial when I suggested you for the solo spot.”
“It’s my fault for getting in a fight with Levi. Everything else is bullshit.”
I realized for the first time why she hadn’t come to me with all this: she was mad at me.
“Is it really such a stretch for them to believe that, though?”
“What do you mean?”
“That you kept insisting, and I kept giving in,” she snapped.
“Fine, I insisted. But what do you think would have been different if I hadn’t?” I snapped back.
“I don’t know. I just can’t believe I’m not learning from my mistakes.”
I felt every muscle in my body go on lockdown. I’d expected her to be angry about my fight with Levi, but this went deeper. For a few seconds, I could only hear her breath mingling with mine. I was afraid of what she’d say next, but she didn’t speak at all.
I just had to man up and ask.
“And now you’re regretting it?”
“Jace, I want to focus on the things I have to fix. I just don’t have the energy for planning vacations or anything else.”
She didn’t have the energy for me.
Fuck, that sounded a whole lot like she did regret it but wanted to spare me from hearing it out loud. And right now, I realized that I didn’t want to outright hear it. I honestly couldn’t handle Brooke saying she regretted it, or perhaps that it hadn’t been worth it.
I was afraid that I was on the verge of losing the woman I loved, but I had no idea how to move forward, what to say to make things better. What if she’d just shut me down?
“And I want to be there for you every step of the way, Brooke. I will be.”
“Jace, you have a semifinal coming up. You need your head in the game.”
I tried to guess if there was more to her words than she let on, but I wasn’t good at interpreting intentions and deciphering deeper meanings.
“Good night, Brooke.”
“Good night.”