28. 28 Mae
28: Mae
I really thought the second I got accepted, I’d be booking my flights and packing my bags, but I haven't even responded to the vet practice.
I’m sitting on it.
Thinking.
Or, more like stalling.
I need to get my ducks in a row before making a decision I could regret later.
But I only have a certain amount of time before they move on to the next candidate and offer them the place instead.
“So, how long exactly have you been fucking my brother?” Poppy stares at her fingernails as she paints them in the bedroom of her apartment.
I flop down on her bed, covering my face with her pillow.
“The only reason I’m not pulling that off you so I can see if your face is blushing is because I’ve got wet nails, so consider yourself lucky,” Poppy says, followed by a giggle.
I owe her an explanation. I know she’s happy for us, but guilt still stabs me in the chest, knowing I was hanging out with her and sleeping with her brother without telling her.
“Not long.”
“Is that all I get? Mae, I want details.”
I grimace in disgust. “You want details on me fucking your brother?”
Poppy shivers. “No, not like that. Just—you know what I mean? I wanted—Ew. I’m thinking about it now.”
I burst into laughter. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
She makes a loud pfft sound as she waves my concern away. “Please, don't apologise. I just feel bad you have to put up with Mr Grumpy pants for… how long are you actually staying for?”
My mouth goes dry, and I swear I swallow my tongue. I don’t even know the answer. I seriously need to talk to Nathan about this because we’re in this waist-deep now.
“Um, I don’t know.”
Poppy sighs. “I thought you might say that. Still heard nothing from a practice?”
Looking into her ocean-blue eyes, there’s no way I can lie. She’ll see right through me anyway. “Well, actually, I heard from one place. In Florida. But I don’t even know if I’m going to accept it yet. It’s so far away.”
A smile breaks out on Poppy’s face as she blows on her metallic white nails. “You’re not sure about going because you’d miss me too much, right?”
I roll my eyes, but she’s right. “Yeah. And your brother.”
“And my brother.” She sits herself down on the bed beside me.
“It’s just hard to know the right thing to do.”
“Tell him, Mae. Talk to him about it. I know he’ll appreciate it.”
I nod. “You’re right. I will” I nudge her shoulder with mine. “Wow, Poppy. It’s like you’re studying for a psychology degree or something.”
She shoots me a wink. “Just doing what I do best. But seriously, Mae, if you do leave, I’ll miss you like crazy.” Her face drops, teeth scraping against her bottom lip as she sighs.
“I’ll miss you too, Pops.”
My mother hasn’t spoken to me since three days ago when she was in a bad mood during practice. Granted, we never really converse much, but she didn't say anything even when I used my left foot to move forward instead of my right during practice today. And I know she noticed.
I’m watching the girls during their halftime performance on the Missarali Storks Stadium field. Poppy winks at me as she twirls, and I let out a loud “Whoop.”
The crowd is going wild, and I shuffle back until I’m hiding in the tunnel, wanting to find Nathan. The Detroit Eagles and Missarali Storks are neck and neck, and I know he’s panicking.
I’m also preparing to tell him about my placement in Florida later.
I’m worried he’ll tell me to go. To go and not look back. I don’t know how to explain to him that being with him in Missarali is tiers above moving states away and restarting my life, even if I once thought it was all I wanted.
But as I walk through the corridor, someone clears their throat behind me, and I jump, slamming into a hard chest. I blink a few times, craning my neck to look up at the giant of a man before me.
Kevin Slater.
“Oh, excuse me,” I say as I take a step backwards.
“No worries… Mae.”
My throat constricts. I have no idea how Nathan’s father knows my name. But he does. “You know who I am?”
Kevin beckons me over to the corner with a nod of the head. I’m under the impression that he wants to talk to me about Nathan and his performance, and I prepare myself to tell him that he doesn’t need the added pressure. Nathan’s fighting for his life out on that field, and no amount of criticism is going to make him play better.
However, it seems I’m wrong about the topic Kevin Slater wants to discuss with me. So very wrong.
Because in his hands are photographs.
Of Nathan and I.
On dates.
In his car.
In the stadium locker room—me, smiling up at him with my hands laced around his neck.
He flicks at them.
“Where the fuck did you get these?” My blood runs cold, and I try to snatch the photographs from his hand as sweat trickles down my spine. My words hang heavy in the air, suffocating me.
My thoughts are spiralling. I can’t think straight.
“It doesn’t matter how I got them,” Kevin begins. “What matters is what you do next. My son is a very talented player. He will take his team to the Super Bowl, but he won’t be able to do that with you stuck to him like a leech.”
I recoil.
I’m the leech? Ha, Kevin should see what he’s saved as on his son’s phone.
“Nathan doesn’t need any distractions, and you, my dear, are a big one that could cost him his title as team captain. I can’t have my son sneaking around with a cheerleader , of all people.”
I’m so fucking ready to launch my fist into this man’s nose.
He uses the word 'cheerleader' as an insult.
I know Nathan and I shouldn’t be sneaking around, but this isn’t just a fling. It’s not just sex. “We happen to care about each other.”
Kevin chuckles. “He cares about football, Mae. That’s all he cares about.”
He’s wrong. Because Nathan Slater doesn’t just care about football.
He cares about his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches being made with the jelly first because he claims it makes them taste better.
He cares about always having the same lemon-scented laundry detergent stocked in his laundry room because he hates the scent of the flowery ones.
He cares about making sure Radish is fed a high-protein kibble you can only buy from select stores, and he donates money to the shelter so they can provide it for him.
He cares about me . I see it in the way he looks at me. The way he traces my scar with the pad of his thumb, asking me about what my father was like. The way he smiles at me, those adorable crinkles appearing beside his eyes. The way he scans the stadium for me, face subtly lighting up when his gaze lands on me.
“And what if I tell you to go fuck yourself?”
He shrugs. “I thought you might say that. Tell me, Mae.” Kevin pauses for dramatic effect. “Do you want paparazzi following you around everywhere? Do you want your name plastered on the cover of every sleazy tabloid, with these pictures printed for everyone to see? I could make that happen. And in the process, I’m sure all hope of reconciling things with your mother would be lost.”
The metallic taste of panic sits on my tongue.
“I assume these veterinary practices research their applicants, correct? Do you really think they’d accept someone connected to such a scandal? With this dragging behind you, I imagine it’ll be incredibly hard to find a job in that field.” The words roll off his tongue with deliberate slowness, the condensation accentuated.
Kevin is right. If these photographs are leaked, I’ll never get accepted by a practice.
Animals. It’s all I’m good at.
“Why would you want to get your own son kicked off the team?”
“Nathan would receive offers to sign with other teams. He’d be snatched up in seconds. You, however, would be named and shamed. Your life will never be the same, Mae. Everything you’ve worked so hard for. Gone.” His fingers snap. “Just like that.”
My body feels numb, and I lean back against the wall and inhale. This isn’t happening right now. There’s no way in hell I’m actually being blackmailed by Kevin Slater.
“Do you seriously have no shame?”
Kevin’s wrinkled face is blank. “I’ll do anything to ensure my son achieves this. I won’t allow him to throw it away for…” He looks me up and down. “Some whore.”
“Excuse me.” I poke him in the chest. “You don’t know a damn thing about me. Or your own son, for that matter. You’re living through him. You want him to achieve what you never could just to feel some sense of accomplishment.”
Kevin taps his foot impatiently, glancing at his watch. “Think about it, Mae. I can get these photos out by the end of the game. I don’t care about Nathan’s image. I don’t care about how he looks to the media. All I care about is him lifting that trophy, so don’t underestimate what I’ll do to ensure that happens. Make the right choice.”
I can hear the crowd settling down. Halftime is coming to an end, which means I’m expected back out there.
“Well?” Kevin hikes his eyebrow up.
My nostrils flare, chest burning. If these photos get out, Nathan’s image will be ruined. He lives and breathes the Missarali Storks. Not only are they his team, but they’re his family, and getting kicked off would crush him.
He wouldn’t want to sign a contract with anyone else.
He’s worked so hard to mop up the team’s image, and these photos will take them right back to square one. People would see Nathan as a player. Someone who cares about getting his dick wet over football. They wouldn’t understand. He’ll be eaten alive.
“Cut it off with him, Mae. You have ten seconds before I send these to fifty different tabloids.”
I clamp my eyes shut, balling up my fists. As the seconds stretch, my heart begins to ache painfully. I’m tangled up—unable to escape.
Nathan needs to win this for his mom.
And that can’t happen if he’s not on a team.
“I need an answer, Mae.” Kevin waves his phone, showing me the mass email he’s already drafted. His finger hovers over the Send button, and my stomach flips.
My mouth begins to move without my permission. “I’m leaving anyway. At the end of the season.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not good enough, Mae. I need you—”
“To Florida.” The words feel like ice on my tongue. “I’m moving to Florida. To join a veterinary program. I’ll be states away, so I’ll never see Nathan again.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “You’ll never contact him again?”
I’m doing this for Nathan. He won’t survive losing his position on this team. It will crush him.
And I won’t be able to handle that. The way he speaks about his mom—he loved that woman.
I dip my chin, glaring at the narcissistic man before me with gritted teeth. Would I get arrested for stomping on his head? I’d only give him minor brain damage.
The impatient tapping of his foot drags me back to reality.
“I won’t contact him again.” My voice is strained.
Could Nathan and I have been anything anyway?
He needs to focus on his career.
I need to focus on following my dream.
Or what I thought was my dream.
Because my priorities are changing.
I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. Who I wanted to be. I spent so long convincing myself that it would make me whole again.
But now I’m here questioning everything—like waking up from a dream where your world has been flipped on its head.
But it’s too late now.
Because I know Nathan needs this more than he needs me.