Chapter 26 Unraveling
Unraveling
Liam
I’m staring at Harper’s message for the third time in twenty minutes. I heard about you at the party Saturday night, Liam. You want to keep seeing me AND other people. You weren’t exactly acting exclusive. I’m not looking to compete. I’m looking for something steady.
The words cut because they’re true. And because she’s already halfway out the door.
I lean back against the bench in the empty locker room, holding my phone like it’s evidence of my own stupidity. She knows about Saturday night. Word travels fast on this campus, and Harper’s clearly not the type of girl to let that go.
The fucked-up part? She’s right about everything, but also completely wrong.
Yeah, I made out with some girl at the party. Brunette, pretty, willing—exactly my usual type. But when she started pulling me toward the room, suggesting we find somewhere more private, I stopped. Just... stopped. Because for the first time ever, I didn’t want anyone else. I only wanted Harper.
I wanted Harper, and she wasn’t there.
So I went home alone, which is probably the most pathetic thing I’ve done all year.
The truth is, Harper’s too good for me. Not in the cliché way, but in the quiet, real way that makes my chest tight when I think about it too long. She’s thoughtful. She keeps her cards close, thinks before she speaks, doesn’t throw herself at guys who’ll only disappoint her.
And she doesn’t fight for me.
That’s the part that gets under my skin. I keep waiting for her to throw my own mess back in my face, to demand more, to force me to step up. Instead, she just... lets me go. Clean, simple, no drama.
Like I don’t matter enough to fight for.
Maybe she’s not the one.
It should be relief. Should make this easier. But even as I think it, I know it’s bullshit. I’m too far gone to pretend this is just another hookup I can walk away from.
The rest of the day, Harper’s in my head. Every drill, every rep, every moment my mind isn’t completely occupied—she’s there. Her laugh, the way she looked at me in that elevator, how she felt in my arms like she belonged there.
And with her comes that ugly voice that knows exactly what I am: the guy who sleeps around, who never sticks, who no one brings home to meet their parents.
I think about my old man—emotionally absent unless he was pissed off, then too damn present in all the wrong ways.
Mom’s brittle, polite smiles at family dinners that always ended with slammed doors and him storming out to God knows where.
I swore I’d never be like him, but here I am, emotionally unavailable and breaking things I actually want to keep.
By the time the team dinner rolls around, I feel like a complete piece of shit wearing a suit jacket. I tell myself I’m here for the team, not to drown in self-pity over a girl who was smart enough to walk away before I could hurt her worse.
But walking into the restaurant, all I can think about is Harper’s text and how I still haven’t replied because I can’t face her. Can’t take responsibility for being exactly who she thinks I am.
The guys are already at the bar when I arrive, and Cade—the new transfer student who joined the team this semester—tosses me a beer with a grin.
“Thought you weren’t coming,” he says.
“Almost didn’t.” I take a long pull of beer, hoping it’ll wash away the taste of my own disappointment.
“Yeah, well… welcome to the club. Coach would’ve been pissed.”
I force a laugh. “Yeah, man.”
Cade’s smart as hell, but he has the sense of humor of a high school jock and a shit ton of drama that I don’t want a part of. But I’ve watched him prove himself in this team, and I respect the hustle.
Sanderson walks in with Hannah, and Cade just ignores them as they sit across the room.
He takes a sip of his beer and mutters, “Don’t be stupid like me.”
I swig my beer, looking at Sanderson and Hannah when the front door opens. Sirus walks in with a brunette and then there’s Cole.
Then my stomach sinks. It twists, burns like fucking acid when I see the girl of my dreams smiling at something Cole just said. He holds her hand, and I still.
“What?” Cade says, but I tune him out.
I hear my own pulse in my ears, the rage burning through my veins.
Is that what she meant when she said she wanted someone steady? She’s been playing me this entire time?
My breath falters. My entire body tenses.
Cole places his hand on her lower back, guiding her into the restaurant like she belongs there.
Like she’s his to guide. He whispers something in her ear, and she smiles.
My brain short circuits, remembering every reason I nicknamed her Trouble.
How she smells, how she tastes when she moans against my mouth, the exact sound she made the first time I kissed her in that elevator.
And now she’s looking at Cole like that? Like he’s something worth keeping?
I force myself to hold my drink steady, jaw locked, watching them make their way toward our table. Cole introduces her to the guys she hasn’t met, his hand never leaving her back, and she smiles at each of them like she actually wants to be here.
Every laugh she gives him feels like a nail being driven into my chest.
I tell myself it’s fine. I’m fine. This was bound to happen eventually—Harper finding someone who deserves her, someone who won’t disappoint her the way I inevitably would.
But I’m not fine. I’m the opposite of fine.
“You know Harper?” Sirus asks, sliding up beside me with a grin.
Does this asshole know?
My voice comes out flat. “Yeah.”
“She’s great, right? Really good for Cole. He’s been different since they started seeing each other—happier, more relaxed. It’s about time he found someone who gets him.”
Sirus keeps talking about how much he likes Harper, how she fits in with our group, how Cole lights up whenever her name comes up. Each word is like salt in a wound.
My grip tightens on my beer until my knuckles ache.
I can’t sit here another second. Can’t watch her be everything I want with someone who isn’t me. Can’t pretend this doesn’t feel like my heart being ripped out through my throat.
I push back my chair, the legs scraping against the floor loud enough to draw a few glances.
“Need some air,” I mutter to no one in particular, and stride toward the door.
Every step feels like I’m walking out of my own skin.
Outside, the October air is sharp and cold, but it doesn’t cool the fire in my chest. I lean against the brick wall, trying to breathe normally, trying to remember how to be a human being instead of a walking nerve ending.
I glance back through the restaurant window—and freeze.
Harper’s looking right at me.
No smile. No wave. Just... watching. There’s something in her expression I can’t read, something that lands somewhere between apology and challenge.
For a moment, we just stare at each other through the glass. Her at the table with Cole’s arm around her shoulders, me standing alone on the sidewalk like the ghost of her bad decisions.
I don’t know which would hurt more—if that look is her saying sorry or if it’s her daring me to do something about this.
I turn away before I can find out, shoving my hands in my pockets and heading down the street without looking back.
Livid doesn’t even begin to cover what I’m feeling. This is something deeper, uglier—the kind of rage that comes from wanting something you can’t have and knowing it’s your own damn fault you can’t have it.
I should be happy for Cole. He’s a good guy, probably the best guy I’ve ever known. If Harper had to choose someone, at least she chose someone who’ll treat her right.
But as I walk through the cold night air, all I can think about is how she looked at him, how her hand rested on his arm, how easily she fit into his world.
How she used to look at me like that, before I reminded her what kind of man I really am.