Chapter 43
SADIE
“Thanks for letting me tag along to say goodbye to Danny, Dad.”
He scoffs. “I didn’t think I had a choice.”
“You’re not wrong.” I laugh.
“Jesus, you’ve only been apart for a few days.”
“So?” I take a large sip of my iced chai latte.
Those days were hard. I thought staying at Dad’s until the Gwen situation got resolved was a good idea at the time. I didn’t think about the practicality of it. With school, practice, and Dad suddenly expecting me to be home in time for dinner, I barely saw Danny.
“Nothing,” he grumbles, clutching the steering wheel tighter until his knuckles turn white.
“Anyway, I appreciate you forgetting for a second that you don’t like the idea of me dating one of your players.”
He sighs. “It’ll take me longer than a week to get used to it, Sadie. It’s not because Danny is one of my players.”
“Oh?” I raise an eyebrow.
He passes a hand over his face. “I haven’t seen you grow up, honey, and it kills me that I’ve missed so much. I know you’re a young woman now, but to me, you’re still my little girl.”
My eyes prickle, filling with tears as I become overwhelmed with emotion that seems to overflow my tight chest. Crossing my arms, I look out the window, hiding any rogue tear that I don’t manage to keep from escaping.
“Did you ever regret not asking for custody of Dom and me?” I ask through the lump in my throat.
“Every single day, Sadie. Giving you up was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
“Why did you, then?”
He doesn’t answer for a couple of beats. “It wasn’t an easy decision. Your mom loves you and Dom very much, sweetie. She wouldn’t have been able to handle being apart from you.”
“But you could? How is that fair?”
“She wasn’t well.”
“What do you mean?”
He grows quiet, and I fear I already know the answer to my own question.
“She was depressed, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah. I didn’t want to give her a reason to…. Well, I thought it was best for everyone if I didn’t ask to share custody.”
A lonely tear escapes the corner of my eye, and I hastily wipe it away. “All this time I thought you simply didn’t love me enough.”
“Honey, how could you think that?”
There’s so much hurt in his question that it’s almost impossible to keep from bawling like a little girl.
This is ridiculous. I never cry, for fuck’s sake.
“I wasn’t a very smart six-year-old. Besides, I was hurting too much with the separation. I needed to blame someone.”
“No, I think you were too smart. You sensed your mother couldn’t cope with more grief, so you chose me to channel your anger.”
I sink farther in my seat, feeling so small that I might have turned into Frodo.
We finally pull into the car park in front of the Rebels’ headquarters, where the team’s buses are waiting. Some of the players and cheerleaders have arrived, including Danny, Andy, and Heather, Vanessa’s twin. I’m glad the cheerleaders and the players aren’t interacting— yet .
This is the first time Danny is playing an away game since we became official, and I’m getting a little jealous that the cheerleaders get to tag along and I can’t. It’s damn stupid since the reason I’m unable to attend Danny’s game is because I also have to play today.
Is being love-drunk making me stupid too? God, I hope not.
Once Dad parks his car, I turn to him. “Okay, I’m going to say hello to my boyfriend now. It will involve major PDA.”
Twisting his face into a grimace, he says, “I’ll look the other way.”
I smirk, then get out of the car. Danny doesn’t know I planned to come to see him off, so he doesn’t look in my direction until I’m almost on top of him.
His eyes widen. “Sadie?”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”
I jump in his arms, needing to soak up his essence as much as I can. He hugs me tight, nuzzling my neck in the process. Bollocks. He really shouldn’t have done that. Now I want to take him inside the locker room for a quickie.
Must not entertain these thoughts .
“I had to come and wish you good luck in person,” I say.
“We don’t need luck,” Andy chimes in.
“Ignore him,” Danny tells me, then leans down to kiss me. He stops suddenly, then glances over my head. “Where’s Coach?”
I curl my fingers around his shirt. “Relax. I’ve warned him already. He’s not going to look.” Then I pull him the rest of the distance until our lips collide.
He kisses me hard and deep, much to Andy’s chagrin, who is pretty vocal about his annoyance. We ignore him and snog like the two horny teenagers we are.
“Coach is coming,” Andy warns us, and we jump apart, only to discover the bellend lied.
“Dude, you suck,” Danny tells him.
He shrugs. “I’m not even a little bit sorry.”
More people start to arrive, so Danny and I refrain from kissing, but we remain attached at the hips until Dad does make an appearance and tells everyone to get into the buses.
Danny gives me a quick peck on the lips and jogs after Andy.
Since I came with Dad, I’m taking his car back to the house.
I don’t have to be at the stadium until later.
I remain standing in front of the Rebels’ headquarters until all buses depart. I can’t help the morose feeling that sweeps over me.
Ugh, get a grip, Sadie.
My phone rings, and I thank heavens for the timely distraction. It’s Vanessa.
“Hey, girlie. What’s cracking?” I ask.
“Have you heard?”
“Heard about what?”
“That psycho bitch. I was with Couch Lauda when the dean called half an hour ago to let her know Gwen has been expelled.”
“Shut your face. For real?”
“Yep. I thought you should know as soon as possible.”
I pump my fist into the air. “Fuck yeah. Thanks for letting me know. The dean must have called my father too, but he already left with the team.”
“I’m sure he did.”
The sound of a car accelerating draws my attention to the street. I turn and see a black sedan coming straight at me. What the hell?
There’s no time to do anything besides jump to the side, hoping to not be turned into roadkill. I roll as I hit the ground, glad for my hoodie’s protection.
The car misses me by a couple of inches, but it keeps barreling straight ahead without slowing until it hits the wired fence, punching through it. It finally comes to a halt, but that doesn’t give me comfort. Whoever is behind the wheel wanted to kill me.
“What the hell was that?” Vanessa asks, and I realize I’m still holding my phone.
“Someone just tried to run me over with a car,” I shout through the fear that’s made my heart beat loudly in my chest.
My pulse is drumming in my ears as I get up on shaky legs. I have to get out of here.
“What? Oh my God. Are you okay?”
“N-No.”
My panic is rising, the devastating emotion taking control of my muscles. The driver gets out, and there’s no surprise on my part when I see Gwen, bleeding from a cut on her forehead, her deranged eyes set on me.
“Sadie, are you there? Sadie!” Vanessa shouts. “Shit. I’m coming over.”
I should run, should tell Vanessa that Gwen was the one who tried to kill me. But terror already took my ability to think, to speak. I’m trapped by my own mind at the mercy of a psychopath.
“You fucking bitch. Did you think you’d get rid of me that easily?” she taunts me, slowly walking over.
It’s like she knows I can’t move. Or maybe she wants me to run so she can chase me like in those slasher movies.
“I bided my time, waited patiently for Danny to finally see that I’m the only one for him. Then you had to come along and ruin everything I’ve worked for.”
For fuck’s sake. I can take her now that she isn’t inside a three-thousand-pound car coming at me at sixty miles an hour.
That is until she flips open a switchblade.
Nausea takes over me. Shakes wreak havoc throughout my body.
My scar throbs as if my body remembers the pain of a similar blade piercing my skin.
No. No. No.
This is a nightmare.
I have to run.
The mental command finally breaks through my paralysis. I take off toward Dad’s car, and Gwen comes after me.
“Where do you think you’re going, Eurotrash?”
I don’t look back. I just need to focus on running as fast as the wind.
I’m able to cross the car park in the blink of an eye.
She won’t catch me before I’m safe inside my vehicle, but when I try the driver's door, it’s locked.
I glance over my shoulder. She’s almost on me.
I won’t have time to check the other doors.
Fuck. I dash between the cars, hitting the side mirror of one in the process. I barely notice the pain.
The sound of an engine approaching distracts me.
I glance at the street and see one of the buses came back.
That second of distraction costs me, and now she’s right behind me.
I turn, raising my arms to deter her attack.
The knife slashes my palm open, and I cry out in pain.
She pulls her arm back to stab me again.
“Gwen! Stop!” Danny screams.
It was his bus that returned. My heart soars with hope and then plummets in despair in the next second when she turns her murderous attention to him.
“You betrayed me! You promised we would be together forever!” she shouts like a maniac, waving the blood-coated knife.
I should get out of her range now that she’s distracted, but sudden anger overrides my survival instincts. I reach for her wrist and try to wrestle the weapon from her. My hand is burning as if acid was poured over it, but I push through the pain, fueled by adrenaline.
She’s taller than me though, and freakishly strong, which works to her advantage. With a shove, she breaks from my hold. I stagger back, colliding with a parked car. She intends to finish me off, witnesses be damned.
Suddenly Danny and my father are there, restraining her. Dad applies pressure to her wrist, and the knife falls to the ground. He kicks it away for good measure.
Shock is quickly taking over again. My breathing is erratic, my pulse beating too fast. But when Danny pulls me into his arms, the wave of panic that was rising slowly recedes. He’s my fortress. He’s home.
I bury my face against his chest and finally allow myself to cry.