Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 550(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 550(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
“No, I’m joking. This is my laughing face,” Coach Taylor says flatly.
Everyone turns to look at me, as if asking for permission to celebrate. So I jerk Grim into a hug, ruffling his hair. “Come here, fucker. Congratulations.”
“Stay the fuck away from me,” he hisses into my ear, pushing me off. “You’re a day late and a dollar short. You held my dream hostage for three years just because you didn’t have the guts to chase yours. If this is how you treat your best friend, I don’t want to know how you treat your enemies.”
He bumps his shoulder into mine, moving on. The squad gathers around to clap Grim’s shoulder and applaud him. I’m about to remind him football is not a fucking kindness competition—that I was chosen because I was better—but then I catch her from the corner of my eye. A lithe body clad in the gymnastics team varsity hurrying from the parking lot and toward the gymnasium.
Thalia.
I’ve never run so fast in my life. I’m practically hovering over the ground before I get to her. She notices me coming. Panic mars her face.
I catch the hem of her jacket, pull her back, and pin her against the wall. She is trapped between my arms, looking like a cornered animal.
Leaning forward, I bare my teeth at her. “Sorry, sweetheart. If you drop a bomb, expect some casualties. You owe me some answers. And I’m about to get them now.”
“I was actually going to call you.” Thalia is all over me like a nasty rash after a shady hookup.
Her hands are on my chest and she puckers her lips, waiting for a kiss that isn’t coming.
It’s like she did a one-eighty as soon as I caught up with her.
I would call her on her bullshit, but I’ve more pressing issues to deal with, so I appreciate her cooperating, on a level.
“What’s going on?” I demand, removing her hand from my cheek.
“What do you mean, Levy baby?” She blinks up at me innocently.
“I mean about the threat you made against Bailey,” I growl, adding, “I mean you insinuating if I make this breakup official, you’re gonna hurt my best friend. I don’t take well to threats. In fact, I’m in the business of destroying the people who make them.”
“Aww, again with your precious Bailey,” she hisses back, and there it is.
The pain she promised I’m not going to be able to inflict on her. All over her face, like scars.
“Tell me what’s happening.” I don’t flinch. “Where is this shit coming from? Why don’t you wanna break up?”
She slams her mouth shut. Stares down at the floor. “Oh, you big moron!” She rolls her tear-filled eyes skyward, shaking her head. “I’ve never wanted to break up with you. I was always in it for the long haul, waiting for you to wake up and realize how good we are together.”
My jaw clenches, and she presses forward, tossing her head back. “Remember the scholarship I told you about? The one I’ve been given?”
“Yeah?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Well, it’s gone. As in, not happening anymore. They withdrew their offer. Academic dishonesty.” She drops her head down so I can’t see her face, and something in me immediately goes out to her, and I put a hand on her shoulder.
“Shit, T. I’m so sorry.”
The shoulder I’m holding is shaking as she continues, “There was a discrepancy between the grades I gave them and the ones All Saints High sent them. It’s done. I’m not going to go to any college. And…and…I needed a plan B. And I guess you were it.”
Even though I’m still angry at her, I cannot not-understand where she’s coming from.
She doesn’t have the means to get the future she wants. I press my forehead against hers, shaking my head. “You should’ve said something. I could’ve helped you. We could still make school work. You could still apply—”
I notice that her suddenly happy gaze is drifting elsewhere behind my shoulder, so I turn my head to see what caught her attention.
From across the street, I spot Bailey standing next to her beat-up car.
She is staring at us, and I know what it looks like. Fuuuuuuuck.
And now I recognize the truth for what it is.
Thalia might’ve lost her scholarship, but she also lost her fucking plot. This was a trap, designed to show Bailey we’re still an item.
Thalia called her here. Expected her. She timed her arrival for when football practice was over. She doesn’t even have practice now.
The gymnasium is closed. And we look intimate, close, touching each other, having an emotional talk.
I whip my head back to Thalia because I need to finish this mess with her before I extinguish the fire she started with Bailey. “Jesus Christ, you’re vile.”
I can see the moment she contemplates denying what’s obvious and trying to justify herself. She chooses the latter.