Chapter 44

chapter forty-four

Gavin

Daisy greeted me like I was the best dog dad on the face of the earth. Her tail was wagging a thousand wags per minute, and she laid on my lap most of the day. It was later on Sunday when Levi and I got back so I didn't go to the animal shelter. Well, I probably shouldn't have gone anyway due to the concussion recovery. Now it's Monday and I have class and practice.

I'm not cleared to practice with the team but I'll still go and watch film or talk with our offensive coordinator. I need to get out of the house and back to doing normal things.

Class is boring and goes by as uneventful as possible and when I get out of my last one I just ride with Levi over to the field. I'm still on strict no driving orders so I was gonna have to hitch a ride anyway.

"How are you feeling," Levi asks. "You sure you don't need to go home and rest. You heard the doctor."

Any other time I'd love to stay home. I could find something to clean or do that is productive enough to keep my mind off things, but not today. I need to get out and get some fresh air, because for some reason it still feels like I'm suffocating. Dealing with all the pressure from football and the conversation I need to have with Quinn, it sort of feels like too much. I've never had a girl that I cared enough about to feel this way, that itself fucks with my head.

"Nah, I'm gonna go to the field and fuck around for a while. Then meet up with Quinn."

Speaking of, I pull my phone out to text her.

Meet me at the field after practice?

Daisy

????

It wasn't like Quinn to be so short, so that made me a little uneasy. Not knowing what was going to happen between us. Was Collins right? Even if she did choose me, would she regret it later on? As much as I hated it, he did have something with Quinn I'd never have.

Her past.

I will never know everything that happened between them. Would I be okay with that? Would I be able to trust that it's over between them if she says it is?

We get to the facility and Levi and I go to the offices and get ready to watch game film.

"That's what I heard, too."

I hear two of the guys whispering in the back of the room and when they notice me, they stop talking, eyes going wide.

What the fuck is going on?

I sit down in one of the rolling chairs and try my best to pay attention to the game film and everything the coaches say, but it proves impossible when I can't stop thinking about whatever it is they were whispering about when I walked in.

Was it something about Quinn?

When Coach finally walks out of the room to go to the main field, I leave Levi talking with the other coaching staff and head to the back of the room.

"What's going on?" I ask, both of the guys looking at me with scared expressions. "Just tell me instead of whispering about it behind my back."

With impeccable timing, Remi walks in and pulls me to the side, "You need to see this."

He hands me his phone, and I read an article released by ESPN.

Richardson sold out by his own teammate: After receiving backlash online Grant Laremore tells ESPN he was paid by injured Eagles QB Grayson Collins for the viral targeting call hit.

The fuck?

"Is this true?" I ask Remi, wondering if he knows something I don't, but he just shrugs. I gather my things and walk outside for some fresh air.

My heart is beating out of my chest. First, Levi and now me? This kind of behavior is unhinged. No wonder Quinn acts the way she does. She's probably afraid of him or what he will do to the people she cares about.

When I open the door, and turn the corner to head to the parking lot, I freeze. I see Collins' back, Quinn standing in front of him, with her hand in his.

My stomach hits the floor, but my feet don't move, not yet.

I stand there in total shock as I watch her tear her hand away from his, "Gavin."

I take a few steps back and then turn in the other direction. I need to get the hell out of here before I do something I'm gonna regret later.

"Gavin, please wait!" She screams, but doesn't stand a chance at chasing me through the parking lot to my truck. Not with the crutches. I can't do this right now.

I just can't.

My heart is still back in the stadium tunnel on the floor. After talking to her for a few minutes on the phone and the message she sent from Levi, I really thought things were about to go back to normal.

I slip into my truck and my vision begins to blur with tears as I pull from the parking lot. I know I shouldn't feel betrayed because I'm the one that told her to go back to him.

Those were my exact words.

If you still love him, then I'm serious, go be with him.

I know at the time I was begging her to have mercy on me, to let me go before I fell even harder for her, but I didn't realize it would still cut this deep. It didn't feel merciful. Not at all.

It felt like dying.