I’d have to come up with an excuse. Borrow her car and go to his house.Now.
I grabbed my stomach and pretended to be sick. Actually, I full-on felt sick. I was having some bad reaction to Drew disappearing.
“I’m sorry, Coach Hall. I’m not feeling well.”
“You’re excused,” he said, his tone all business.
His voice didn’t make my legs shake; his eyes didn’t make me feel weak in the knees.
I wanted King back.
Despite my insistence to my mom in the beginning of the year to keep her distance from me at school and give me space, I rushed to the registrar’s office. She was surprised to see me, and my stomach clenched as I lied to her, made up a story about a fellow player needing to get to a doctor’s appointment, and how I volunteered.
“I need to borrow your car,” I asked quietly.
“I’m so glad you’re making friends,” she said.
If she only knew.
Then I rushed to his house, taking the turns that had been committed to memory from riding beside him. When I pulled up in front, I blanched at the sight of theFOR SALEsign in his front yard and the U-Haul parked around back. The front door was open and King walked through it, carrying out a box.
When I got out and slammed the door on my mom’s sedan, he looked up, shock and fear on his face.
“Jules, you shouldn’t be here,” he said sternly, his brow furrowed.
“Why? You changed your mind?” I felt some psychoBasic Instinctboil-the-bunny shit flowing through my veins.
“No,” he said quietly, setting down the box he was holding before walking toward me. “I want what’s best for you, and this isn’t it.”
“You don’t get to decide that.” My words were steady as I planted my feet in his driveway and stood firm, refusing to move an inch.
“I do. One scandal was enough for you. You don’t need this. Or me.”
He leaned forward and his lips touched mine in a closed-mouth kiss, full of regret but no fire, as his arm slid around my back and pulled me tight. It was a good-bye kiss, no doubt about it.
I felt his hard abs, the beginning of an erection, and his rapid heartbeat. It was thumping so hard and fast, it felt like it was going to leap out of his chest. How could he think this was wrong? Thatwewere wrong?
He pulled back slightly and rested his forehead against mine. I sensed him breathe me in as he ran his nose along my hairline, and I wrapped my arms around his waist.
I clutched him tightly like a toy on Christmas morning. I wasn’t going to let him go.
“I have to go, Jules. This isn’t going to end well for either of us, and I want ... Ineedit to end well for you.”
I shook my head, a croak dislodging from my throat, but my words caught there just the same.
“Yesterday, with Stacia ... we could have been caught. We can be caught anytime. It’s wrong. It’s my fault, so I’m leaving.”
“I don’t want you to,” I pleaded, realizing my control was all gone. It had slipped through my fingers, and I didn’t care.
“I am. I have to.”
“Where are you going? This is all happening so fast.”
He moved away and opened my car door, his expression begging me to get in. “It’s not for you to know. Coach Hall will keep me updated on the team. It needs to be this way.”
I shook my head again, tears coming this time, washing away what little makeup I wore and dripping onto my shirt.
“There’s no use denying how much I’ve come to care for you, Jules, but you have to leave now. I need to go. It’s all for the best.”
