“Then leave them for the maid. I’m sure they’ll brighten his or her day.” He stepped through the room and fell into the desk chair, twisting it around to face me. “How are you?”
Dropping onto the edge of my bed, I said, “Great. Can’t you tell?” I drank my coffee. “I’m ready for the game. Are you?” Were we shooting the shit now?
“I’m trying to be.” He tensed the corner of his lips. “I didn’t sleep well last night, and I hope it doesn’t hurt my game.” His gaze fell to the floor. “I pondered what you said.”
“Okay, and?” I’d let him talk. Then maybe I could get him to leave faster. I eyed him, and my gut flickered. He was so close. We hadn’t been in the same room since the day that broke us.
“And I won’t talk about what happened anymore. What’s done is done, and if you want to hate me for it the rest of our lives, then so be it.” He gave me a sad grin. “But I want the animosity between us to end and for us to treat each other with respect.”
“I always respected you.” I held my head high. He’d been the one who’d been disrespectful. Right?
He winced. “Yeah, okay.” Rocking once, he said, “You should know I still have feelings for you.” His dark and soft gazetraveled my body to lock on mine. “I can’t help it. You’re the only man I’ve ever loved.”
With my jaw dropping and my heart thrumming against my ribcage, I stared at him. Had I heard him correctly? With a hard swallow, I croaked, “Are you serious?”
“I’m very serious.” He breathed in deeply, his chest gently rising. “It’s killing me to know you hate me so much.” His eyes grew glassy. “I know love and hate are two sides of the same coin, so is there a way?—”
“No.” I twisted my head and glared at the corner of the room. As a lump crawled up my throat, my eyes stung. Shit, he was using his Eli fucking Dawson charm, the same thing that put me into this mess. But what was he offering here? “I-I don’t know.”
“Do you think you’d know in time?” He shifted his chair closer to me, his musky cologne wafting across me.
He still smelled the same as in high school. Fuck me. There’d been times I’d gone to perfume counters and sniffed it. It was torture, but also as comforting as a warm blanket. “Maybe.” I couldn’t think straight with him this close. “Let me sleep on it.” I wasn’t sure what I’d agreed to, but I had to get him out of my room.
“Okay, I’ll let you think about things. Let me know when we can talk again. I gave my cell number to Grace, so she can give it to you when you’re ready.” He stood and padded across the room, then left.
I blinked, and a hot tear tumbled down my cheek. With a snarl, I swiped it away. I’d let him get to me. In a matter of ten minutes or less, he’d crashed through years of wall building.
At the game,I focused on the few ASU fans in the stands and ran through our chants, moving my body in time with the others. There were fewer of us at awaygames, so we had to be extra loud. I glanced at the scoreboard. Trailing by a touchdown, we had a few minutes left in the first half. We’d get a break soon.
Mississippi had the ball, and the players lined up across the field.
Eli crouched in the back, one fist in the grass, his focus on the play.
I stood beside Grace with my hands behind my back, quiet for the moment while the play started on the field.
The Mississippi center snapped the ball, and their quarterback drew back a few steps, then threw a short toss to their running back.
Barreling through ASU’s defensive linemen, the running back broke free.
Eli charged him, sprinting at full speed. As Eli threw his arms out for a tackle, a behemoth offensive lineman hit him square in the chest with his helmet. Dropping to the ground in a heap, Eli lay in the grass, unmoving.
A ref threw a yellow flag, and play stopped as our other linebacker, Penny, tackled the runner.
“Holy shit, what happened?” With my heart pounding in my ears, I turned to Grace.
“Take a knee, Wren. The medic is going out.” Pursing her lips, she dropped to one knee along with the squad.
“But…but it’s Eli. Is he hurt?” With my gut wrenching, I stepped toward the field. Fuck if I could sit here and watch this and do nothing.
“Wren.” Grace snatched my arm and yanked me down. “Knee.” She glared at me.
“Fine.” I fell onto one knee and breathed through the squeezing in my chest. Jesus, maybe I cared more for Eli than I’d thought. This was all his fault. Why did he have to confuse me with the damn flowers and the feelings talk, anyway?
The medics surrounded Eli, and finally, he moved his legs and rolled onto his back.
The crowd cheered.
“Yeah, Dawson!” I screamed. “Be okay, please be okay.” I gritted my teeth. Would they sideline him for the rest of the game? But he’d been tackling like a madman tonight.
