Nah, there had to be more to it. Girlfriends led to wives, and I certainly didn’t want one of those. At least, not if it led to the relationship my parents had. They’d been miserable. So no, Sasha wouldn’t be any more to me than she was right now. She wouldn’t bemybaby momma, and hell, she might not even be my girlfriend for much longer.
“Mr. Rutledge, you can leave,” Mr. Matthews said.
I jerked my head around as Jack stood and rushed to shove his books into his bag. What the …?
“Got practice,” he said as if he heard my thoughts, then grinned. “Sucks to be you.”
I tracked his every movement until he was gone and then stared at the door he’d vanished through. It wasn’t a secret the starting line of the varsity soccer team was also part of the Stewart United Football Club out of Auburn. Since it wasn’t affiliated with the school, I supposed they couldn’t restrict him from practices as they could me. Or maybe he got a note from his parents or something. Fuck if I knew or cared.
“You’ve got a few more minutes, Mr. Winters.”
I hunkered over my notebook to finish what I’d been working on. Very unsuccessfully, I might add. Detention sucked ass, but at least I’d had someone to share it with.
The last few minutes dragged. I glanced at the time on my phone so often, I’d swear it moved backward. Had this really felt different when Jack was suffering with me? I glanced at his empty chair, imagined him glaring at me, then snickered and got back to my homework.
Okay, so maybe the fight between us was a welcome distraction to everything else, but it wasn’t like I missed the asshole.
When I was finally let out, I headed for the football field to catch the tail end of practice. We had a game on Friday, and today, they’d be going over any strategies for it. Sometimes Nick would come to my house on Thursdays so we could talk about the team and expectations, but Daddy wouldn’t allow it this week.
That still burned me up. Jack and I had been the ones singled out, the ones wrapping up the fight started by others, but it was so unfair that Daddy wouldn’t even listen to me about it. Had I expected any different? Yeah, I might’ve. He never had any time for anything anymore, but this? I’d never been in trouble in my life, and this wasn’t even enough to get his attention? What would it take?
Friday’s detention was canceled, thank fuck. Coach grabbed me as I suited up for a short practice before our game to lay it on thick about responsibility and consequences. He’d stuck his neck out, so he said, to get me on the field since I’d missed practice all week. “Don’t make me regret it,” he’d added.
Like I’d planned for any of this.
And of course, we lost.
Spectacularly.
One man didn’t make or break a team, but I sure felt like shit. I’d let my team down. I’d fucked us over by missing out all week. Had I been there, in the thick of it, working on our cohesion, would we have won?
Sasha caught up with me as the team solemnly plodded to the locker room. She smiled and hung all over me, and when I pulled my sweat-slicked arm from her grasp, she narrowed her eyes.
“I'm gross from the game, Sasha.”
She pouted her red lips and stomped her foot like a child. “I’m beginnin’ to think you’re avoidin’ me. All this week, we’ve barely said two words.”
This conversation had already been more than two words, but I didn’t point that out. “I’ve been grounded. What do you want me to do? Sneak off to see you and get in more trouble?”
By the sparkle in her eyes that widened a fraction at my suggestion, that was exactly what she wanted me to do.
I tunneled my fingers through my soaked hair. “Look, I gotta get Cara home. I’m still grounded until Daddy says otherwise.”
She tossed her ponytail and stormed off without another word. I watched her for a minute, not in regret or defeat, but in relief. That should be a major clue to dump her, that I’d never been into this the way she was, but it was one more hassle I couldn’t fit on my plate right this minute.
I showered off enough so I wouldn’t stink up my truck, then found Cara and headed home.
“I’m spending the night at Kitty’s house,” she said when I asked her about dinner.
“You okay that with Daddy?”
Cara rolled her eyes and brought out her phone. Who knew where Daddy was this time of day, maybe still at work. Regardless, he’d replied to her text with a simple “Okay.”
Later that night, the house was quiet. I lay on my bed, one arm behind my head, and thought about this week that was finally over. No more detention. Hopefully no more taking the fall for my dumbass teammates. No more forced encounters with Jack Rutledge. What should’ve been a peaceful moment, a chance to get some rest, wasn’t.
Saturday greeted me with a to-do list and a message from Daddy saying he’d be at work.
Yeah, on a Saturday.
