“Bentley,” I moan as my toes curl.
Nope. Not going to get tired of this at all.
CHAPTER 13
Shattered Pieces
Bentley
“Bro,can you explain this to me again?” Corey says as he flops down in the seat across from me in the library.
I look up at him and frown as others at surrounding tables hiss at him to be quiet. I wouldn’t expect him to get it. This is a me and Zah thing.
“There’s nothing to explain. I’m getting my assignments done for class,” I mumble.
“Yeah, I get that. You’ve always been on top of your classwork, but this … you have a whole hot girlfriend. She looked great out there on the track the other day, by the way. Yet you guys don’t hang out together, you don’t study together. Instead, you two have some type of competition going on. If that were my girl, I’d be trying to get in those cute little running shorts …”
He lifts his hands up in the air as I snap my head up and glare at him. Trust me, I would love nothing more than tobe somewhere alone with Zah, wrapped in her arms and legs. However, we’ve both been busy.
She has track and I have football. When you add in classes and classwork, plus assignments, we hardly have time for ourselves. The last two weeks have been brutal. We only see each other in the mornings. The rest of the day, we text as much as we can, but our schedules conflict like crazy beyond that.
We tried studying together once and got nothing done. When we set our second challenge in our game, we decided to make it an academic challenge. The goal is to see who will be the first one to get straight As and keep them up for the semester.
We both agreed to see each other during mutually scheduled times. Our competitiveness outweighs our horny hormones. As much as I crave Zah, I’m not going to lie and say our challenges aren’t making me better.
My coach isn’t complaining. I have the best grades on the team. Zah and I are currently tied for best grades as student athletes. It might sound nerdy, but this is us.
This is the most fun I’ve had in my college career. I wake looking forward to my morning runs with Zah, where we plan out our day and text to check in throughout. I’m falling so hard for this girl. I’ve always had love for her, but now I know I’m in love with her.
“Why aren’t you focused on your books? As captain, no one is failing on my watch. Did you turn in that paper?”
“I’m nowhere near failing. You know my dad would kill me. I turned in that paper a week early. That’s my point, bro. What happened to taking care of business and then having some fun?”
“Just because I’ve been turning down parties doesn’t mean I’m not having fun. My version of fun is just different from everyone else’s. I’ve got two more years.
“This can’t be it for me. I need to go pro. It’s all I’ve dreamed about since I can remember. The work starts here,” I say, looking him in the eyes.
“I get that. More than you know, but we live once. A few parties aren’t going to keep you out of the league. Tell Zahirah to come along.”
I shake my head. “She’s focused. Besides, the track team is traveling this weekend for a meet. She’ll be back Sunday. We have a date planned for then.”
“Good, you have a few days to kick back with your boys.”
I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach and know this is a bad idea. Things have been too good. I have so much peace. Yet I look him in the eyes and cave.
“Fine, I’ll come out tonight, but tonight only.”
***
I sipat my soda and shoot a text back to Zah. She won her meet and broke two records. I’m so proud of her. They have one more day of meets to go before they head back home.
I almost text her that I love her, but I want to tell her in person for the first time. I can’t keep the smile from my face when she sends back a bunch of heart eye emojis. I return the same emojis and tell her I miss her.
“You’re the only guy here texting. Not having fun?”
I look up to find Carly’s friend, Pacey. My first reaction is to look around quickly for Carly so I can leave to get away from her before she sees me. Just my luck, her father pulled some strings to have my restraining order blocked after I didn’t press charges.
Fucking asshole. I never should have agreed to his terms in the first place. For the most part, Carly has been staying away from me.
