“No idea,” I replied honestly. “Compared to rugby, though? Nothing stacks up.”
She gave me one of her rare, genuine smiles. I turned so she had to look at me.
After hesitating for a moment, I quietly brought up the question.
“Tori … can I ask something? You don't have to answer if you don't want to.”
Her hand flexed on my chest, but she didn’t pull away.
“Why do you live with your gran?”
She sighed. “Because she needed someone to. Even though she never would've asked me to.”
I stayed silent, letting her decide how much to give me.
“My sperm donor left when I was a kid. Ran off with a woman ten years younger than my mom.”
The hint of bitterness in her words made my chest ache.
“Mom worked so fucking hard to give me a good childhood. She sacrificed everything for me. And when I graduated, she got this fantastic nursing job in Atlanta. Better pay, better hours, better everything. She deserved living her own life after doing all the heavy lifting while raising me.”
Her fingers traced slower circles now, lost in thought.
“But Gran didn’t want to leave town, and … honestly? I didn’t want to leave her either. She’s been here forever. We’ve always been locals. So I stayed. I was already working at the gym, and Gran goes to church with the owner of the Neon Possum's mom … so she kind of forced him to give me the bartending gig, I guess. Then I just enrolled at BRU.”
She exhaled. “It just made sense, in many ways.”
We both remained silent, each lost in our own thoughts. I just held her because it felt like the only right way to respond.
“You did right by both of them,” I finally said. “Anyone can see that.”
Tori didn’t offer a response, but her body softened against mine and the tension eased slightly.
“I don’t know what my future looks like.” I held her gaze. “And you don’t know yours. But I know this.” I slid my hand up her back, cupped the base of her skull, and tugged her closer until her breath mingled with mine.
“Fear isn't going to determine our fate.”
Chapter 22
Kai
ThebusrolledintoMurfreesboro just after sunrise, the sky bathed in a pink-gold light, reminding me of home. It felt surreal to be so far away yet experience the same thing on a different continent.
Here I was in a new country, playing a new sport … and taking new chances to make a bloody idiot of myself.
I pressed my forehead to the window as the bus pulled toward the stadium. Big blue banners flapped in the breeze, and groups of students wearing game-day shirts milled around the imposing structure.
There was even a tent shaped like a cowboy boot. I had no idea if that was normal, but based on what I’d seen so far, it kind of tracked.
Rugby tournaments didn’t look like this. For one thing, there were fewer footwear-shaped objects.
“Yo, Australia,” Marcus called from the seat behind me. “You taking pictures for your scrapbook?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, not turning around. “Want me to get your good side?”
“Dude, all my sides are good.”
I rolled my eyes. The bloke annoyed the hell out of me, but I’d promised myself I wouldn’t get rattled today. I wanted to play well today, not just survive the playbook.
