Gran leaned closer to me. “Terrifying doesn’t mean wrong, darling.”
I watched him line up again, my heart thudding a little harder than before. Kai was leaving, but deep down, I suspected — or perhaps both feared and hoped — he would consider staying if I’d only asked.
Except I didn’t want to when I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to stay in this place. If I had the chance, I wouldn'tmind seeing what was out there. Kai’s future wasn’t here; that much I was sure of.
He’d told me about the life awaiting him back home — a loving family and the sport he’d dreamed of playing professionally his whole life.
I could never ask him to give any of this up; Iwouldnever put him in that position.
But, for the first time, I didn’t immediately reject the idea of a future for us. If he’d asked me outright to come with him, would I tell him no?
The thought circled in my mind, over and over again, until practice wrapped up and Kai jogged over, his face sweaty and flushed. He was endearingly obnoxious in a way threatening to overwhelm me.
“You see that?” He was breathing hard. “Nailed the angle change. Felt bloody good.”
I swallowed. “Yeah. You looked … good.”
He stepped closer, so close I could feel the heat he exuded and smell the sweat coating his skin.
“Tori.”
The way he said my name was beginning to feel like a problem.
“We’re okay, right?” Kai implored me quietly. “After last night?”
I opened and closed my mouth, then opened it again. He brushed my cheekbone with the back of his knuckles so gently it almost wasn’t a touch at all.
“You don’t have to say it,” he murmured. “Just … stay with me. Yeah?”
My throat closed and I swallowed hard. My mouth was suddenly too dry to force any words out.
Iwouldstay.
As we walked back to his car — after watching Gran take a ‘victory lap’ around the field she insisted on — Kai slipped his fingers into mine.
If he breaks me, I’ll never recover.
But the truth I couldn’t run from anymore was … I wasn’t letting go either.
Chapter 26
Kai
Thepressurewasfuckingon tonight, no doubt about it. It wasn’t a bad kind of pressure; it wasn’t the kind making my hands shake like they did during my first practice here. It was more like a fist around my lungs, squeezing everything tightly.
Because this wasn’t just another game. This was the game where I needed to stop being Coach’s nephew and start being someone the team actually trusted.
And — if I admitted the truth buried deep enough it hurt — this was the game I wanted Tori to be proud of me. She didn’t say it out loud, but I saw the way her eyes lit when I got something right.
I wanted more of this, I wanted her to be proud of me. Craved it like oxygen.
The locker room vibrated with the sounds of tape ripping, cleats thudding and country music blaring. Myuncle gave the standard speech, but my nerves were underwater, every sound muffled.
Reece slapped my helmet. “Big night, Sunshine.”
Reckon I was stuck with that nickname now. Oh joy.
“Yeah. Let’s hope I remember which direction I’m meant to bloody run.”
