He steps back and watches the SUV drive away with her in it just as the back door opens. He turns to see Brinley running towards him, stumbling from her intoxication.
“What the fuck did you do to her!” she yells. “Why is she leaving?”
“She’s fine,” Tristan says. “Just tired.”
“Okay well Kiana is inside asking everyone where you are so-”
“Yeah yeah, I’ll be in.”
Brinley turns and heads back inside, and Tristan takes this moment when he’s finally alone to lean against the wall, take a few deep breaths, and contemplate what the fuck he is going to do now.
CHAPTER 13
Tessa wasn’t quite sure what to expect when she walked into the stadium Monday morning to observe their last practice before the first game of the season, but seeing Tristan in tight red football pants and a sleeveless Titans shirt was not exactly on her radar.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she walked onto the field. The smell of fresh cut grass and peak male adrenaline was so intoxicating she was almost unsteady on her feet.
They were all lined up in perfect rows, following specific instructions being yelled out by a man she would assume to be one of the coaches. She watched their bodies move in unison and was in awe at how they could move their huge bodies so gracefully and controlled. At her height, Tessa had always described herself as an awkward baby giraffe, but these guys handled their size with a certain poise and confidence that could only come from years of training and perfecting.
Tessa was somehow able to make her feet move, and she walked over to one of the benches and sat down gently, perching herself on the edge with a spine rod back, feeling so incredibly out of place. This was the last thing she ever thought she’d be doing when she signed onto the New York Times, even without the Tristan aspect of this whole debacle.
She tried her best to keep her eyes away from Tristan, but it was no use. It seemed that the magnetic force between them had not dwindled even one single ounce over the past 10 years, and if anything, Tessa swore it felt even stronger.
Tristan noticed her the second she walked onto the field and had to stop his body’s natural reflex to run over to her. She was dressed down today, in simple jeans and a white t-shirt, and he wondered how long it would take him to get her into some Titans merch.
He was all too aware of her eyes on him for the duration of the practice and had to keep himself in check to not be cocky or showboating on the field, but his need to impress her hadn’t gone away over time, and he found himself doing way more than he usually would during a routine practice.
“Why am I getting game day Kelly during practice?” Phillip asked once it had come to an end.
Tristan was panting as they walked towards each other, and he chose not to answer Phil’s question, instead just offering a shrug as if it’s not big deal.
“Is it because we have a new audience member today?” Phillip asked with a mischievous smile.
“Shut the fuck up, bro,” Tristan said, giving Phillip a playful shove.
“Don’t take out your unrequited love on me,” he said, pushing back.
“What in the hell does that even mean?”
“Bro, you’ve gotta read a book some time,” Phillip said with an eye roll. “Unrequited love means like one sided, or not reciprocated.”
“Oh this isn’t one sided my man,” Tristan said, patting some sweat out of his eyes with his towel before looking over at Tessa who was talking to one of the defensive coaches and taking notes. “She still feels everything I do, or else she wouldn’t have acted so crazy the other night.”
“You sure about that?”
“I know her, Phil. I’ve memorized every inch of her, inside and out. What happened between us back then is still on her like a fucking scar, a scar we both have. I just need to find my way back into her heart like I did last time.”
There was a long pause of tension-filled silence before Phillip spoke up again.
“And what about Kiana?”
Tristan sighed and shook his head.
“You know how I feel about all that,” he answered in a whisper.
“Yeah, I do know, and I still don’t understand why you won’t just end it.”
“She always finds a way to talk me out of it dude, I don’t know.”
