“If Bardoul thought you were a danger and he had evidence, he’d have informed the board already.” That was fine for now, but what about the future?
I told my friend that if he was ever in danger to remove his ring. Everyone at school would scent him as a shifter, and while they might be confused, the baby giving him camouflage was how to save their lives.
I had to get to soccer practice, and while I thought Rawling should skip archery, he insisted on going, saying he’d miss a lot of sessions before and after the birth.
“Besting Atticus is the boost I need when my mind is frazzled. And Phelan will be there.”
For maybe the first time in my life, I longed to talk about someone the way my friend spoke of his mate. The tension vanished from his face and shoulders, and he cradled his bump. His voice was softer and a tiny smile played on his lips.
“I’m so lucky to have this soccer scholarship and don’t have to worry about my folks paying the school fees.” Even though my father had found a new job, the weeks when he’d been without a paycheck still had repercussions today.
“I thank whoever endowed the school with this scholarship in the name of Charlie Dempsey.”
I continued to walk until I discovered Rawling was no longer at my side. Glancing back, I found him frozen to the spot with a gaping mouth.
“What did you say?”
“Huh?” I’d said a heap of words, and he was aware of my scholarship.
“That name.”
“Charlie? I can show you her photo.”
“Her?”
“Yeah. She played soccer here twenty years ago and was a huge star.”
I dragged him along the corridor where all the sporting team photos were going back years and pointed out Charlie.
“That’s her. Charlotte. The one whose bank statement I have and the property transfer agreement.”
Okay, I didn’t understand what that had to do with Rawling and how it was connected to soccer, but I had to get to practice or I’d lose my damned scholarship.
TEN
PHELAN
Some people told everyone every single secret the second they had a few too many beers. Others did so when they were coming down from a victory, the dopamine giving them a sense of invincibility. The amount of information revealed after a winning championship game could fill an entire gossip rag.
But with Rawling, it was that quiet time, right before he fell asleep, that he was his most honest and most vulnerable. I’d come to cherish it. It was when he shared how he felt about me, about life, and about our future. There were days when it wasn’t sunshine and roses, but pushing those down and ignoring them weren’t good for either him or our baby. I was glad to be the person he could share it with, the one he could trust.
Tonight, we were lying in bed, holding hands, both of us facing the ceiling, just waiting for sleep to come. We’d been sleeping that way the past couple of nights, and I really enjoyed it. The first night I was grumpy about it, not that I’d show him that, but I was. I wanted to hold him close, snuggle him, bask in his scent.
And he was hot, like stove hot, not the normalI couldn’t keep my hands off himvariety. Pregnancy hormones were doing anumber on his body. He was taking it like a champ, but I’d have loved to be able to take some of it from him.
But as we lay there, the peaceful connection formed by that touch hit differently in the best of ways. After that night, the first thing I did when we climbed into bed for sleep, not for fun, was to reach for his hand and hold it tightly.
“You seem like something’s on your mind today.” I didn’t want to push, but I also knew that if there was anything I could do to help, I wanted to do it.
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking… a lot, actually.” He sucked in a long breath, releasing it slowly. When he did this, I got the impression he was forming his words, and I’d learned not to interrupt. “I’m wondering if I should drop out,” he finally said.
I waited for him to continue.
“We’re gonna have a baby soon. That baby needs me.”
There was still a decent chunk of time before our baby would come, and when they did, we could easily schedule our classes so that we didn’t need childcare. Of course, my family was ready for any help. Despite knowing all of that, I remained silent. Truth was, it didn’t feel like that was the real reason for him speaking up.
“There’s time to think about that,” I said.
