I stare at her while her words crush me.“I didn’t mean it that way.I was doing you a favor.”
“Bullshit,” Lola replies, her tone hard but somehow vulnerable.The tremble in it has me wanting to reach for her so badly my arms ache.“You were either being a coward or an idiot.Maybe both.”
She leaves.I stand there in the empty room trying to take some deep breaths, but it feels like there’s an anvil on my chest.These emotions—guilt, regret, shame, anger—they’ve got me pinned, and I fucking hate it.I need something to numb this.I want a fucking drink.
Getting air into my lungs doesn’t help, so I head out of the bathroom, past the locker room, and straight into Coach Larue’s office.He’s sitting on the corner of his desk, staring at his phone.He smiles at me after I knock, but it fades as I enter the room and close the door behind me.
“I need help.”
Chapter27
Lola
February…
Ihug Delia tightly.“Thank you for coming!”
“Are you kidding me?Of course!”She looks around the walls of the Art Collective, which is covered in charcoal pieces by a local artist.“My God, this woman is talented, huh?”
“She is.The best charcoal artist I’ve ever seen, and she did such a great job teaching too in the courses she offered this month,” I explain.“It’s a medium that always intimidated me, but not anymore, thanks to taking her class.”
“So…” Delia pauses to take a glass of wine off the tray of a server waltzing by.“I would ask if this is working out, but as soon as I walked in and saw your face, I could tell it was.”
“We had a slight hiccup with the caterer, but I ran out and bought extra wine just in case we run out, and also, I was here until two in the morning with the artist hanging the pieces last night, because she was grappling with the placement of some of the bigger ones, but she’s happy now, so I’m happy and?—”
“Not what I meant, but proof I’m right,” Delia says and sips her wine.“You’re rattling off problems with excitement, and your eyes are brighter than I’ve ever seen them.You’re happy.”
I blink and look around the exhibit, which is in full swing.As soon as I decided to drop out of school, Lacey, the head of the Sand Dollar Art Collective, offered me a paid position.It’s a part-time position because that’s all they can afford to pay me, but I am loving it.I’m in charge of creating their social media accounts, organizing events, and developing marketing ideas.This is my first big event in charge as an actual employee, and it’s our busiest in over a year.
“I wake up excited to start my day every day, yeah.It’s worked out.I am loving it.”
Delia grins.“I’m really happy for you.”
“Me too,” I say, and the door opens again, and something fiery catches my eye.It’s Grady’s red hair.He’s just walked in followed by Landon and Callan, and my heart swells.I had mentioned the event in passing, but I didn’t formally ask them to attend.I know art isn't their thing, and they’re in the middle of the season.So it means everything that they…
“Oops!Wait!That light just dropped out of your eyes like someone flipped a switch,” Delia says, and her gaze follows mine.She frowns.“Did you not want your family here?”
“No, I did.But they broughthim.”
“Who?Oh.That tall, dark, and sexy thing behind Callan?”Delia sips her wine again and smirks.“Yeah.How horrible.They brought a man who looks like he stepped off a billboard for an underwear campaign.How dare they.”
I roll my eyes at her.“Okay, so you’re not wrong, and trust me when I say he looks even better naked.And that’s the problem.”
“Wait what?You’re seeing that perfect specimen, and you didn’t tell me?”Delia looks offended.
“I’m notseeinghim.We had a no strings thing going on,” I inform her.“And then we didn’t.His choice.”
“Oh, he dined and dashed?”Delia looks gravely disappointed.But then she leans closer.“But I bet the dining was fine.Am I right?Tell me I’m right.”
I don’t answer, but I blush, and Delia grins because she knows that is, in fact, an answer.But it’s been a month since I saw him at a Riptide home game, and he’s been no-contact since.This thing with us is definitely over.He’s made his choice.Then I remember something, and panic ripples down my spine, and I grab Delia’s hand.“I need a favor.”
“Anything.”She says, her tone is suddenly deathly serious, proving why she’s the ride or die she is.
“I need you to go to that wall,” I point to the short wall just off the bathroom, where a bunch of smaller pieces by the students who took the artist’s classes are hanging.“And take down the piece I did.Now!Right away.If anyone questions you, tell them I told you to do it.”
“Okay, but why?And what do I do with it?”She looks positively baffled.
“I don’t know,” I admit.“But he can’t see it.I don’t want my family to see it either.Please just hide it somewhere.”
