To me, one was just as bad as the other.
No wonder I ran from relationships.
I stopped walking.
“Shit.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I’m an idiot.” I started walking with more purpose to my dorm. Wild hope rose within me. I wanted to turn around and run to Dante’s and tell him that my parents were dysfunctional, selfish monsters, so of course, I was going to be a screw-up.
But he wouldn’t be ready to hear that. He was too angry. I knew it. I’d known him such a short time, but Iknewhim.
I needed to get him back. Or at the very least, listen to me.
Dante Spence liked me. I was sure of it. He hadn’t been shy about his attraction. He didn’t sleep around. I’d done more thanacademic researchon him after the first night I met him; I’d stalked his socials.
Dante had one girlfriend in years. They broke up months ago. There were no images on social media of a man on the rebound or sleeping around. His image was clean. So I’d asked around. Bev, my roommate, knew campus gossip. Dante wasn’t a topic of it, unless it was how good he was on the field, not that he was a player off it.
Dante was talented and had an ego because of it, and he’d earned it. But he was also possessive. He’d come to the shed tonight because I’d told Noah to call me Savvy. He hadn’t liked that. He respected the boundaries I’d set, but he bristled when someone else got something he didn’t. I’d given Noah something Dante didn’t have.
So, how do I win back my quarterback? Simple.
Make him jealous.
Chapter 27
Dante
I walked out of the art shed with my pulse still hammering, every muscle wired so tight it felt like my skin didn’t fit.
I’d wanted to hurt her. That much was true. The second she’d saidspy, it was like someone ripped the ground out from under me. Dustin was right, she was shady. I’d been played.
But now? Now that I had a chance to clear my head? Every step across campus felt heavier.
I scrubbed a hand down my face as the night air greeted me. The cold wind slapped me, but it didn’t cool the fire in my chest.
The truth? I wasn’t angry at her. Not really. I believed her when she told me she hadn’t told her dad anything. Not that it mattered now, I’d trusted her. Why? Because she was gorgeous? Funny? Clever? She was all that, but she was also... Sav. She’d come to mean a lot in a very short time, and part of that was because of howeasyit was with her. This fucking sucked. I wasn’t angry at Sav for being told to spy on me and not actually doing it. I was angry at myself for letting her get this close, for forgetting even for a second that I couldn’t have things like her.
Distractions.
She made me reckless. She made me forget the rules of survival.
The worst part was, even as the words I’d said echoed back at me like poison, all I could think about was turning around, knocking on her door, and taking them back.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I jammed my hands into my hoodie pocket, dropped my head, and told myself the lie I’d been running on for years.
Better to be cold than to be careless.
So why the hell did it feel like I’d just lost the only warm thing worth holding on to?
I didn’t go back to the dorms right away. The thought of Dustin’s easy questions or Noah’s too-perceptive silence made my chest feel tighter.
My eyes narrowed as I thought of Noah.Hewas allowed to call her Savvy, but she’d never told me that I could. How did Noah, whom she’d met, what? Three times? How didhebecome a fucking friend of the untouchable Savannah Cole, and all I got was in between her thighs? I snorted at my own ridiculousness. I had sex with her — he got a hug. What mattered more?
I chewed my bottom lip. I won, right? Sex trumped a hug... right? Jesus fucking Christ, what was she even doing to me? I felt as insecure now as I did the first time I was waiting to find out if I was the starting quarterback for my middle school team.
I needed to walk this shit off.
So I walked. Past the library, past the athletic center, and I found myself at the stadium. Locked, dark, empty — but still humming with the ghosts of past victories. I used my access pass, which I hadn’t handed over yet, and sat on the lowest row of bleachers, elbows on my knees, staring at the turf.
