I’d been sitting on the edge of my bed, still in my clothes I’d pulled on before I walked Sav back to her dorm, scrolling mindlessly through my phone like the screen, not reading anything. The fight. The whispers. The weight of a shoulder that still wasn’t right.
And her. Always her.
Another knock at the door, harder this time. My jaw flexed. Noah and Dust never knocked like that. Which meant it was either a coach, or—
I opened the door.
Savannah stood there, coat zipped to her chin, cheeks flushed red from the cold, eyes brighter than I’d ever seen them. And completely pissed off.
“What happened?” I asked, voice low, steady, even though my pulse jumped hard enough to sting.
“Can I come in?” she asked instead. No hesitation, no forced smile — just words pressed tight with something that sounded a lot like desperation.
I stepped aside quickly. “Of course.”
She brushed past me, the door clicked shut behind us, and suddenly it was just her and me in the quiet again.
I led her to my bedroom, closing the door behind us. She didn’t sit. Didn’t even take off her coat. She just turned to me, jaw set like she was deciding where to start.
“Sav?” My voice roughened without my permission. “Talk to me.”
She didn’t move, didn’t blink, just stood there in the middle of my room like her feet were nailed to the floor.
“My dad knows,” she said finally, voice clipped, words shooting out like she had to rip them free before they strangled her.
I stilled. “Knows what?”
“That I’ve been with you. That I’ve been seeing you. That I—” Her breath hitched, sharp, and she pressed her fingers to her temple like she was trying to hold something in. “He knows everything, Dante.” She kept her eyes steady on me, but I could see she was shaking. “He was waiting for me in my dorm when I went in.”
The silence between us turned razor-thin.
I stepped closer. “And what did he say?”
Her laugh was brittle, splintering. “What do you think? That I’m wasting my future on football players. That I’m throwing away the degree he practically handpicked for me. That art is... stupid. And you—” Her throat worked, like his words still burned there. “That you’ll ruin me. Just like he says this program ruins everyone.”
The pulse in my jaw hammered. Every muscle in my body wanted to break something. But I kept my tone level. “And what do you think?”
Her eyes shot to mine, sharp and wounded all at once. “I think I’m tired of being told what to think.”
Something inside me — something I’d been gripping tight since the second I first touched her — snapped. I closed the space between us in two strides, close enough to feel the heat rolling off her, close enough to see the way her hands trembled even though her chin stayed high.
“Then stop letting himtellyou,” I said, low, my voice rough. “Stop letting him decide who you are, Savannah. Because he doesn’t know you. Not the real you, the you that you let me see.That you showed Dust and Noah earlier. Stop hiding who you really are, because Sav, you are amazing.”
She sniffed, rubbing her forehead. “I’m already sleeping with you, you don’t need to flatter me,” she mumbled.
“God, you sayI’minfuriating.” I cupped her cheeks, dropping a soft kiss to her downturned mouth. “Youareamazing, Savannah Cole. Do not let anyone else tell you anything different.”
Her lips parted like she wanted to say something, then snapped shut. Her nails dug crescents into her palms.
“What else did he say?” I pressed, letting her go, sensing she needed space.
“I told him I hate my degree, that it’s a degree he picked, that I wanted to do art.” She looked away. “He reminded me art doesn’t pay the bills, and I said I didn’t care, that I wanted to be happy.”
Shit.“Wow. I’m impressed. That took guts, Sav, real guts,” I complimented her. “Did he listen?” I asked her, hoping to all that was holy that he did.
She hesitated, shoulders straight but voice cracking on the edges. “He heard me,” she said carefully, and I noticed the emphasis onheardand that she didn’t mentionlisten. “And he said that maybe I don’t even belong here anymore.”
For a second, I thought I’d misheard. Then the meaning sank in, sharp and ugly. My whole body went hot. “He said that to you?”
