“I’m standing right here,” Coach Hembry joked from the other side of Noah. “And hedoeshave film early tomorrow.”
Noah and I shared a few jokes with the coaches, but it was clear we were heading out, and a few other guys from the team came along with us.
Relief flooded through me as I stepped away from the group of benefactors. The polished quarterback act had been suffocating all night, but walking away didn’t lighten the weight in my chest. Not with the dean’s stare still burning between my shoulder blades. Not with the professor’s unreadable expression etched in my mind.
Not with Savannah’s golden silhouette still flashing like a highlight reel in the back of my mind.
“She really is pretty,” Noah murmured as he walked beside me.
“She is.” I didn’t bother denying I was thinking about her. He paid attention, and there was no point in insulting either of us with a denial. I also didn’t correct him by saying she wasn’tpretty— she was gorgeous. That dress had accentuated every one of her curves, and I hadn’t liked how manyotherpeople had noticed.
Noah didn’t say anything else about her, and my thoughts drifted as my teammates and I left the event. I took his advice and was careful not to draw attention to myself. On the surface,I was my normal self — laughing at something someone said about one of the boosters smelling like mothballs — but inside, my mind was anything but quiet.
Savannah leaving like that . . .
Hell, I saw her leave. Couldn’tnotsee her go. The way she walked out, spine straight as if she owned the damn place, but her eyes... No way in hell she wasn’t just as torn as I was.
I pushed the thought aside, loosening my tie as if it was choking me. She wasn’t my concern. My focus was football — keeping my arm loose, my mind sharp, and my reputation as clean as the glass trophies in Coach Sutherland’s office.
Still, the image of her father’s stare made my jaw tighten. Dean Cole had looked at me like I was already guilty of something, and I hadn’t even touched his daughter.
Not tonight.
Someone was talking about wings and pitchers, with Noah chiming in about whether we could beat the rush because we left now. I nodded along automatically, like a bobblehead on autopilot. Noah was lobbying for food, and someone else was suggesting the bar across from campus, where half the cheer squad seemed to live.
But Savannah’s voice kept echoing in my mind.What do you want?The way she’d said it — half warning, half... God, I didn’t know. Concern? Curiosity? It pushed under my skin and wouldn’t let go.
By the time they decided on a bar, which included foodandcheerleaders, I was ready to lose it. Half of me wanted to call it a night, bury myself in film, push her clean out of my head. The other half wanted to reach for my phone.
I told myself it was stupid, reckless, a distraction.
But damn it, I’d never been good at walking away when something — or someone — got under my skin.
Normally, I’d be all in. Laugh loud, order big, and make sure everyone saw their quarterback in the middle of it. That was the role. That was what people expected.
But my phone was burning a hole in my pocket.
I tried to ignore it, tried to ignore the image of Savannah’s stare as she slipped out of the ballroom like she was escaping a cage.
“Yo, QB.” Noah nudged me. “You in?”
“Yeah,” I said automatically. “Just... give me a sec.”
They kept walking, their voices fading ahead of me. I lingered by the corner of the building, thumb already scrolling on the screen. I stared at her contact.
I told myself I shouldn’t. She’d already gone home. Made her exit. The best thing I could do was let her go. But... she’d looked back. At me. As if she couldn’t leave without one last look. Or I was imagining it. I was probably imagining it. I should let it go. Instead, I typed.
Me: You didn’t even say goodbye.
Three dots blinked, then vanished. Blinked again. Finally, her message appeared.
Savage: Did I need to?
I smirked despite myself, leaning against the brick wall, as I typed my reply to her sass.
Me: I thought you were brought up better than that?
There was a long pause before her reply came.
