Page 43 of Side Out

Gasping for breath, I lay on the ground, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath. Except he’s not breathing heavily because he’s out of shape. No—he’s absolutely fucking livid. As much as I regret what my answer is about to be, I know there’s no use in denying it. Lying is how we got here in the first place. Relenting, I sigh heavily. “Yeah…”

“Too bad. It’s not.” His eyes run up and down my lying form again, and the embarrassment that’s coursing through my veinsshouldbe enough for me to get up and take my sorry ass back across the street. But it’s not…

Do I have a humiliation kink or something? I’m starting to think I might, because what sane person acts like this?

“What do?—”

He cuts me off. “Nope. I’ve heard enough, Theo. You. Have. A. Fiancée. You’re getting fucking married.” The words sound like poison on his tongue. “Why are you doing this? Why do you insist on continuously trying to fuck with me and my life?”

I sit on his words for a minute, not wanting to say something I don’t mean, but he takes my silence as me having nothing to say. “You’re fucking pathetic, Theo. Go home and leave me alone.”

Without so much as another breath in my direction, Jackson heads back toward his house, and I tuck my tail and start my way toward the road, all while scolding myself about how much of a dumbass I am for not doing right by him. Especially when he’s doing everything he can to do right by himself.

“You’re fucking pathetic, Theo.”

Everytime I think of his words it feels like a razor to my skin.

But I don’t disagree.

I am pathetic.

Why can’t I just explain everything to him?

If I don’t tell him that my engagement is nothing but a scam, a setup, alie,there willneverbe a “Jax and Theo.”

But as his words repeat in my head, I can’t help but realize that after everything I’ve done, he doesn’twantthere to be a “Jax and Theo.”

And that thought alone makes me want to carve my beating heart out of my chest and throw it into the Gulf of Mexico for the closest shark to eat up.

CHAPTER27

SIN CITY HERE WE COME

JACKSON

“We’ve got to watch for that quick set,” Austin pants before guzzling down half of his water.

I squirt some water on my face as I gasp for breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such perfectly timed hits.” We’re in our third set and the score is eighteen to seventeen with us in the lead. We only need one more point to win the set, but I’m genuinely concerned I might keel over by then. Tallahassee is on their game today.

Scratch that, they’ve always been this good. There’s a reason they’re our closest rivals. It just seems that my little hiatus last year erased that fact from my memory.

I’ve got to admit though, Austin is doing a top notch job of showing us what he’s made of.

Like me, Austin Ward is utilizing his fifth year eligibility this year. But unlike me, the circumstances resulting in his hiatus last year are entirely more wholesome.

Austin met his wife, Emma, while attending college in Provo, Utah. They met the end of their sophomore year of college and got married just six months later. The summer between junior and senior year they had their first child, Elizabeth. Being the upstanding man, husband, and father, it’s clear he is, Austin decided to not play volleyball his senior year in order to dedicate more time to his new family. As they neared the end of their senior year, Emma presented him the opportunity to move back here, to Pensacola, where she is originally from and her family lives. Lo and behold, Austin deferred his graduation, transferred to Palm University, and is now one of the star players for the Panthers’ men’s sand volleyball team.

I got lucky.

Really fucking lucky.

He’s an amazing partner and an even better man.

Hell, Clay met him once too, and he even likes him. However, Clay likes everybody.

Rocky will be the real test.

The refs blow the whistle warning us to get in our positions. Austin scrubs a hand over his face before looking over at me, sweat beading down both our faces. “Ready?”

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