Page 29 of Love Complicated

I pressed my weight into her again, my hips moving against hers. “Are you going to?”

My breath sped as I watched her hands glide down my forearms. I brought her closer when her hand fell away. “I want you. In ways I shouldn’t.”

“But you don’t love me,” her voice shook with the words. “You don’t want to be with me.”

“I do want you,” I argued.

“But not the way I need you to,” she deduced, closing her eyes, shaking her head. My stomach clenched, my chest tightening. Reality had finally sunk in. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

And that’s where it ended, in the front seat of a stolen car with“I can’t.”

I wasn’t going to pressure her. She hadn’t been talking aboutjustsex. No, it was her saying she couldn’t love someone like me. It was an “I can’t love you like you need me to.” I didn’t fit into the ideas of what Aly had for falling in love. I didn’t fit into her life plan at all. Austin, he had at the time.

Maybe that’s why I left. No. That’s not true. I knowwhyI left, and I certainly never wanted her to choose him, but I didn’t have much choice in the matter.

The door to the classroom opens and thumps against the wall dramatically. It’s not students. No, they’ve been gone for ten minutes, and I thought I might get my first moment to relax today. And watch Aly walking away. She does have a nice ass.

“Mom said you were back but fuck, I didn’t believe her.”

Again, just like this morning with Glen, I don’t need to turn around to know who it is. It’s my cousin, Henry. He’s the product of my Aunt Katherine and Uncle Elliott. You’ll meet Uncle Elliott, I’m sure. He reminds me of Judge Dread. One time he picked me up by the back of my neck. No. Lie. Like I was a goddamn kitten.

I blame him for my constant neck pain.

Now take a look at Henry. He’s like six foot four and built like a grizzly bear. You can’t miss him. His nickname when we were younger was Hare-Bear. If you asked me, it sounded like a pussy’s name, never made much sense, and I refused to call him by it.

Henry spins a football in his hand effortlessly. He went to college with a full-ride at USC so we spent a lot of time together when he finally moved south for a while. “Whatup, bro.”

“Not much.” I lean back on my desk, shaking my head. The trouble Henry and I got into was almost as bad as Tyler and me, Aly’s older brother. It was destructive enough Henry told me when I left, shortly after Tyler had left for a full-time job racing, the town practically had a party.

Henry, having been on his own with no one to corrupt him anymore, eventually tamed down. Tame enough he’s married and has a two-year-old daughter.

Do you notice the way Henry’s looking at me? I think he wants to bring up Aly because he knows the one thing that could have brought me back here—had my dad not died—was Aly.

“I see you’ve got some troublemakers in your class.” He nods, his hand on Cash’s desk with his name tag taped to it.

See? Told you. This is his way of bringing it up.

I nod. “A few. What are you doing here?”

He grins, holding the football up. “I teach PE here, and Mom told me you were back.” And then he hits me with, “I need another coach for football.”

He certainly doesn’t waste any time, does he? I have enough to deal with. Coaching these little brats in my class isn’t exactly what I want to be doing in my free time. Aside from the track, making Aly see I can do right by her, that will take a good amount of my time. “No way. I don’t even like football.”

“Bullshit.” He laughs, tilting his head. “It’s the only thing you were good at besides disturbing the peace.”

I don’t budge and glance over my shoulder out the window. Damn it. Now she’s gone. I glare at Henry. “Why do you need me? Isn’t that something the kids’ dads help with?”

Henry snorts, almost disgusted. “Yeah, I suppose if they knew anything about football. Our only option is Austin, and he can’t manage to show up for the games let alone the practices.”

Now he has my attention. All of it. Just hearing Austin’s name has me wanting to punch the desk. “His kids play?”

Notice how I don’t say his name? It’s by design.

“Yep. Cash is amazing. He’s our cornerback and running back on offense, but Grady,” Henry pauses, shaking his head, “Kid can’t catch a ball to save his life. We have him as a tight end at the moment, and then on D he plays defensive end.” Henry tosses me the football, and I catch it near my stomach. “Grady must take after Aly.”

He says Aly’s name on purpose, I know he does, but then I do wonder how much of the Austin/Aly situation he knows about.

I exhale, lifting my brows and looking sideways, like he’d caught me off guard by mentioning her. “What’s their story?” I ask, my voice devoid of emotion. I play this game pretty well. I know exactly what’s going on with them, Glen tells me everything, but I’m curious what Henry will tell me. Maybe he knows what Glen doesn’t.

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