Page 10 of The Comeback Pact

My gaze drifts back to his tight backside for a moment—a very brief moment—until I want to gouge my own eyes out.

West Brooks is a meathead football player, and therefore, not for me.

CHAPTERFOUR

West

Epic crash and burn.It’s the only way I can describe it.

“Dude,” Aidan complains as we exit the cafeteria, “what the hell was that?”

I close my eyes and sigh. I shouldn’t have told the guys about what Coach wants me to do, but the odds of them not finding out were slim.

Fuck.

I’d had eyes on her since the moment I walked into the cafeteria. I watched her message “me” over the app. The way she’d smile down at her screen at our conversation…

It gave me false confidence.

When her roommate came singing into the cafeteria and the guys finally noticed she was there, they’d talked me into doing Coach’s bidding right then.

Epic crash. Epic burn.

I shrug for Aidan’s benefit and peek over to find him holding the bridge of his nose. “She fucking hates us.”

And I don’t blame her, but that’s a conversation for a different day.

The moment she turned those fiery eyes on me, I fucking froze. Panic swept over me like I was an eight-year-old boy again. I clammed up. Let’s get real, this whole thing was going to be a challenge because I’m me, but the fact that she hates my guts is taking me to a place I don’t want to be again.

I shudder.

“You could’ve said something,” Aidan remarks.

“I…blew it,” I manage to get out.

“Understatement.” As a quarterback, Aidan is cool under pressure like you wouldn’t believe, but he can’t stand when people don’t like him—which admittedly is few and far between because he’s Aidan. People love him. “You might have to tell Coach that this isn’t feasible,” he says, turning the corner as we make our way to the weight room.

My stomach flips. That isn’t an option. We’ve let down Coach enough.

I make a noise of disagreement, and Aidan peers over at me. “I mean this in the nicest way possible, dude, but you can’t just grunt at this girl and expect her to show up. Jersey chasers are easy. They’ll fall at your feet just for being you.” He shakes his head. “I don’t understand how you’re a completely different person on the field.”

When I have a jersey on, it’s my suit of armor. Since I was a kid in peewee football, wearing that uniform…it felt like it gave me superpowers. Being a football player placed me in a different reality. I could do anything. I couldbeanything. I didn’t have to hide in the corner anymore.

And now I’m the best fullback Warner has ever seen.

“I just am,” I say, cutting through the silence.

Not many people know about my past. I don’t go announcing it because I’m the 200-plus pound “Hulk” on the field. People don’t want to hear about the scared boy with daddy issues. They want me to be the tough man all the time.

“Okay, you don’t want to let Coach down, I get that,” Aidan says. “You need a plan of action, then. Just like football, you can’t call plays out of the blue. You need a route. If your end goal is getting her to practice, you have to find the path there, and I hate to break this to you, but I’m coming up blank.”

My lips thin.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, man.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ll help. You’re my number one on and off the field, bro, but I’m just saying, you got your work cut out for you.”

I let that sink in. Why can’t I be the guy I am with Kenna when we chat? NoOne. Him, she likes. Me, she despises. The simple truth is that if she knew I was NoOne, she’d hate him too, so she can never find out.

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