Page 24 of The Comeback Pact

Damn…

A swift kick hits me under the table, and I immediately straighten and turn to find Aidan glaring at me with wide eyes.

Shit. I don’t know how long I was staring at her. Long enough to make it awkward, I’m sure.

Kenna stands. “I need to shower and get to class.”

Sydney follows right after. “Same. See you guys later.”

Kenna doesn’t say goodbye, and the two of them walk their trays to the alcove. Once they’re out of sight, I stand, too, feeling stupid. Aidan falls into stride next to me after I place my tray with the other dirty ones.

“Dude, way to make it weird.” He smiles to soften the jibe, but he could hand me a trophy while saying it and it would still hit hard.

“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing,” I admit.

“You like her?”

I shrug, which is as good as saying yes.

“You couldn’t have picked someone easier?” He shakes his head, that quintessential bite of sarcasm that’s uniquely his dripping from his words. “Just be yourself.”

What if I don’t know what that is? I’ve been trying to be someone else most of my life. I wanted to be the kid that didn’t make Dad yell. I tiptoed around the house like I wasn’t even there because I never knew when I was going to step on a landmine.

Who the fuck am I?

The football part of me, that’s easy. I’m West “the Hulk” Brooks. I know how to be that person.

But who am I off the field?

Am I really this quiet, introspective guy? Maybe I should talk more? My stomach clenches. Maybe I should talk less?

“It’s useless,” I say aloud.

Aidan pulls on the back of my shirt until I stop. Someone calls out his name, and he turns to high-five a passerby before spinning back to me with a serious face. “This is going to sound like those cheesy as fuck self-talk podcasts Coach asks us to listen to, but you need to be yourself. If she doesn’t like you for you, then that’s on her. Not you. Once you fake it, you have to keep up that façade for the rest of your life, and it’s goddamn tiring, dude. So, if you’re the sulking Big Man who only talks some of the time, cool. That’s you. She either wants to jump on that dick or not.”

“You’ve been hanging around Cade too much.”

He grins. “At least he talks.”

I punch him in the shoulder. “Fuck off.”

He throws his arm around me, and we start walking down the hall together. “She’s cute, man,” he tells me. “You should scoop her up before someone else on the team decides to.”

“I think she’s self-conscious about her scar.”

He grips my shoulder. “Probably. But is it me or does it look a little badass?”

That’s what I said, I think. Aloud, I just grunt, causing him to snicker.

“I’ll put the word out on the team that McKenna Knowles is yours.”

It feels a little caveman, but I agree to it. Well, I stay silent, which means I agree to it.

Teammates don’t fuck with another player’s girl. It’s Football 101.

CHAPTERNINE

Kenna

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