Page 72 of A Slice of Love

I sigh because I know he’s right. I can’t keep putting this off.

It’s not that I don’t want to go. I want the NFL more than anything.

But I also want Frankie.

I’m scared if I leave now, we’ll never have another chance. I’ve lost her once and barely survived. I don’t want to do it again.

“Kid?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter. “I’ll be on a plane first thing tomorrow.”

“I swear, if you dodge me again…”

“Fuck. I won’t, AJ. I promise. I’ll be in Colorado by noon.”

“Make it before six AM?”

“Six AM? Shit.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Okay, fine. I’ll make it happen.”

“I’m trusting you. Don’t make me regret it.”

The line goes dead, and so do all my hopes of spending more time with Frankie.

“Shit, shit, shit.” I knock my head against the wall a few times, trying to rack my brain for a way to get out of this.

I don’t have a solution.

The only thing I can do is be honest with Frankie about football and hope she’ll understand why I have to leave again.

Carefully, I push open my bedroom door, only I don’t have to be quiet.

Frankie’s awake.

And from the look in her eye, she heard everything.

“You’re leaving?”

I nod, and the hurt shines through just a little more.

“When were you going to tell me, Jonas?”

“I…” I run a hand through my hair. “I don’t know.”

She pushes up from the bed, the blanket pooling around her feet as she stands there in nothing but my old high school t-shirt and her underwear.

“When, Jonas? On the flight out of here? When you got there? You were going to tell me, right?”

The sting. The fury. The accusation that’d I’d leave and not tell her…again.

It’s all there.

And it all really fucking sucks.

“Frank, I—”

“No.No. Don’tFrankme. You’re leaving me again. You weren’t going to tell me…again.” She shakes her head, throwing her hands in the air. “I…I can’t do this anymore. I just can’t.

I rush toward her, but she puts her arms out, warding me off. She grabs her shorts off the floor and yanks them on.

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