Page 72 of Thunderstruck
Without a word, Cole continues on his way to the locker room. He doesn’t even look back.
An ache settles in my chest as I watch him go. “Do you think he’ll come?”
“I don’t know,” Moxie admits. “But I’m going to guess there’s more to you two than carpool buddies.”
“There’s not.” If I sound miserable, it’s because I am. Things were so easy on Sunday, but after Cole went inside to talk to Freya, something changed.Hechanged. I don’t know what they talked about, but he was distant on the drive back from Derek’s, and now…
Now I don’t know what’s going to happen between us.
Moxie puts a hand on my shoulder and offers a sympathetic smile. “Give him some time. And maybe flirt a bit with some of the guys tonight. Nothing crazy, just…” He shrugs. “You’re right about Colebeing stubborn, but he’s a man of action when he wants to be. If you give him the right motivation, he’ll realize that he has to change if he wants anything to get better.” Is Moxie really telling me to make Colejealous? I must be making a face of disgust because he laughs. “Okay, wow. Sorry. No flirting. It probably won’t take that much, anyway. Just be your friendly self tonight, and I’ll be there to keep the guys in line.”
He leaves after that, and as I gather my stuff to bring back to the training room, I think about what I can do to help Cole get over whatever it is that has him in such a bad mood.
Being myself is by far my preferred method, but I don’t know if that will be enough. I think I need to show Cole that I mean business. He tried things his own way this week, and it didn’t work. Now it’s my turn.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cole
“I thought you wereangry with me,” Freya says through a yawn.
I narrow my eyes at her. I do feel a bit bad for waking her up, but I need some motivation here, and she’s the only one who will get through to me right now. “I am angry with you. I’m angry because you’re right.”
She yawns again and shifts her phone. Half her face is buried in her pillow, and this might be the first time I’ve ever seen her without any trace of makeup. Even when she is “casual” and with us away from the public eye, she’s always under scrutiny. She can’t afford to get noticed by something likeHollywood Hot Scoopwhen she has a whole country that relies on her. Or soon will.
But tonight she looks like a regular human with bedhead and eye bags who just got woken by an early morning phone call. “What am I rightabout?” she asks. Before I can say anything, she adds, “A lot of things, yes, but what sparked this call?”
I sigh, checking around me to make sure no one is within hearing distance. A video call while standing outside a bar in Los Angeles is not my best idea, but here we are. “I’m scared.”
Freya blinks. “And?”
“And I don’t want to be. I did exactly what you told me not to do, and I’m worried I pushed things too far to fix them.”
After taking a deep breath, she sits up and turns on a light, throwing her natural face into sharp relief. She looks so different from what I’m used to, like she’s aged backward a few years. “What did you do?”
I bite the side of my tongue. “I ignored Carissa all week.”
“Coleman!”
“I told you. I messed up.” But it’s Freya’s fault. She told me she could tell something was different and rightly credited the change to Carissa. Then Freya guessed I was starting to let her into my heart in a way I didn’t with Sage, and I panicked. I started imagining the horrible things that could happen to her if she loved me. Pictured her getting hurt—or worse. I can try to tell myself all I want that the Evanson curse isn’t real, but that doesn’t make it true.
“Cole,” Freya says gently, “you look miserable.”
“I am miserable. This week sucked.”
“Then you should know what to do.”
“But how? It was hard enough trying to do what Moxie does without adding in everything I’m starting to feel for Carissa.”
“Why are you trying to do what someone else does? You are not him.”
I am so aware of that. The team actually likes Moxie. They despise me.
“Cole.” Freya’s warning tone tells me she can read my thoughts clearly enough without me having to say them out loud. “I told you on Sunday. You cannot do the same as someone else because you are your own person. You must do things your own way.”
“And what if I fail?”
“Then you fail. It happens to all of us, and your strength is measured by your ability to rise and try again. You cannot know your potential unless you give it space to spread its wings.”
