Page 7 of Overdue Feelings
I pulled Creek into my arms and kissed her temple, hard and quick. Was I marking my territory? Hell yeah. I hurried out of the library and headed down the hallway to the gymnasium. My jaw clenched and my heart thudded.
Ares better had understood that Creek Delaney was mine. She always had been. From the minute she sat next to me in Miss Rucker’s third grade class humming Brandy under her breath while doodling flowers on her spelling test, I knew. I was the one who pulled her into our circle. I made her the third piece in our trio. Not Ares. Me.
She was mine when she broke down in my arms after Gigi’s second stroke. I stayed the night, rubbing circles on her back till she finally stopped crying and fell asleep. Mine before the first time we’d kissed, before we’d made it official.
Yeah, I knew she loved him. I knew she had a teenage love for him back when we were just kids. She’d given him the one thing I wish I could claim I had, but I also knew the way he shattered her when he left without a word. I watched her fall apart. I stayed and helped her pick up every broken piece of her heart. I coached her through relationships, through life. Not because I was hoping she’d choose me one day, but because loving her was never optional. Staying was never optional for me.
I stepped into the gym and started pulling out cones and jerseys, trying to shake off the storm brewing in my damn chest. Being in the gym usually calmed me, but not today. Not with my ex-best friend back. My hands moved on autopilot. My students would be here in less than five minutes, but my mind? My mind couldn’t help but to drift back to the last day I saw Ares Knight.
“Aye, Zae!” Ares called out, jogging toward me, breathless. I’d just snapped a picture with the squad. We were all hyped after the ceremony and the bonfire. So hyped, I’d almost forgotten how long it’d been since Ares and C left to change her clothes.
“Zae!” he called again. I turned in his direction, expecting to see him and Creek coming toward me, ready to tell me some crazy story about what took so long, but it was just Ares. The look on his face made my stomach drop. Something wasn’t right.
“Where’s C?” I asked, already pushing out the sand. “Y’all been gone forever.”
“Um... Come talk to me for a second.” He motioned toward the edge of the dock, away from the music, the smoke, and the crowd.My heart pounded as we made our way over there.
“A, what’s going on? Where’s C?”
“She’s... she’s good. Sleeping.” He hesitated. His jaw was tight.
“Sleeping?” I repeated, frowning. “The hell you mean sleeping?”
“We uh... we uh... We hooked up.” He rubbed a hand over his face, like he could wipe the guilt off itwhile I staredon.His words hit me like a punch to the gut.
“You fucked C?” I asked flatly. I needed to make sure I’d heard him correctly. He opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out. “We made a pact, remember that? Freshman year. When we both started catchin’ feelings. We said we wouldn’t act on it. We said we would leave her alone. We said she meant more to us than a quick fuck.”
“You think I don’t feel like shit? I love her, man. You think I don’t?—”
“Then why the hell you leaving?” My voice broke. “Why you taking her love and running off like what she just gave you ain’t supposed to mean something? You know Creek got abandonment issues. You know how hard she gon’ take this?”
He didn’t say anything.He just stood there looking like a deer caught in headlights.
“She at the clubhouse.” He finally spoke, voice low. “Take care of her.”
“That’s it? You not even gon’ say goodbye?”
“I can’t…”
“You can’t, or you won’t?”
He opened his mouth again, but I’d already turned my back on him and was walking away from the dock.I didn’t look back, either.Didn’t care where he went or how he got there. Ares was dead to me.
“Coach?” The sound of one of my eighth grade students snapped me back to reality. “You good?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and straightened my shoulders as I turned my attention to the class standing at the door. Their teacher gave me a head nod as she took off down the hall.
“Come on in. Line up on the baseline,” I called out as my first-period kids came piling into the gym. It wasn’t even eight in the morning and these kids were hyped to see me, loud and grinning. And normally, I’d eat that up, but my head wasn’t here.
Nah. I was still back in that damn library, watching Ares walk into Creek’s life like he had a damn right to. He didn’t. Not after he’d left me to fix his mess. I’d been the one holding her down. The one wiping her tears, making her laugh when she couldn’t even smile. I’d been standing beside her all these years, not just loving her, but choosing her, and now that she’d finally chosen me back, here he was. I didn’t know what Ares thought he was doing, but he had me fucked up if he thought he could just show up and rewrite history like I ain’t exist.
Nah.
The final bell had rung, and the first day at Sweet Pea was officially in the books. I’d just wrapped up parking lot duty. I was responsible for waving off buses, keeping parents from blocking the fire lane, basically making sure nobody got run over in all the back to school excitement. Kids were pouring out the doors, already talking a mile a minute about who sat where and what they ate for lunch. I offered a few smiles and nods to a few lingering parents as I made my way back toward the building.
Sixth grade basketball tryouts were in fifteen minutes, and I should’ve been on my way to the gym. But fuck that, I had a stop to make first. I needed to see my girl. With all the first-day chaos, I hadn’t had a second to check in on her, and I knew damn well Ares showing up had her mind spinning. I reached for thelibrary door, but before I could step inside, I spotted Creek by the shelves, putting up a book. She was quiet, focused. I knew that meant she was trying to work out some shit in her head.
My eyes searched the room for a lingering student or something, but they found Ares. He was making his way to the exit, backpack slung over his shoulder, and his eyes were fixed on Creek.
