Sutton: I’m sorry.
Relief swept through me. The likelihood of us sucking each other’s brains out seemed more imminent since Sutton had reached out to me. I was actually impressed he’d held back and hadn’t written a fifteen-paragraph breakdown of what he was sorry about. Those two words meant more.
I was all about keeping life simple. I smirked. Anyone looking back at my life would probably argue that concept, but they knew nothing. Maybe I got myself into situations and experienced life a little differently than most.
But my approach was to live life simply by taking chances and opportunities and living in the moment rather than analyzing everything to death. Sure, there’d been a few pitfalls along the way. Did I care? Not one bit.
I was here, had a career and life I loved, and a man who I felt deserved a capital L when I considered my feelings for him. That asshole Mark was too wise for his own good.
Scanning the door with my key card, I waited until the locks disengaged and entered the building. A sense of certainty and rightness beat against my chest, right alongside every certain step I took closer to our shared room.
“Jayden, you got a minute?”
I stopped in my tracks at the sound of Pearce’s voice. While Sutton was my mission and I was desperate to get to him, I liked Pearce a lot. I could imagine what he’d heard by now, so this was as good a time as any. “Absolutely.”
Turning to him, I eyed him carefully, trying to get a read on the guy. From the dip of his brows and his curious stare, whatever he thought he seemed uncertain about.
“It’s all over social media.” A wince followed, making him look younger than his twenty-four years. “You okay?”
Surprise had my eyes widening. “Yeah, or I will be as soon as I find Sutton.”
A more pronounced wince followed, right alongside a grimace.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s Sutton. He left a while back.”
The heavy thump of my heart made his words muffled. “What?” I shook my head, not understanding.
“I heard him tell Coach he was leaving. He had a bag with him, then jumped in a cab.”
Blood rushed to my ears, confusion clouding my vision. “I don’t understand.”
The hand on my forearm startled me. I hadn’t even realized Pearce had moved. “Shit, man. I’m sorry. I know there’s stuff going down. I also know not to believe half the stuff I see and hear.”
“I need to go,” I managed to say, needing to get away, go to our room. Pearce had to be wrong. There was no way Sutton had up and left.
Racing to our room, I fumbled with the lock to let myself in and switched on the light. A quick scan of the room showed me Sutton’s towel was still on the chair, and a glance in the wardrobe revealed his larger case and some of his clothes.
I exhaled in relief, just as I noticed his smaller bag was gone. Heading to the bathroom, I focused on not thinking the worst. Almost all his stuff was here. I paused when I looked at the sink. Sutton’s toiletry bag was missing.
“Fuck.” I yanked out my phone, moved to the bed, and sat down.
Maybe he just needed a night away? The thought twisted my gut. Though could I blame him, and exactly what did he owe me? Since dating, we’d never been apart, never had space. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I was sure more intelligent men than me would say that was unhealthy and probably have statistics about how relationships didn’t last or anything.
So what that we worked on the court like a well-oiled machine? I knew our friendship confused most people. And why wouldn’t it? Sutton was so together and smart, despite how much he’d tried to convince me otherwise over the past few weeks. Me? I spoke before I figured things out and acted without thinking all the time.
It also seemed I got so drunk that I couldn’t even remember making out with some woman.
Why would Sutton want to stick around for that?
Maybe it was for the best this happened now, before we got deeper, before I screwed up his life any more than I already had.
With another look at the last message Sutton sent me, I swallowed hard.
I’m sorry.
It was funny how I’d interpreted those words so differently less than thirty minutes ago. The words could only mean that he’d left and that he’d made a mistake.
