“It was pretty obvious.” He snorts. “First Reid. Then Coop. Now you.” He flashes me a shit-eating grin. “None of y’all are half as sneaky as you think you are.”
I give him the finger. It’s all I can manage right now.
I haven’t been sleeping well and my brain is fried. Sutton texted a few times, but I haven’t responded. It’s a shitty thing to do, but with finals and football and the internship in limbo, I’m not sure what to say. Besides, I’m still pissed she threw the broadcast.
Anger churns in my gut and I tamp it down.
Getting mad won’t do shit.
The last five days have proved as much, but it’s hard to let go when every time I close my eyes, I see her gorgeous smile and hear the words “missed goalies” on her lips.
It’s easier to be mad than to admit you’re hurting.
Damn right. I was prepared to take things to the next level before she pulled that stunt and now I feel like a damn fool. Like we were in totally different places.
“Want to talk about it?”
Vaughn’s face is open, free of judgment, and it’s that look that does me in.
The guy is like a vault. Whatever I tell him, it’ll stay between us.
I glance around the weight room. It’s noisy and chaotic, clanging weights, chatter, and rap music filling the air. No one’s paying us a lick of attention.
What the hell?
Maybe getting it off my chest will help. It certainly can’t hurt.
“Sutton and I have been hooking up since the first week of the semester. It started off as a no-strings kind of thing. Just a way to blow off steam, you know?” I scrub a hand over my face. “Things were going really well, but then they got complicated.”
He nods, and I lay it all at his feet. The internship. Our deal. The botched interview.
Vaughn doesn’t interrupt, and when I’m finally done, he speaks.
“Let me get this straight,” he says, holding up his palms and widening his stance. “You’re crazy about this girl. You wanted to get serious. And when she screwed up, you didn’t even give her a chance to explain?”
“I—”
He frowns, brows pulling low and I snap my mouth shut.
“When you say it like that, it sounds like a dick move.”
“Dude. It was.”
Fucking fuck. I’ve never been in a committed relationship, but it’s probably safe to say I have a lot to learn.
“I was too mad to hear her reasons at the time. Like I said, I wanted to get serious and then she turns around and betrays me like that?”
“It sounds like she was trying to help.” Vaughn scoffs. “Besides, if she’s as strong and independent as you say, do you really think she’d have thrown her future away for some no-strings fun?”
“It was more than that.” I know it in my gut. “It started out that way, but…” I throw up my hands. “It was more at the end.”
The end.
Christ. It sounds so final.
“The point is, I don’t need that kind of help.” Hell, I made it clear I didn’t want it. “I would never ask her to trade her dreams for mine and I sure as shit don’t need her pity. That isn’t love.”
Vaughn whistles, eyes wide. “Did you just say the L word?”
