Book III of UNC Series
While it's known that there are five stages of grief, did you know that there are also five stages of love?
Bailey Nicholson dreamed of finishing her Master's degree and settling in Boston while working alongside her boyfriend...
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A sport I once loved is starting to turn against me—or at least it feels that way. The one thing I sought to find solace seems to be wrapping its arms around me in a chokehold, stalling the breath in my throat, making me lightheaded. My past seems to be suffocating me, and I am unable to shake it off as a chill perpetuating runs down my spine.
What should have been the best summer turned into one of the worst.
Let's start with the draft, where I got drafted to play for the LA Wolves, only to find out that Jonah Sinclair was traded to that team where previously he played for the Boston Mustangs. I also came to find out that he was who helped Coach Flint ensure I got an invite to the draft. Not sure how he managed that, considering the Mustangs were thrilled to get rid of him, but alas, he seemed to have accomplished the impossible.
Not only had he managed to get me invited to the draft, but he ensured that I got drafted to the same team as him. He's taken petty to a whole new level. I didn't think he would be willing to throw his own career just to get back at me for what happened at UNC. Again not that I did anything to him.
I hadn't wanted anything to do with either of them. I never bothered checking how Sinclair's career was doing or what happened after I heard Coach had moved back to his hometown. But he's made what I had hoped for—a relaxing summer looking forward to football—to a stressed few weeks, so much so that I dreaded returning to offseason training.
After the draft came Ethan Collins' wedding, which turned out to be the worst thing that could have happened to me yet. Not only having a Bailey lookalike by my side but having Bailey witness it as well. I hadn't realized I had started to develop a type or preference for the women I asked out until I had Bailey and Laura next to each other. And what a disaster that was. When I first saw her eyes tear up, I knew they couldn't have been for me or for the fact that I was trying to move on from our highly complicated relationship.
But then, having Bailey ignore me all night made me realize how far we've drifted from each other. No longer having the energy to insult one another, we've gone straight past friends to strangers with mutual animosity. A phantom ache still pulsed in my jaw from having them clenched so hard when I saw her dancing with some guy. Even if I didn't have the right to be angry.
With a massive hangover from the weekend, on a whim, I booked a flight to London to confront my mum. I was going to force her to have a conversation with me. I was done with the lies and secrets.
Let's just say I initially booked a return ticket for two weeks later, when I would start my training with the Wolves, but instead changed it for a week later but was very tempted to return the same afternoon I landed.
At first, it had seemed like Mum was thrilled to see me, but her smile waned as if she recalled why she hadn't wanted me there in the past. And for the first time, I saw why when he walked out of her bedroom with only a pair of boxers covering him. I could have gagged.
