Despite growing up together, Catherine Simmons and Mattis Reed were never close.
Cat was inseparable from Mattis' younger sister, Chloé, while he was busy running around on the football field.
But when Cat's new dream drags her across the country du...
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I storm off the field.
My blood is thumping in my ears to the beat of my feet on the ground. It's so loud that I honestly don't hear him the first couple of times he calls me.
Once I do, though, I pointedly ignore my teammate as I hurry toward the locker room, my body practically vibrating.
"Reed!"
I swing around when a heavy hand land on my shoulder, gripping tightly. I'm a few inches taller than Aran, staring down at him with an angry scowl.
Aran doesn't cower. His expression is almost bored as he looks at me. "You do know we won, right?"
Yes, I'm very well aware of our win. I also don't give a fuck.
"Yes."
"Care to enlighten me as to why you're being a moody bitch then?"
"No."
I shake off his hand, stomping away. I have laser focus. Whenever I enter the field, it's like I'm wearing blinders; I only see the game. Whatever shit I have going on privately is left behind. Whatever beef I must have with fellow players is forgotten. I'm one hundred percent present.
It's why I'm the starting quarterback. Because Coach trusts me to put my teammates first. To do everything in my power to get us the win. I have never let anything outside the field distract me during a game.
Until today.
We won, but no thanks to me. Every time we switched between defense and offense, or any time we huddled to call a play, I sneaked a glance at the bleachers, my eyes zeroing in on Cat without difficulty. And without fail, every time I looked up there, Cat was touching that asshat somehow. Leaning in to whisper something in his ear. His arm around her. Her head against his shoulder. Giving him a freaking hug in celebration when I scored the winning touchdown.
Pretty sure I deserved that hug more.
And every time I caught sight of that, my vision turned a little more red, my focus slipped a little bit more. I tried shaking it off, refocusing on the game, getting back into the zone, but it got harder and harder to do until I was calling shit plays, snapping at my teammates just doing their best.
Running down the field with the ball as the clock ticked down, I was so distracted that a gust of wind could have knocked me over. I have no one but my teammates paving the way for me to thank for our victory.
I huff as I throw my helmet into my locker. The rest of the team trickle in behind me, excited chatter echoing off the walls. I sense Aran on my right, but I do my best to ignore him as I dress down. Yet, I can feel his fucking eyes burning into the side of my head. Subtlety isn't his strong suit.
"What?" I snap, facing him bare-chested.
"Pretty sure that's my line." Aran swipes a lock of sweaty, black hair out of his eyes. "What crawled up your ass?"
