[18+] ENEMIES TO LOVERS SPORTS ROMANCE.
*REWRITTEN*
°•°•°•°
Hannah Walker doesn't trust anyone, especially men.
They're manipulative and toxic - her lousy ex taught her that lesson well.
Enter Tristan Beckett, the embodiment of everything she despis...
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Closing my locker with a heavy sigh, I pushed my damp hair from my face.
We'd won.
Not that I had contributed anything to that win. This time my teammates did all the heavy lifting. I was benched and replaced by Owen, our backup quarterback. Yeah, I was the one who made the call to switch out, but it still stung and left a foul taste in my mouth, like a bitter reminder of failure.
Coach Morey had stayed quiet as we watched the game unfold, giving no indication that he'd noticed my presence beside him. When the final whistle blew and the team erupted into celebrations, he turned to me, and said, "No one can operate at a hundred percent all the time. We all go through rough patches, but it's about how you deal with them that's the true test. You made the right call with Owen today."
And then he walked away, leaving me to consider what he meant by that. I was struck by his approval — I'd been certain he was gonna give me an ass-chewing for my crappy performance in the first half of the game, not to mention my overall conduct in the past week.
Because this last week had been hell.
The lack of sleep was taking its toll and it was messing with my game. It reached a point where I had no choice but to step back and let the team carry on without me. Tate, my co-captain, stepped up to shoulder some of my responsibilities and refused to take no for an answer.
At first, it pissed me off — the shift in our dynamic made me resist at every turn. But exhaustion had a way of draining the fight from you, and I begrudgingly relented. It was only then that I could acknowledge the burden that had been lifted from my shoulders. Well, only to be replaced by the weight of my guilt over feeling like I was letting them down by not contributing my part to the team.
For the first time in a long time, I felt completely lost.
The locker room buzzed with post-game chatter, but none of it reached me as I gathered my stuff, mentally bracing myself for the upcoming encounter with my parents — especially my dad. They'd been watching from the VIP seats, no doubt taking note of my shaky first-half performance and my absence in the second. The thought of facing them, particularly my dad's inevitable critique, was the last thing I wanted right now. But I couldn't avoid them after they'd driven two hours to watch me play.
Shaking off the weight of my thoughts, I turned to leave. As I moved towards the exit, Alex, piped up.
"Hey, Captain, you coming to the after-party? It's at Diego's." He waggled his eyebrows, a playful grin on his face.
Before I could respond, Ryan chimed in. "Yeah, man, we gotta celebrate the win properly!"
Joey Flinnigan interjected, laughing. "Nah, he doesn't know why we're celebrating. He was too busy keeping the bench warm."
The room fell silent as the whole team turned their heads to glare at him. A few guys piped up, telling him to shut up. Matthew, still tying his laces, fixed Joey with a hard stare. "Enough, man. Show some respect."
