The Player | SPORTS ROMANCE | 18+

Chapter 34

SALVADORA DE LEON

"Sorry about that. I had to take it." Titus apologised as he came back into the house after excusing himself to take a private phone call. I was curious to know who he was having private phone calls with at eleven at night, but I didn't want to overstep by asking about it.

"No worries." I offered him a smile. "Everything okay? It sounded important."

A conflicted look washed over his face as he slowly approached me, and my body tensed on its own accord.

"It is kind of important." He admitted in a quiet voice, his eyes growing serious as he dropped himself on the sofa next to me, his body angled toward mine. "Actually, it's really important. I should have told you sooner."

"Is this the part where you tell me you've got a secret family waiting for you in New York?" I joked in attempt to get rid of the waves of nerves that washed over me.

Titus gulped and nodded slowly. "Yes."

My eyes widened and my heart skipped several beats as I stared at him, untrusting of my ears right now.

What. The. Fuck!

"Breathe, Sal." Titus laughed, no longer looking so serious. "I was only joking."

"That's not funny." I groaned and threw a pillow from the couch at him. When that only made him laugh harder, I threw another two, one at his face and the other at his chest.

"I'm joking about the secret family, but I really do have something serious to talk to you about." He murmured once the laughter had died down.

"What is it?" I asked, going back to feeling nervous.

"I'm leaving for New York first thing in the morning."

My body tensed, and the sweet wine that I was enjoying suddenly tasted bitter and metallic in my mouth.

The past week with Titus had been nothing short of magical, and today had been the cherry on the cake with how Mountbatten High had won their first game of the year. I wasn't naïve enough to believe that we would remain in this happy bubbly forever, but I was certainly hopeful that it would last longer for a week. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but when Titus promised me that he was here for the long run, I wanted to believe him.

I was officially a fool for letting him play me twice. Shame on me.

"I hope you have a safe flight." I said, pursing my lips and forcing a neutral expression.

"What?" He sounded aloud in a mix of surprise and confusion.

"I said, I hope you have a safe flight." I pursed my lips and moved to pour myself another glass of wine.

If I was going to get through this conversation, I wasn't going to be doing it sober. There was just no way.

"I'm so confused." Titus frowned and scratched the top of his head, looking as if he wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Well, that made us both.

"What's there to confused about?" I snapped. "I honestly don't know what you're still doing here. You're leaving tomorrow. Why not just save yourself the trouble and leave today?"

I knew I was self-sabotaging. I knew that I was ruining things for myself, and I should probably hear him out before jumping the gun like this, but I couldn't help it. He was leaving. Even though he said he wasn't going anywhere, that he was here for the long run, he was leaving.

If he couldn't keep his promise for even a week, what were we going to do in the long run? Was I constantly going to have to worry about him getting up and leaving whenever he wanted? Whenever he felt like abandoning us?