BELONGS TO ME

Chapter 35

Dual pov

Camila

Pushing past the entrance, I curve right, and pound on the small door for a solid five minutes before Harry appears beside me. Slowly, he reaches up, grabbing and lowering my hands to my sides.

"Mila Baby, I don't think she's in there," he says softly, and I crumble.

He hugs me, attempting to keep me upright, and Hailee slides in front of me, worry carved across her features.

"It's been two days." Tears fall from my eyes, and I look away as a few football players walk by, staring. "She wasn't at practice yesterday, and she isn't here today, so where is she?"

"Maybe she went out for food or something?" Harry's tone is dejected, his attempt futile, and he knows it.

"Come on." Hailee wraps her arm through mine. "We should go home. You need to—"

"Don't say sleep, Hailee." I rub my eyes.

"Honey, she's not here and we don't know if she has been in the last two days. What are you going to do, camp out in the entryway?"

"If I have to."

"Mila, don't do this to yourself."

"You didn't see her face." I look to them. "She was... God, she was..." Devastated. "I can't even imagine what she's thinking."

The front door opens, another group of Players arriving home, and I hold my breath, but it's Shawn who is the last to step through.

He looks from me to Lauren's door and back.

He walks over. "Camz."

"Please just," I rush out, my hands flying up as I slip past. "Not now."

"Camila!" Hailee shouts, chasing me out onto the porch, but I'm already down the driveway and stepping into the road.

Spinning in place, I scan the area, my hands folding over my head.

My eyes squeeze shut, and I clench my jaw, bending at the knees until I'm squatting in place.

"Fuck!" I finally scream, my body shaking.

Several heads turn my way, but I ignore them.

I jerk upright and start walking.

I walk every inch of campus, circling each building and covering all corners from the center to the outer edge. I don't think I expected to find her, but once there's nowhere left to go, I realize I must have hoped I would.

Defeat washes over me and I want to drop to the grass and curl into a ball, but my feet don't stop moving.

I walk until the sun comes up, and then I go home. Locking myself in my room, I cry myself to sleep.

Later that day, when Hailee pounds on my door, I tell her to go away, and by the time I wake again, it's after nine-thirty, tonight's game likely almost over.

Showering last night's sweat from my body, I quickly throw on some clothes and rush out the door, wet hair and all, but by the time the stadium is in sight, still a good hundred yards away, the campus is already flooded with fans on their way to finish off their Saturday night somewhere. Dropping onto the nearest bench, I go to the school website, where the score is already posted.

The Sharks lost the first round of"playoffs, their season coming to end as of tonight.

That means tonight was Lauren's final game as a college quarterback, and I wasn't there to see it.