Loving Knight: Book One of the Cresswell Series (COMPLETED)

32. DEION

Disappointment.

That was the emotion bubbling up inside me as I headed back to the locker room with the team once halftime was called. Half of them walked past me, giving me subtle yet obvious glares. I take off my helmet once we’re inside, sighing as I wipe the sweat from my forehead and face.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Aaron murmurs, loud enough for me to hear him. “We are not losing to the Ravens. No fucking way.”

“We might be able to catch up or even surpass them, but I don‘t know,” Theo says, a hint of doubt in his voice.

Aaron turns to me. “Deion, what the hell is wrong with you? You know everyone is counting on you to win this game and you’re out there fucking shit up!”

“Well maybe you guys shouldn’t be depending on me so much,” I said spitefully, keeping my head down.

“The hell is that supposed to mean? You’re literally the fucking quarterback of the team! Everyone is counting on you and you’re over here bullshitting.”

I look up at him. “Bullshitting?”

“Yes, bullshitting, Deion.”

“You guys, calm down. We don’t need this right now.” Theo tries to get in between us, but Aaron pushes him back.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” He turns his head towards me. “We’re probably gonna lose to the Ravens again all because he can’t stop whining and crying about some bitch!”

I snap, clenching my fist. Before I knew it, I was on my feet, shoving Aaron against the lockers, his back hitting the lockers with a loud thud. My hands grip the collar of his jersey as everyone in the room turns their attention to us.

“Call her a bitch again! Call her a bitch again, I fucking dare you!”

“Or what?! Or what, bro?!”

I feel myself being pulled back, my hands letting go of his jersey. “Break it up! Both of you!”

Coach holds me back while Theo holds back Aaron. “You wanna fight? Take it outside but don’t even think about coming back into this locker room until the end of the damn season!”

“He started it!” Aaron yells.

“You better lower your tone, boy.”

“Aaron, just stop it,” Theo says.

Aaron gets out of Theo’s grip, not paying attention to him as he kept his glare on me. “I don’t get you. You wanted to play the game. You wanted to mess with her heart. You did this to yourself and now the rest of us are suffering for it. The entire school is gonna suffer for it!” His voice lowers. “Face it, Deion. Aliyah doesn’t love you anymore. She said it herself. She hates you. She doesn’t care about you.”

His words seep into my mind. And as much as I didn’t want to admit it, Aaron was right.

“I know that,” I tell him. “I know that she doesn’t care about me, but I care about her. I know that she doesn’t love me, but I love her. I fucked up. I know I fucked up. I’m reminded of it every single day. Reminded that the one person I loved was the one person I hurt.”

The entire locker room goes silent.

“But at the end of the day, Aliyah means everything to me. She means the absolute world to me. I’d do anything for her. I know I hurt her and that has been eating me up inside ever since that night of the party. Even days after I agreed to that game when I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth because I didn’t want to break her heart. But I would and will do anything and everything in my power to make up for what I did. You can say that I’m being crazy or whatever for doing all of this over a girl, but if loving and caring about a girl makes me crazy, then that’s what I am.”