Page 102 of Every Beat of My Heart

“Who would do that?” Claire asked.

“I think it was Bryce’s dad. Not that the administration would listen to me.”

“Because you took him out of the game and put Owen in. What else were you supposed to do?”

“Keep Bryce in, let him fall apart even more, ruin his self-confidence, and lose the game. I guess that’s what his father wanted.”

“Bryce’s father can’t fight his battles for him his whole life.”

“I think we both know examples of parents doing exactly that,” I said, thinking of the celebrities who paid colleges to accept their kids into their admissions program.

“It’s not going to teach Bryce anything.”

“I’m not even sure Bryce wants his dad to interfere.”

“If Brian is running the show, does that mean Owen can’t be the quarterback anymore? He was so excited, so proud of himself.

“I don’t know. Maybe?” I couldn’t think about the team I was no longer a part of. I felt for Owen, but the point of my suspension was that I be removed from the school’s property and activities. I couldn’t even see his game as a spectator.

Claire and Owen felt further away from me than ever. I’d never be deserving of them. “I think it’s best if we take a break. At least until things cool down.”

Claire sucked in a breath. “I don’t think that’s the answer.”

“I messed up. You deserve better.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“That’s my reality, and frankly I’m ashamed of myself.”

“You’re just going to walk away instead of fighting for us?” Claire asked, her voice getting stronger.

“We had to hide our relationship and obviously for a good reason. We shouldn’t have kept it a secret. We shouldn’t have pursued it at all. Look what happened? I destroyed all the good in my life.” The teaching, coaching, and my relationship with Claire and Owen. “I’m irresponsible and immature just like my brothers and my dad always said.”

“That’s not true. I thought your dad supported your decisions now.”

I chuckled dryly. “Not after this.”

“But you don’t know. I think you should take a few days to think about this.”

“Nothing’s going to change. I’m sorry, Claire. I’m sorry for fucking everything up. For being so selfish when everything was on the line. I don’t want you to be in a position where you might lose your job again.”

“Jameson—”

I looked around the small apartment. This was my life. Firefighting, if I still had a job there, and this small, cramped apartment above my dad’s garage. “I have to go. I’m sorry.”

CHAPTER 22

CLAIRE

I couldn’t believe it. I felt like all the air had been sucked from my lungs. It had been a rough day between seeing Jameson marched to the principal’s office, then the video of us in an intimate moment being passed around on the students’ phones, and my own meeting with Mr. Miller.

He’d admitted that whoever had done it had filmed a private moment, and it shouldn’t have been distributed the way it was. I hadn’t done anything on school property, so there was nothing they could do to me.

They had wider discretion with Jameson’s job because they could refuse him as a substitute almost for any reason. Plus, he could be replaced, but I couldn’t. Not at this point in the semester.

None of that made me feel any better. I was angry that a parent could do something like this and threaten our jobs. All because a kid was taken out of a sixth-grade football game for poor performance. What was that kid going to do when he was an adult? Call Daddy to clean up his messes forever?

Owen came down the steps. “What happened with Jameson?”

---