Page 75 of Holding On

Chapter Fourteen

Becca

This morning I woke up in Ethan's arms and it both freaked me out and made me happy. It freaked me out because I'm not supposed to be getting serious with him, and spending the night with him felt serious. But I also felt happy because I love being with him and being in his arms.

As much as I like him, I don't want to fall for a guy who isn't available, so I keep telling myself to stay away. And yet here I am, in his house, spending the day with him. And he's calling me his girlfriend. He says he doesn't want this to end but we both know it will, probably when his classes start again or maybe when his football buddies come back for practice.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asks, sneaking up behind me as I stand at the kitchen counter. We had a late lunch and I'm cleaning up.

"Nothing's wrong." I turn around. "Why do you ask?"

"You got really quiet."

I smile. "Sorry. I'm just tired from work. It was a long week."

"Let's go watch a movie. Or I'll watch a movie and you can fall asleep on me."

"That sounds good."

We've already had sex twice since waking up, then showered, had lunch. There isn't much left to do when you're stuck at the house.

As predicted, I fall asleep during the movie. My two jobs suck the life out of me. I'm always exhausted on the weekends.

I wake up to the doorbell ringing. Ethan isn't around.

"Ethan?" I call out but he doesn't answer. He must be in the bathroom.

The bell rings again so I walk to the door and answer it. An older man is standing there.

"Hi, can I help you?" As I say it, I realize I know this man. I've seen him in the local paper. He's the head football coach at Laytham College.

"I'm Don Maverick. Ethan's coach." He smiles and extends his hand. "And you are?"

"Becca." I shake his hand. "I'm friends with Ethan."

"Is he home?"

"Um, yeah, but I think he's in the bathroom."

"Do you mind if I come in?"

What do I say? Do I let him in? What if Ethan doesn't want him here?

"I should probably go get Ethan." I turn to go find him.

"Becca."

"Yes?" I turn back and see the coach has come inside. "Could we talk for a moment?"

"Um, yeah. Okay." I walk back to him.

Where the hell is Ethan? And why hasn't he come back?

"This is the first time anyone's answered the door," the coach says. "Are you his girlfriend?"

"Kind of. We just started dating. So, um, why are you here?"

"To talk to Ethan. Whenever I stop by, he never answers the door and he won't answer my calls. I'm concerned about him."

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