Page 248 of Out of Bounds

“I’m so sorry—”

Please no.

The hood of my hoodie fell back and I hurried to pick up everything before I could acknowledge the fact that Cleo stood in front of me, helping me to grab everything.

“Um—Kassie?”

I flinched and my eyes flickered up for half a second to see Cleo’s shocked face, gazing down at me. Cleo, who somehow didn’t fall even though she wore high heels, and me, who’d collapsed with a pair of good sneakers on, Cleo, gazing down at me with the most stricken face imaginable, eyebrows knitted in concern.

“Kassie.” She reached down to pick up one of the extra Romans decal stickers I’d stored away for my laptop. “What…what is all this?”

“This is all my stuff,” I blurted out, shoving everything back in the box. “I just picked it up from the desk.”

Why did I SAY that?

Here was the perfect person to give all the crap to and I just couldn’t do it. Literally, There wasn’t a better person I could’vehanded off the cardboard box to but when the time came to it, I couldn’t cut it out.

The embarrassment overwhelmed me.

“Kassie, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I feel awful—”

I snatched my Romans lanyard from under one of the chairs and wrapped my arms around the cardboard box, striding off to the doors without another word.

The realization was just as bad as crashing into someone and dropping everything. I didn’t come to the training center to give his stuff back. I came to seehim.

With the back of my hand, I hurried to wipe away the tears. Deep, deep, deep down all I wanted was for him to convince me. It was so stupid but I knew I’d been waiting for him to come around the corner and just tell me to go with him again, off to Ohio orMissouri or Iowa or any of the other places where he’d get drafted to.

The same places I’d have to give up everything.

103

Ryan

I’ll Do Something Stupid

I lost out on the one person I dreamed possibilities with. Going pro meant that Kassie would be right there with me, with a grin on her lips and a joke I didn’t understand.

I didn’t just lose somebody I could wrap my arms around. I lost my future.

Taking a deep breath, I shifted back in an ice bath that’d long stopped being cold. The door creaked open and a familiar face leaned in. "Hey, captain." He hesitated. "Uh…boss. Boss Captain."

"Fuck off, Adam." My voice sounded hollow and I hoped he’d understand that I really and truly wanted him to fuck off.

He stepped inside.

Wishful thinking.

"Captain…it’s been…four hours since practice…."

Had it been? I didn’t notice.

It’d been four days since I’d seen Kassie. I knew that.

"How’re we doing, man?"

I had nothing to say. Hopefully, he’d pick up on the hint.

"King?" Adam checked behind the door and motioned him inside. "You said you had something. Tell me you have something."

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