Page 74 of Pretty Broken Promises

“Yeah that's what he said, but then he did everything he could to keep us apart during training camp. If all he cared about is my public image, why would he go to such lengths to make sure I didn't have any time with her?”

Kendall winces as the bus lurches into gear. It's a state of the art bus, but it's still carrying thousands of pounds of equipment and athletes. Nothing carrying this load is going to give the smoothest ride. Kendall isn't the only one in pain either. The entire team is worse for wear thanks to how much harder they are having to work just to maintain their mediocre record.

“Well while the two of you are seeing whose dick is bigger, the rest of us are suffering, man. I am not telling you to break up with your girlfriend. You know I would not tell you to do that. Gina and I both love Tess. But is there any way you can make him think that you are complying with what he said?”

“I'm going to let this pass because you don't know what she and I have been through, but I need you to hear me when I tell you that there is no way I am ever going to deny who she is to me. I have fought too hard to get her back. The last thing I am going to do is pretend we aren't together. I'm not going to let some chick hang all over me like I'm single. I'm not going to flirt with the fans. I'm still not out of the doghouse for the shit that I put her through the last couple of years, I'm not adding to it.”

He nods his head. “Yeah, I get it. Playing college ball can fuck with your relationship. I had to jump through some hoops to get my girl back too. For the record, I think what you're being asked to do is bullshit. The rest of the team isn't treating you like you're a teammate, so you don't owe them anything.”

He holds his fist out to me and I bump it with mine. “I'm just watching my back right now, because I highly doubt that sitting on the bench is the extent of what Greer has planned.”

Kendall looks out the window as we pull away from the airport and start to move into the glittering downtown of Playa Pacifica. “This is your hometown? Damn bro, you've been holding out on us.”

I chuckle darkly. “Hardly. I'm from a broke down trailer park about twenty-five minutes south. Trust me you're not missing anything. Playa looks nice, but there's a lot of darkness that can be hid in the light. Things might not be going the way I had planned with football, but I'm not sad to have left this place.”

“Don't you have any friends here? Are they coming to the game?”

“Fuck no. They don't need to wait in a long ass line just to watch me sit on a wooden bench. Most of my crew are up in a cabin in the mountains. One of my best friends is gonna swing by and pick me up tonight. I'm going to crash at their house tonight.”

“Coach will be pissed if he finds out you left,” Kendall warns.

I roll my eyes. “Well, I suppose he can add it to that growing list of his. I swear I can't even see the guy that I respected back in high school. It's like aliens have taken over his body. He's the reason that I came to Cascade U, and now I wish I had taken an offer anywhere else. Tessa had her heart set on Seattle, but I'm pretty sure anywhere but Playa would've been fine with her.”

His forehead creases. “How could you hate a place this beautiful?”

I look out the window, and all I see is the warehouse fire from last year, Jesse being shot in the head, the moment I thought Tessa was dead, and the look on her face when I realized how badly I have let her down over and over again. I turn away from the window. “I don't think we're seeing the same things, man.”

When we get to the hotel, everybody gets off the bus and the assistant coach starts handing out key cards. Kendall and I are sharing a room again, because the rest of the team thinks we’re boring. Which basically means we won't let them bring random girls to hook up with in the room. They like to call us the married guys, like that's an insult. I'd be married right now if I thought Tessa would say yes.

Speaking of Tessa, my phone rings as Kendall and I are taking the elevator up to our room. There are a couple of kids on the elevator, and they’ve pushed every button on the panel. It wouldn’t be a big deal if we were staying at a generic chain, but thanks to one of the boosters we’re staying on the top floor of a boutique hotel. It’s that guy Nelson Jones, the one who handed me his card at the dinner. I guess he really is a huge fan and supporter of the team.

“Hey, Vixen,” I greet her. Might as well settle in, we have tons of time to talk as the elevator stops and opens at each floor. The little assholes get off on the second floor, and Kendall and I still have to ride up thirty-eight more floors with the doors opening on each floor.

“Raven and Sin just picked me up from the airport. Is it weird that I'm really excited to see you, because I just saw you this morning?”

I smile, even though she can't see me. It's nice that she is finally able to admit any kind of feelings for me now without putting her guard up. “It's not weird. We've been apart too much, and it's only the start of the season.”

She groans. “I don't know how I'm ever going to do this if you go pro.”

I sigh. “I don't see that happening if I never get on the field.”

I can feel the heaviness on the other end of the line. “Baby, do not take that on your shoulders,” I tell her.

“But you would be playing right now if it weren't for me,” she argues.

“No, I would be playing right now if my coach and the athletic director weren't a bunch of dicks. I owe the team my dedication and loyalty. I do not owe them my personal life. As long as I represent the team with professionalism, they can go fuck off.”

I can hear her exhale into the phone. “Spit it out, Vixen.”

“I'm sure they think that they've got a case to make you do this considering technically we are stepsiblings,” she reminds me, as if I have forgotten.

“One, we didn't grow up together. Two, we were already together when our parents came back married. And three, neither of our parents did much parenting, so I don't see how it's anyone's fucking business.”

“No one is going to know any of that. All they’re going to see is that your mom is married to my dad. No justifying that we try and do is going to change their mind, because they're not even going to let us argue our side.”

“You’d think the number of people I've killed would be more of a sticking point than the fact that I sleep with my stepsister,” I joke to lighten the mood.

“Graveyard humor, awesome,” she mutters, but I can hear Sin laughing in the background.

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