Page 23 of The Wrong Quarterback

Gray suddenly groaned, and his eyes searched mine, intense and a little desperate. “Of course, I think you’re fucking beautiful,” he admitted, his voice raw and exposed. “I want you, Casey. I think I’vealwayswanted you.”

The world seemed to tilt, the noise of the campus fading into the background as I stared at him. The way he said it—like he’d been carrying it around for longer than I knew—made something inside me crack open.

“Gray…” My voice barely made it past my lips, caught between disbelief and a rush of emotions that swirled around inside me.

“I always kept my distance…for Ben,” he continued. “And now I feel like a fool, because knowing how much Ben loved you…maybe he would have understood. I at least should have tried.”

My breath hitched, the weight of his words sinking in, heavy and real. I’d wanted these words for so long…I was having trouble believing he was actually saying them.

He moved closer, his hands letting go of mine so they could slide up and cup my face, his thumbs brushing against my cheeks. “I’m probably saying this all wrong,” he said, eyes locked on mine. “But I need you to know that it’s you, Case. It’salwaysbeen you.”

The honesty in his voice, the way he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered…this was it. This was really happening.

I let out a shaky breath, the realization that my dreams were actually coming true winding its way into my consciousness, and I nodded. “Okay,” I whispered, not sure what else to say.

A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

“So are we doing this, Casey? Are youfinallygoing to be my girl?” he asked, his voice low, almost shy, like he wasn’t sure what my answer would be.

For a brief second, someone else’s face flitted through my head. But I pushed it away.

Thiswas real.Thiswas what I had always wanted.

“Yes,” I whispered, barely able to get the word out before he closed the gap between us, pressing his lips to mine. The world around us faded into a blur, and for a moment, it was just us, tangled in a promise that felt like it had been a long time coming.

Before I could fully melt into it, someone shouted his name from across the lawn. “Gray! Are we eating or not?”

He pulled back immediately, and I looked over his shoulder to see a group of guys and girls approaching.

Gray let his hands drop and he turned, the easy smile he had with his friends slipping back into place as if nothing had happened. “Come on, let’s go eat,” he said, grabbing my hand and tugging me along.

I followed, but the moment was already fading as he launched into a conversation with one of his friends about the party they were going to after the game tomorrow. Squeezing his hand, I tried not to let the shift bother me, but the way his focus had moved on so fast had the warmth in my chest fading. I felt like I was still standing back there, in the emptiness that he’d left.

And Parker’s face was in my head again.

CHAPTER 6

PARKER

Walking away from Casey felt like the hardest thing I’d ever had to do in my life. And that wasn’t me being dramatic.

Leaving her with Gray Andrews…

Absolutely unacceptable.

Something that wasnotgoing to happen again.

“Mr. Davis,” Professor Hendrick’s voice snapped the second I’d forced myself back into the room. The lecture hall had emptied out while I’d been gone, but she was still standing by the lectern, arms crossed over her chest, a look that could have curdled milk aimed straight at me.

“Yes, Professor?” I was glad that my voice was coming out normal. I felt shell-shocked, changed, just from that brief interaction in the hallway.

She raised an eyebrow, the silence stretching just long enough to make my jaw tighten. “Is there something you’d like to share? Something I should be aware of?”

Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have been that obvious, basically running after one of her students in front of the whole class. I might as well have put a neon sign over my head that said I was interested.

It was unavoidable, though. If I hadn’t gotten her name just now, I might have gone crazy.

Well, crazier than I was already feeling.

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