Page 91 of The Wrong Quarterback

Matty snarled, and Jace and I both snickered.

Still laughing, I reached into my bag for my phone, my smile fading when I saw the text from Casey, canceling our dinner plans.

LOML: I’m not going to make it to dinner. I’m sorry. I’ll see you later.

“Uh oh, he’s not rosy cheeked anymore,” whispered Jace.

I scoffed at him and grabbed my bag. “I’ll see you guys later,” I told them, leaving the room to a chorus of “pussy-conquered” chants.

Pulling up my phone, I checked myFind My Friendsapp and saw that she was in her dorm room—Jace’s stalking tips were actually very useful.

So far there had been a different girl manning the desk every time I’d come by—thank fuck—and this one just gaped at me as I walked by. Once I got to Casey’s door, I pounded on the wood, tapping my finger against my leg impatiently because I needed to see her.

Five hours was too long. It would probably be too much to ask her to sit in the stands during practice, right?

The door opened, and Casey appeared, her red-rimmed eyes telling me that my baby was having a tough day.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” I demanded. “Let me fix it.”

She wiped at her eyes. “I just went to see Ben, and…it’s hard. It never seems to get easier.” A tear slid down her cheek, and I growled as I pushed my way inside, scooping her into my armsas I walked over to her bed and sat down. I continued to cradle her in my lap as she buried her head in my neck and sobbed.

“I know about grief,” I murmured. “The kind that eats you from the inside out. The kind that you don’t think you can escape from. When I lost my dad, I used to go sit in his office. I’d sit in the same chair that I’d always used when he was working late into the night, and I’d wanted to hang out with him. And I think I was waiting. I think a part of me thought that maybe he’d walk in. And he’d grin when he saw me. And then we’d just talk while he worked, about everything and anything. I kept sitting in that chair for a month until it really hit me…he was gone.”

She pulled her face from my neck and stared at me somberly. “I’m sorry about your dad, Parker,” she said quietly as her gaze searched mine.

“Me too, baby. Me too.”

I pressed a kiss to her lips because I couldn’t help it, and she kissed me back with a breadth of emotion I hadn’t expected.

“Next time you want to go, I’ll take you,” I murmured against her lips. “I don’t want you to go by yourself anymore. I don’t want you to be alone.”

She looked away, her lower lip trembling. “It’s a long drive, and you’re so busy. I’d never?—”

I gently grabbed her chin and made her look at me. “Don’t go alone. I’m never too busy for you. You don’t get this yet, but you’re my number one priority. There’s nothing more important than making you happy. Nothing.”

Casey was looking at me like I was crazy, and I got it. She didn’t understand yet that I’d looked at her and knew that the most important piece of my soul…the one I’d always known was missing—it was in her.

“When you say that, I don’t know what to say. When you say that…it feels dangerous.” She closed her eyes. “My brother was Mama’s favorite child…and I was okay with that. I reallywas. Because he was my favorite too. He was popular and handsome; everyone who met him thought he was the best. Hewasthe best.” She opened her eyes to look at me again, as if it was important to her that I understood what she was saying. “That meant, though, that I wasn’t seen very much. I was the afterthought in our family, the afterthought in school, the afterthought in…life. And then when Gray did that…” She bit down on her lip, trying not to cry anymore. “When he did that, it was just a reminder of who I am. A nobody,” she whispered.

I opened my mouth to vehemently reject what she was saying, but she placed a trembling finger to my lips. “So when you, a person who literally outshines everything and everyone, tries to tell me that you see me, or that I’m important…or any of the other crazy things that keep coming out of your mouth…it’s hard for me to believe. The sun was never meant to be with the stars.”

I snorted then, and she looked at me, shocked. “The sunisa star, baby. Not to cut you off. A bunch of those stars are in fact brighter than the sun…they’re just farther away. We’re both stars, Casey.”

“You kind of are a nerd,” she joked. “Are you sure that you actually need tutoring?”

I grinned, because if she only knew.

“Promise me that you’ll tell me next time you want to go,” I pushed.

She bit down on her lip, and I knew she wasn’t going to.

“One day, baby…” I whispered.

“What?”

“One day you’re going to wake up, and you’re going to realize you’re safe with me. That out of anyone you’ve met in your life, anyone you’llevermeet in your life, I’m the person you can trust.”

“You’re doing it again,” she murmured.

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