Page 116 of Going All In

Something was upwith Darcy. Sure, she’d cheered when they won last night’s game and commiserated with him when they’d lost their game three nights ago, but something was off. She was off.

When he’d tried to bring it up, she’d said everything was fine. She was stressed with school and making sure her final project was perfect.

But it was more than that, and it was driving him insane. They’d said they loved each other, and he thought they were moving forward, but now she was being weird. And he was being a chickenshit by not asking what the fuck was wrong, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Last week, he’d asked her about her meeting with her mentor—yeah, he paid attention to that—and she’d said it was fine. And that was it.

Jake had learned from living with his mother and spending a lot of time with his grandmother and Toula, that fine was never a good thing.

But aside from that dreaded word, she hadn’t given him any more information. She’d always told him how her project was going. When he’d pressed her for more this time, she’d said she was tired and he’d left it alone.

And it was starting to drive him insane.

So insane that he wasn’t fully present during practice today and the coaching staff and his teammates had called him out on it—repeatedly.

They were in the damn playoffs, tied two-to-two with Vegas, and the team was counting on him to keep his numbers high like he’d done all season. His concentration had to be on point.

Which was why he was standing inside the front door of his condo fidgeting. Fucking fidgeting.

He’d gotten a text from Ralph about setting up a time to shoot photos for one of the other endorsement deals and he knew that management had reached out to Ralph about setting up meetings once the playoffs were over. Everything was heading in the right direction.

Except with the person who’d come to mean more to him than he thought possible.

“Grow a set and go over there,” he muttered to no one.

Darcy should’ve been in his condo right now, tucked in his bed so he could’ve woken up with his arms around her this morning. The perfect way to wake up before he had to be on the team plane to Vegas in a few hours. But after a drink at C&B last night, she’d said she needed to get home. To sleep in her own bed. So she could spend the day studying and working on her peer review since she didn’t have class. Even the lure of the office chair he’d given her hadn’t convinced her to come over.

He should let her stay in her apartment and study, but again, he was going insane.

Without dwelling on it any longer, he headed toward his car and drove to her apartment.

He parked and was up the front steps and pressing the front door buzzer before he could second-guess himself.

“Yes,” her voice came through the box.

“Darcy. It’s Jake. Can I come up?”

“Um…sure,” she said, and the door unlocked.

She stood at her open apartment door when he entered her hallway, her hip against the door. She looked nervous as she bit her lip, tucking a messy strand of hair behind her ear.

“What’s up?” she asked when he followed her into her apartment and shut the door behind them.

“I wanted to ask you the same thing.” The time for tact was gone. He’d fired himself up on the drive over and he needed answers.

“What are you talking about?”

She was evading.

“You’re being distant, and I want to know why. It’s driving me crazy. Hell. Tell me I’m imagining that something is wrong. Jesus. Listen to me…” He raked a hand through his hair. He didn’t do this. Act like this. Lovestruck and desperate were not a good look for him.

“We need to talk,” she said.

The four words that any sap in love dreaded more than anything, and she was giving them to him. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

“I think we’ve run our course.” She looked down at the floor, not meeting his eyes.

“I’m sorry. What?”

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