Page 121 of Saving the Halfback

“There has been speculation but no accusations.” My mom gave me a look. “Second—”

“That wasn’t it?” I whined, hoping someone, somewhere, would spare me.

Mom just laughed again. “Bailey.” She reached out and grabbed my arm. “You can be open to me about any of it, okay? I’m not blind. You are still my baby Boo, but I know you’re alsoeighteen. Now. Second thing.” She got all serious now. “If you think there's an intruder in the house, you call the police! Not one of the boys. I’m glad Chase came to check on things for you, but thank goodness there wasn’t actually someone here. What would you two have done?”

I sighed. “You’re right. It was stupid.” The police were the furthest thing from my mind at that point.

“It wasn’t stupid, Bailey. If you felt someone was here, you were right to call someone. Just the order of operations was a little skewed. Police first, your father or me second, and then one of the boys. Okay?”

I nodded to her. Shoving my pancake into my mouth, I chased it with orange juice, then grabbed the muffins before pressing a sloppy kiss to her cheek. “Thanks, Mom,” I mumbled. “Gotta go to practice.”

I could hear my mother’s giggles on my way out the door and smiled. I missed hanging out with her. Maybe we should do a girls’ night. Maybe…maybe I could get my hair cut. I spent so much time with the guys, with football. I had more contacts on my phone than I could text in a day. I stayed up late talking to Nolan or Lachlan often. I went to a party, and while the ending sucked, I would never forget getting doused with goo and just being a teen. Taking a shot and dancing with friends. I was already being pulled thin trying to fit it all in, but I couldn’t forget about my parents. They had been so good to me.

I pickedEthan up from the shop first. He opened the driver’s door and held his hand out, steadying me while I climbed down. I didn’t want to burst his bubble and tell him I’d been jumping out of trucks through fields since I’d been able to walk.

Nolan was next. He was downing a protein shake as we pulled up. “Are you still doing pre-practice workouts?” I asked.

He settled in his seat. “I want to lie to make you feel better, but also, I can’t lie to you.”

I rolled my eyes.

Lachlan wasn’t far from Nolan’s place. “Babe, you didn’t call us because…?” he asked as he got in the back seat.

Nolan swung his head around, looking between the two of us.

“Chase texted me this morning,” Lachlan supplied.

I lowered my head and eyes. “I’m sorry.” The words fell quickly. “I didn’t mean to. I knew I should’ve called you first…”

“First?” Lachlan asked. “What? No, I don’t care who you called first. Just call me as well. I would’ve driven over, and we could’ve had a sleepover.” He winked.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Nolan said.

“Bailey was home alone and thought someone broke into the house. She called Chase, and he stayed the night,” Lachlan explained.

“Was there someone there?” Ethan asked.

“No,” I told him. “My imagination, I guess.”

Nolan leaned back in his seat, like it was no big deal. “Glad Chase made it out there.”

“At least you were actually sleeping and not running an ungodly number of kilometers,” Lachlan said.

“Not last night, anyway. But I did have a five a.m. wake-up call…”

They just moved on. Ed never would’ve moved on. Ed would’ve slipped his belt off and given me a lesson about talking to other guys, about not handling my own fears myself. Also, he probably would have had a breakdown if he knew I slept on top of one of my best friends all night.

Lachlan and Nolan acted like it was totally normal that I’d called Chase to help me. Even Ethan had seemed more concerned with the threat than what had actually happened last night. There was no real threat, though, was there?

“What’s this?” Lachlan asked, pulling a folded note from between my seat and the armrest. “Has your name on it.”

“Did they seriously leave a note in her truck? That’s getting a little too much.” Nolan took the note. I knew what he was thinking—I was thinking it too. All those notes I got before my first game…they were writing them again. I leaned against my window, ignoring it. I had enough to worry about without all the immature high school drama.

Nolan jumped in his seat. “Where’s Chase?” he asked frantically. “Eth, we need to get Chase,” he nearly screamed.

“Nole, chill,” Lachlan said.

Ethan looked up in the rearview mirror at him. “He’s probably already heading to school.”

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