Page 128 of Saving the Halfback

I could feel my shoulders relax at his lack of judgment. “In the cupboard, to the left when you go in. It will save me from having to fill this prescription right away.”

He nodded. “Got it. Be right back.”

I sank back into the seat and closed my eyes. Lachlan hadn’t questioned me. He didn’t make any jokes about the medication, no remarks about the noose. My father would have laughed at me. My own blood would have told me to quit playing around and finish the job. Maybe it was him that had been the problem this whole time.

46

Bailey

Thursday

Ihadn’t been prepared for the days that followed. Chase now lived with us, but he felt further away than ever. He never came out of his room, and when I knocked to see how he was doing, he would give a short reply and leave it at that. A couple times, he did text me, apologizing and just asking for more time, so I gave it to him. I wasn’t sure how much more I could handle.

Chase didn’t come to school. As predicted, he got a rough cough, but he stayed on top of his antibiotics—my mother made sure of it. She was the brave one that brought him food at the end of the night while I still gave him the space he asked for.

Coach drilled us pretty hard during practice. He didn’t know the exact reason Chase wasn’t there, just that he had pneumonia. It was the story all of us told anyone who asked. We didn’t have a lot of players to begin with, but being short Chase was different. Every scrimmage, I was getting creamed, since no one covered me like he did. My muscles hurt in places I didn’t even realize I had muscles.

Nolan texted me almost every evening, making sure I iced my shoulder after relaxing in a hot bath. I wasn’t looking forwardto Friday's game. It seemed we were all feeling the loss before it even happened.

After school on Thursday, I climbed into the front passenger’s seat of my truck, watching as Lachlan approached. He took my hand and pulled me to the edge of the seat, so I was straddling his waist while he stood, leaning in the doorway. “You’ve been quiet this week,” Lachlan said as he drew closer. He slipped one hand behind my neck, massaging the tension out with confident fingers.

My chest deflated, and all this worry came up with the breath. “Chase has barely said two words to me. He doesn’t eat much. I think I’m starting to forget what he even looks like.”

It was a lie, wasn’t it? How could I forget Chase? His boyish charm that often hid the hooligan he really was. I didn’t think I could ever forget his stormy grey eyes. The number of times he’d looked at me in the halls all these years, the number of times I’d felt his gaze on me, and I’d ignored him in fear of Ed…I hated to think about the damage I must’ve done to him. The rejection he had felt, the loneliness we’d all felt.

Chase’s smile would forever be ingrained in my mind. I thought about that one special smile that meant there was always an adventure to be had, a plan to be made, an idea he was playing out in his mind, which would likely end very poorly, or very well… I didn’t think I would ever forget the feel of his lips on mine. Actually, I didn’t want to forget. Ever. I wanted to feel his lips every chance I got. I wanted to feel his body hard against mine whenever I wanted. I never, ever, wanted Chase to leave me, because what I couldn’t get out of my head the most…

What I couldn’t erase from every corner of my mind? “I still see him…blue,” I admitted. Lachlan’s fingers stopped massaging, and he squeezed just a little. “It was so quiet while you guys pulled him out of the pool. He was so quiet. And what if, Lachy, what if he never holds my hand again? What if I haveto play tomorrow, and he's not there to hold my hand before the game? I don’t think I can do it…because all I will think about is how cold and blue his lips were.”

“Baby, don’t think that. He will be there, I promise. Look at me. Bailey, look at me.” My eyes fluttered up to his cool blues. They weren’t as soft as they normally were when he looked at me, but he also wasn’t giving me the cold look he gave everyone else. He was clearly battling something. “I promise he will be there. I will do anything for you, you believe that, right?”

I leaned my head against his. I did believe him. There was nothing Lachlan wouldn’t do for me, for any of us. “If he needs time, we have to give him time.”

“Come on.” His hands slid under my butt as he pulled me off the seat.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” I grabbed on to his shoulders.

“We’ve been working our asses off all week. We have a fairly high-profile game tomorrow. I say we relax a little.” He carried me to the back seat of my truck and sat me down. I couldn’t help the little grin that played at my lips as I moved to the middle seat.

Ethan closed the passenger door on his way around to the driver’s side, while Nolan slid into the seat on my other side. “We good?” Ethan asked.

“All set,” Lachlan said, and Ethan headed out of the school parking lot.

I had worn a skirt that day. Though it wasn’t a terribly short one—falling just slightly above the knees—it was the riskiest thing I’d worn since Ed had first drilled into my head how to be ladylike. I’d seen it in my closet and thought,why not?

“Let’s play a game.” Lachlan leaned in, whispering in my ear. “You tell me how far up to move my hand, and I obey you.” Then he placed his hand on my bare knee, just at the edge of my skirt.

My heart began to flutter, and heat rushed down low in my belly. Lachlan’s eyes danced with desire as he watched me, almost as if he knew all the emotions circling within me at this moment. He didn’t move, though. He waited.

I looked up at Nolan, who was sitting with his arm resting behind my headrest, watching, waiting. There was no sign of jealousy; there never had been with him. “Higher,” I said softly, my eyes still watching Nolan, whose gaze dipped to Lachlan’s hand sliding up my thigh at a tantalizing pace, his fingers brushing the sensitive skin. I could feel my skirt being pushed back, instead of his hand slipping under, giving Nolan a glimpse of my bare thigh. My eyes left Nolan and turned to Lachlan.

His pupils were blown now, in a way I was only used to seeing when he was stoned. Something about the thought that he was getting high off me caused a wetness to pool in my panties. One I wasn’t used to. “Higher.” My voice came out husky, breathless, as he slid those deft fingers higher still. I wasted no time. “Higher.”

A devilish grin spread across Lachlan’s lips at my eagerness, and he obeyed just as he’d promised to, his fingertips grazing the edge of my panty line. My breaths came out in pants, my insides clenching, and I knew I was soaking wet, all from those gentle touches on my thigh. Was that normal? Would he be turned off, was I doing this wrong? Without a doubt, I’d never felt anything like this with Ed.

I worried my bottom lip, almost unsure what to do, when Nolan took my chin, freeing my lip with his thumb. “I wish you would stop abusing this lip.” His voice was low as he leaned down. “Your lips are one of my favorite parts of you.” When Nolan’s lips met mine, I melted right there. His lips were so soft and sweet. He kissed me as if he was making it his mission to prove how much he adored and treasured my lips, and I was all for it, opening up and giving him all he asked for. Whenhe pulled away slightly, I found myself chasing him. Nolan chuckled. “Bails, I believe Lachlan is waiting for a command.”

I was nervous, not because I didn’t want it, but because I was afraid of being wrong. Of doing this wrong, of doing something wrong. When I looked into Nolan’s eyes, seeing the heat and desire, I decided it was okay. With them, I was allowed to be wrong. I knew they wouldn’t care; they wouldn’t hurt me for it.

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