Page 89 of Saving the Halfback

“Bailey!!!” Beth ran through the room and wrapped her arms around me. “I can’t believe you did that!”

I chuckled. “It was a lot harder than it looked.”

Lachlan finished with my hair, and as soon as I pulled on my cap, Beth began tugging me toward the house. “Come on, let’s go dance!”

One of the large rooms had been completely emptied of furniture. There was a DJ set up at the edge of the space, with a huge sound system. Multicolored lights were rotating and alternating. It must’ve cost a fortune to do this, but really, it was nothing to Chase. I used to hear about the parties he would throw here. I never thought I would actually go to one, though. Why would I? For years, my life had revolved around Ed.

Beth pulled me directly onto the dance floor, like she thought I would know what to do. Some of the other girls she hung around with danced with us, but I was awkward as anything. Most of my dancing involved swaying until she grabbed my hand and started twirling me and moving me this way and that. Bodies bumped into me here and there as the DJ kicked up thetempo of the music, and soon, I was moving with everyone else. Jumping, raising my fist in the air.

Wes appeared behind Beth and began dancing with her, so I decided to take a break. I walked off the dance floor and spotted Ethan, Nolan, and Lachlan standing together against the wall, talking.

I moved to make my way over to them when a large guy stepped in front of me. “Hey, you’re the new chick player,” he said, though he definitely wasn’t a high school student. Maybe in his second or third year of college. I took a step back. “You played pretty good today.”

I gave a polite smile. “Thanks.”

“I’m Tatum, used to play for the Panthers a few years back. Do you want a drink?” He reached out for me, but his hand was intercepted. Ethan stood beside me, bumping Tatum’s hand away. “Hey, Eth! Long time.”

Ethan nodded to him.

“I didn’t mean, I mean, is she yours?” he asked.

I scoffed, am I his? Like I belonged to someone. Ethan didn’t even look at me, just kept his eyes on Tatum.

“No. How long are you in town for?” he asked.

“Few more days. I have to stop at your place sometime. You going to be there?”

Ethan stood a little straighter, taking a step between me and Tatum. “Probably not.” I could tell the guy was getting uncomfortable under Ethan’s stare. He looked away, waved to someone, and left. Ethan finally looked at me. “Go with Lachlan and Nolan, I’ll be back.” And then he left, heading in the same direction Tatum disappeared to.

The room was overcrowded, I was getting bumped and pushed from every direction. I could feel sweat break out across my back. The interaction, standing in the crowd without Ethan, made it difficult to concentrate. I knew I should make my wayto Lachlan and Nolan, but when there was a break in the crowd, I saw Chase slipping out the French doors leading to the porch, and I found myself following him. I didn’t really have a reason to talk to Chase. If anything, I shouldn’t talk to Chase. Since the incident in the parking lot, he had been avoiding me as much as possible, but when I’d been having a total freak-out before the game, his words helped me get it together. I just wanted to thank him for that. Could we go back to being best friends? Maybe not, but he was still my teammate.

I slipped through the crowd and out the door, closing it behind me as Chase had done. It was cold outside, which was likely why hardly anyone was out here anymore. A few people were in the hot tub, and a small group sat smoking and chatting in a circle on the porch, but for the most part, the party had moved inside.

I skimmed the faces, some familiar, some not so much, but I didn’t see Chase. I walked to the edge of the porch, leaning against the railing and looking out into the empty yard. It was the glow of a phone amongst the trees that caught my attention. I knew the layout of the trees from years of playing hide and seek within them. I also knew there was a bench back there, in between rose bushes and decorative flowers.

I took my time. The fairy lights’ beam reached only so far into the trees, but the bench I was thinking about was lit by a streetlight lantern. I paused when I heard Chase’s voice.

“I heard you!” he hissed into his phone. Even I heard whoever was yelling on the other end of the call. I couldn’t make out any words, but I could tell they weren’t too happy. “But it will never be enough,” Chase whispered. I caught sight of his face in the light of the lantern; he seemed so broken. “I said it won’t be enough. No matter what I do, I will always be under your thumb. My life isn’t mine. It will always be a game for you.” Chase scoffed. “Yeah, an ungrateful teen.” He paused, listening.“I know. October second…I’ll be out. You won’t have to worry. Bye—” He stopped, pulled the phone away, and looked down at it with so much fury. Clutching the phone in his hand, he raised it up and threw it…toward me.

“Whoa.” I jumped out of the way as the phone grazed past me. I picked it up from where it landed in the soft grass.

“Really? Spying on me?” Chase asked, standing from the bench.

“No, I wasn’t.” I walked over to him, holding his phone out. “I just— I didn’t— I-wasn’t—”

“Chill, Bailey.” Chase took his phone from me, his voice gentler than it had been. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He sat back down on the bench, staring at the screen, brushing the grass off.

I relaxed and sat next to him. “I know you won’t hurt me.”

“Do you, though?” He looked at me, and it was the first time his eyes had actually met mine since the game.

“It’s not—” I sighed. “It had nothing to do with you. Was that your dad on the phone?” I asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Eavesdropping now?” I winced, and he shook his head, looking across into the trees. “Yes, it was. Just Dear Old Dad dropping in to remind me how temporary living is.”

“What?”

He shook his head. “Don’t sweat it. You shouldn’t be listening to other’s conversations. If your looking like you were bracing for me to hit you wasn’t about me, then who was it about?”

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