Page 27 of Second Chance Ex
“Great, I’ll let Adam know,” Prue says primly. She tucks a lock of her honey blonde hair behind her ear and then starts gathering her things, casually, like she didn’t just drop a fucking bomb out of nowhere.
My hackles immediately rise and now it’s me who’s sitting all straight-backed, shoulders squared, chest involuntarily puffed out.
“Who’s Adam?”I practically bark.
She snaps back to me, and I don’t miss the flash of surprise on her face, clearly startled by my tone. I can’t say I blame her. Where the hell did that even come from? I force myself to relax as best as I can.
“Myboyfriend,” she says as if it’s obvious, like I’m an idiot for even asking.
Her what? I gawp at her as if she’s just slapped me.
Prue has a boyfriend? A boyfriend named Adam? Wait. Get fucked. My gut twists painfully at the realization. “Adam? As in AdamHopper?” She can’t be fucking serious.
She nods. “It’s kind of new, but… yeah.”
My hands ball into fists that I'm forced to hide underneath the table.
AdamfuckingHopper. What the ever-loving fuck? I played varsity football with Adam, although he mostlysat on the bench because he was a talentless sack of shit and only joined the damn team so he could bag chicks. He graduated in the class before me, and last I heard he got investigated in a college date rape scandal. I didn’t realize Adam Hopper even came back to Rosewood. The guy’s a walking bag of dicks. He always has been. What the fuck would Prue even see in a guy like him anyway?
“I’ve gotta go.” Prue slides out the booth, her eyes doing all they can to avoid me.
I stand too, because I’m a gentleman, unlike AdamfuckingHopper.
We stop for a moment, looking at one another, and we’re so close I’m momentarily lost in the fruity scent of her hair.
“Okay, well, bye,” Prue finally says, her big amber eyes staring up into mine.
I nod once, pressing my lips together in a tight smile because I can’t speak. My throat won’t allow words, it’s too swollen. Like I’m having some sort of anaphylactic reaction over her Adam Hopper admission. I can barely fucking breathe right now. I mean, it was stupid of me to think that Prue wouldn’t have dated over the last couple of years. But AdamfuckingHopper? Just his name in the same goddamn sentence as Prue’s stirs up some Hulk-like rage deep inside of me. It’s literally taking every ounce of self-control I have not to flip a goddamn table right now.
With a smile that doesn’t reach those pretty caramel eyes of hers, Prue turns and hurries out of the brewery as quickly as she can, like her life depends on getting the hell away from me. And I suppose I can’t blame her.
As I watch her leave, there’s a part of me leftwondering what the hell happened to my girl to make her think that Adam Hopper is even close to good enough for her. But on the flipside, the other part of me—the taunting part that has a habit of reminding me every fucking day of my life—knows exactly what happened to my girl.
This is all my fault. I broke her. I lost her. I ruined her. Sure, she’s the one who ended it, but it was me who fucked up. She didn’t have a choice but to leave my sorry ass.
Suited up in the iconic red and gray, with OG Slim Shady cranked loudly through my headphones, I have my game face on as I sit in front of my cubby staring straight ahead, officially in the zone. Mentally preparing myself for not only for my first game as a sophomore, but my first game as a Buckeye. A motherfucking Buckeye.
With Gibbons benched after tearing his ACL during training camp, it’s just me and Donaldson, so the likelihood of game time is at an all-time high and I’m quietly stoked, but also silently shitting myself.
I close my eyes, bobbing my head to the beat of the song. You can feel the energy of the stadium through the vibrations in the cement walls and floor, and it reverberates all the way through to my chest. It’s all-consuming. Fresno was big. Ohio is another level. I swear, you couldn’t make this shit up, and I am living for it. This is what I wanted;thisis college football.
My phone vibrates against my thigh, and I look down at it, grinning the second I see Prue’s name illuminated on the screen. I open the message and I swear to God, my heart swells at the picture she’s just sent me. She’s up there right now, in those very stands, wearing my jersey, my number painted on her cheek, and holy shit, I love that girl so fucking much.
When I picked her up from the airport this morning, I kissed her harder than I’ve ever kissed her, right there in the terminal with the whole world fading around us. All I wanted to do was to take her back to the fancy-ass hotel I booked us in the city and be with her, but we didn’t have a lot of time before I had to be back here for pre-game. But tonight’s the night. Tonight, after two long years, Prue and I are finally going to be together.
Yep. Two years. Call me a sucker, but when I first got with Prue, finding out that she was not only a virgin, but that I was the first guy she’d ever kissed, it did something to me. Something I can’t even explain; and as much as I’ve wanted to have my fucking way with her so many times over the last two years, I’ve somehow managed to refrain.
Don’t get me wrong, we’ve done plenty—pretty much everythingbut—but I wanted Prue to be sure. I lost my virginity when I was fourteen, and I’ve regretted it every day since. I didn’t want that kind of regret for Prue; I want it to be special. I want it to be everything for her, and for me. Because I know Prue is it for me. There isn’t going to be anyone else. Fuck. I think I might even be more nervous about making love to my girlfriend for the very first time than I am for this game.
I, Joey Tanner, am officially gone when it comes to Prue Watson.
Me: You look so good in my jersey, baby
Really, what I want to say isyou’re going to look so good in only my jersey later, baby…but of course I don’t want to come across as a sleazebag. But then my girl only goes and one-ups me with her reply.
Prue: Maybe I can wear it for you later… with nothing else
Fuck me, I almost swallow my goddamn tongue, dick twitching in my jock strap. I swear, this girl is going to be the death of me. But, man, what a way to go.
