Bringing Stella to practice was a mistake. A huge one. That much becomes obvious the second we arrive. I’ve never had a girlfriend before, so I didn’t recognize the error in judgment I made until now, when it’s too late. When every single one of my teammates is gawking at her from the field. All o
One of the girls in nice. Mindy. She’s the one who offered to keep me company while Gage is practicing. The rest of them scan me like I’m a barcode and decide, apparently, that I need some work. “Oh my God, that skirt,” says one of them—a pretty, raven-haired girl with a dozen hoops in one of her ea
“Damn. Who is the hot girl in the stands?” “Haven’t seen her before. Fuck. Those legs are begging to be clamped around my head.” They shove each other. “After me, bro.” I don’t even glance up from the playbook. This is normal bullshit from my teammates. They’re always going on and on about women,
“Then why can’t you see how different we are?” My fingers pause on the final button. “What are you talking about?” She presses her lips together and shakes her head, so I prompt her again, desperate to know what’s going on in her mind. It seems bad. I don’t like it. I take her by the shoulders. “Ta
The closer we get to the cove, the more self-conscious I’m becoming. Maybe the spot is only magical to me. Maybe this star athlete will take one look at my little crescent of sand with a view of the ocean and shrug. But he’s holding my left hand as he drives, kissing my wrist, my knuckles, my palm
He looks past me, nostrils flaring. He hesitates. “What if the championship doesn’t mean anything without him there? What if he’s the reason I’ve done so well?” Silence passes. I hold my breath, waiting for him to say more. “We built this supposed career together. He was there every step of the way,
“But I want to get an education.” His forehead nudges mine. “But I want you pregnant as fuck.” Is he serious right now? “Well you’ll have to wait.” He rips my skirt off. Tears the material straight down the middle, his chest rising and falling with dramatic inhales and exhales. His fist twists in
Of all the atrocious shit I’ve done since my father died—vandalizing cars, getting into drunken brawls—the thoughts I’m having right now are by far the worst. I stand above Stella while she spreads the blanket out on the sand. Her skirt is in tatters in my car, so she’s wearing nothing but panties