Page 40 of Before You (Reckless Love #2)
“I’m okay. I don’t drink,” I say, waiting for the automatic response I usually get from others, wondering how I do it, or asking why.
Instead, Mirabelle doesn’t bat an eye at my answer as she turns to Henry sitting between her and her dad. “Can you grab me my usual and a water for Marley please?” she asks, and his whole face softens for her. He nods, leaning forward to kiss her cheek as he gets up.
Unfortunately, Henry’s not back by the time Mirabelle’s proven right and our box is blown up on the Jumbotron as the teams warm up on the field. My phone vibrates with a text thread from Bria and Charlie.
Charlie: the amount of girls who sighed around us is hilarious
Charlie: honestly, all the guys are freaking out too
Bria: how does it feel to be surrounded by football royalty?
you guys are ridiculous
. . . intimidating because I know nothing
“So you’re a quarterback?” I ask Hunter, and he turns off his phone.
“Yep,” Hunter says, tugging his hand through his blond locks. “Dad would have died if no one took after him,” he jokes and Mirabelle snorts.
“I think you mean Uncle Owen’s ego wouldn’t have been able to handle it if both you and JJ took after Dad after Henry already did,” Mirabelle corrects.
“Thank god one of you did, or I never would have heard the end of it,” Thalia chimes in as Henry returns with three drinks in hand.
“End of what?” he asks, handing one to Thalia who smiles warmly at him.
“My brother’s fragile ego if JJ didn’t want to be a tight end like him.”
Henry laughs, passing me the water bottle. “Remind me to thank JJ later,” he says.
“Maybe you can help me convince him to transfer to Oceanside,” Hunter says, but Henry makes a face as Mirabelle takes her drink from him.
“Dude, you’re lucky I even have an Oceanside shirt. I’m not helping you convince JJ to transfer.”
“What’s so bad about Oceanside?” I ask, but I can’t say I’m keen on the idea of JJ transferring universities unless it’s something he wants.
“Absolutely nothing but a dumb rivalry.” Hunter rolls his eyes as Sebastian scoffs.
“There are so many things wrong with Oceanside,” Henry adds, and Mirabelle laughs under her breath.
“Let’s not get into this again today,” Thalia suggests, as the stadium starts to come alive, signaling the start of the game soon.
“We all went to Duke, but because my dad is a donor for the football program, the optics wouldn’t have looked good if JJ and Hunter committed there.
It wasn’t a problem for JJ, because he wanted to come here, but Hunt wanted Duke,” Mira whispers, stirring the little straw in her drink.
“I think he committed to Oceanside as a fuck you, showing them that he was good enough there wouldn’t have been a problem with him starting.
Supposedly he’s on the short list for the Heisman as a sophomore.
I don’t know what you know about football, but to even be considered as an underclassman is practically unheard of. ”
“Honestly, I don’t know much about football,” I admit, and she waves it off.
“Totally fine. It’s basically this award you win for being the best player in college football. My dad won his last year at Duke, and Henry was runner-up his senior year. It basically solidifies you as a first-round draft pick if your name is associated with it.”
“Shut the fuck up about the Heisman, Mira,” Hunter grumbles, checking his phone. “Kait says you might want to start sipping on your drink instead of holding it in your hand. There’s already posts online trying to guess whether you’re pregnant or not.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Mirabelle groans, lifting her drink to her mouth with one hand while holding her middle finger up with the other.
The Jumbotron chooses this exact moment to pan to our box again, and Mirabelle’s middle finger is blown up for a few seconds before flipping to the student section.
“Oh goodie, maybe they won’t show us again,” she says, huffing, and I honestly can’t blame her. I would love to do it with her.
“I bet they won’t,” I agree, leaning forward to see if I can catch a glimpse of JJ on the field.
“Is it like this with your family too?” Mirabelle asks, and it’s the first time since they’ve arrived that my family’s been brought up, which I honestly appreciate, because I feel like it’s the first thing people want to talk about.
“Yeah. At my last school, the press would try to follow me to class. Part of the reason I wanted to transfer here was to get away from it all to figure out who I am outside of the city. It’s part of the gig, but it usually gets crazier whenever rumors pop up about my mom relapsing, and it takes a few weeks before some other scandal happens and distracts everyone.
” I lean back in my seat, and then I realize everyone’s fallen quiet.
“Oh, it’s never the truth. She’s been clean for nine years,” I add, refusing to let the memory of the day I found her on the bathroom floor ruin today.
I was twelve and it was the worst day of my life to date.
Oh god, I made this awkward. Great job, Mar! You just made a very loud group of people fall silent, and I have a feeling this never happens.
“That takes a lot of strength. I’m glad she’s doing well,” Thalia says, directing a reassuring smile my way, helping me to relax.
“Thank you,” I say, smiling back at her.
“Are you liking Beaumont?” Sebastian asks, and I smile, nodding.
“I do. My dad went here for his undergrad, so my brother and I have spent a lot of time here over the years. It makes me forget sometimes who I am, and it’s just a nice feeling,” I say, and Mirabelle reaches over to squeeze my hand reassuringly.
The game starts a few minutes later, and it’s clear before the first quarter is over that it’s not going well. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard this many swear words in such a short amount of time.
After another play leaves JJ standing wide open, our offense is jogging half-heartedly off the field as our defensive line replaces them.
“What the fuck is he waiting for? JJ’s been open the whole fucking time!” Hunter swears, yelling at the field right alongside his mom.
Mirabelle shakes her head, taking a sip of her drink. “He’s throwing the game,” she says, as the other team’s quarterback throws the ball, finding a man open, and my jaw falls open when they score again.
“What?” I ask, and Mirabelle stares at the scoreboard, showing the ugly score I hope we can recover from.
“Your quarterback is throwing the game.” She points to the sidelines where the coach is yelling at Trent as the band thunders, trying to pump up the crowd. “He’s not running the plays the coach is calling.”
“He wouldn’t,” I say, trying to give Trent the benefit of the doubt, because regardless of how pissed he might be at me and JJ, he wouldn’t do that to his team.
Except he proves me wrong when not a single defensive member of their team blocks JJ on the next play, and instead of passing it to JJ, Trent throws it directly into the hands of the other team. The crowd is deafening as it yells at Trent and the offensive line exiting the field.
“Did something happen between them this week?” Mirabelle asks, looking at me for answers, confirming my suspicion this is about the other night at my place.
“Um, kind of,” I say, chewing on the inside of my cheek. I don’t have any nails left to bite. “JJ was staying the night at my place a few days ago, and Trent showed up drunk, banging on the door. He wanted another chance, but realized JJ and I are together, so he said some shit . . .”
She raises an eyebrow, waiting for me to continue and I sigh.
“JJ pinned him against the wall, and basically told Trent if he comes near me again, no team would touch him if your family blacklisted him.”
“Holy fucking shit,” Mirabelle swears, a quiet laugh escaping her. “For JJ to threaten him . . . Wow . I mean, he’s not wrong, but what the hell did Trent say to you?”
“For the record, Trent and I had been broken up for a few weeks before anything happened between me and JJ, but he might have called me a cheating bitch— which is really ironic considering he couldn’t remember how many times he cheated on me —and asked if I would leave his room at night to go to JJ’s for seconds.
” My cheeks are burning, and I can barely look at Mirabelle. This is beyond embarrassing.
“He what? ” Hunter asks, his voice low, and I didn’t realize he was paying attention.
“It’s fine, everyone was fine. I think his ego is bruised or whatever, and this is his tantrum for not getting his way, but—”
“But nothing,” Hunter interrupts, his outburst pulling everyone’s attention. “It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, he shouldn’t have said any of it to you, and as an athlete, he should know better than to bring his shit onto the field. JJ said he was a dick, but he didn’t explain why.”
“What happened?” Sebastian asks, and I wish I could turn invisible right now.
“Marley dated the quarterback before JJ. He found out they’re together this week, and obviously, he’s not taking it well,” Mirabelle explains, and I hate how awful it makes everything sound.
If anything, JJ is the innocent one in all of this.
I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m aware of how everything can be perceived.
Unless people know about JJ and me meeting two and a half years ago, it doesn’t sound great I ended up dating my ex’s roommate a few weeks after we broke up.
“If Hart keeps it up, he’ll be pulled before half. There’s nothing we can do right now, so let him dig his own grave,” Henry says, and I fidget with the ring on my thumb as our offense takes the field again.
“Yeah, but it’s also not making JJ look great either,” Mirabelle adds.
“Fuck, this is a ranked team getting slaughtered eighteen nil in the second quarter,” Hunter says under his breath, shaking his head.
He rubs his eyes and mutters something under his breath about his contacts, but I forget what I was going to ask as I look for JJ on the field while the teams line up again.
I really need to ask JJ to explain football to me so I’m not clueless. I want to understand the game he loves.
“Holy shit,” Mirabelle says, grabbing my arm. “He’s passing it to JJ!”
“Finally,” Thalia says, as my gaze lands on JJ with his arms stretched out to catch the ball.
The victory is short lived when he’s hit from the side by another player, my throat catching as we watch him go down.