Page 93 of Hate the Game
It hurt but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t expected. “I’m sorry. I’m happy here, with them. When I came home the night of that rager, I realized that I felt less at home there than I did here at USC. I’m staying. Not forever. Just through school and…until we figure things out after school. And I’ll come home for visits… If y’all still want to see me.”
Weston swore and got close enough for me to see the frustration glisten in his eyes. “Of fucking course we’ll want to see you. You’re still our sister. We love you. This is just fucked up, Savannah. You got in bed with the enemy and we have no way of protecting you from whatever bullshit they have planned.”
Jax stayed calm as he sat forward. “The only plans we have are to love your sister for as long as she’ll have us and to make sure she’s happy.”
Weston swore once more before the screen went black. The silence that followed wasloud. I slowly shut my own laptop and slumped back against the couch.
“Well, that sucked.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and then squeaked when Cole scooped me off the floor. Sunny made unhappy noises as he was dislodged and it only took Jax and Ryder a second to surround me as Cole held me to his chest.
“You’re staying.” Cole sounded emotional as he pressed kisses all over my face. “Fuck, that feels good. You’re ours, Sav.”
I put my sadness over my brothers on the backburner so I could fully enjoy my guys being so happy to have me. I really understood my worth to them and seeing them express it always made me want to scream at them about how much I loved them. “Of course, I’m staying. What did you think was going to happen? I was just going to leave and go back to Texas?”
Jax peppered kisses across my shoulder and groaned. “I’d already talked to Dad about quitting. We were just going to follow you to Texas.”
Tears filled my eyes. “You were going to go to Texas for me?”
Apparently, I didn’t completely understand the way they loved me because the idea of them going to Texas for me was bigger than anything I’d imagined. Theyreallyloved me.
Ryder stroked my hair and smiled. “We have a child together, woman. Nothing breaks that up.”
That child was pissed when he was locked out of the bedroom a few minutes later. He howled his displeasure as usual but my men made damn sure I was louder.
Later that night when we were all close to falling asleep and I’d been worn out more than a few times, my phone rang. It was late and my heart instantly jerked. Something had to be wrong.
The guys had the same idea because by the time I reached over Jax to grab my phone they were all sitting up and watching me as I looked at the screen. Jax jumped up and started dressing as soon as I said that it was Blaire calling.
“Blaire? Are you okay?” My heart was in my throat as I waited for her to answer and received a loud, pained groan in return.
“The baby’s coming! And it’s being an asshole about it!” Blaire’s voice broke and then grew stern as she directed it to someone else. “Hey! I planned for a natural water birth! If I can’t have that, the least you could do is not try to get me in the worst position ever to birth this little monster!”
“She’s in labor.” I raced through getting my clothes on. “Blaire, babe? Where are you? We’re coming.”
She spit out the hospital name and then growled at me. “Get here fast, Vannah, because I’m going to get thrown in jail if these people don’t start listening to me!”
Once we were in Ryder’s truck on the way to the hospital I looked over at Jax. He looked terrified so I squeezed his hand. “She’s okay. She might be possessed, though. I’ve never heard Blaire sound scary. I can see the family resemblance now.”
His frown twisted as he fought a laugh. “I’ll be sure to tell her you said that.”
***Cass***
Iwatched Cole run off the field after another win and knew he was heading straight to Savannah. There had been a time when he ran to me to celebrate. That thought was crushing. Everything was crushing. Seeing Cole with her around campus, watching him stare at her with adoration when he only gave me perfunctory smiles those days was gutting. It was all too much. I loved him. I’d loved him for as long as I could remember. I’d even opened myself up to loving Jax and Ryder when it was clear that they were a package deal.
I turned away, and dropped my pompoms in a pile at my feet. I couldn’t keep doing it. I couldn’t keep acting like I was okay, cheering like I was over the moon that we were winning when I felt like I was slowly dying inside.
Barbie was there in a beat, her hand on my arm and a hard look in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. She’d experienced her own heartbreak that semester. We’d all watched her crushing on Coach Carrington for years and just when he finally gave her the time of day his old fling had shown up andsnatched him away. “I know you’re hurting, Cass, but you’re this team’s leader. These girls need you.”
That was too much, too. Everything was too much. Cheering, football, guys, school. I needed a break or I was going to shatter. I didn’t want to struggle through the pain anymore. I just wanted to run away.
The game announcer was still shouting about the win but his sudden change of tone had me listening without even meaning to. “Aww! Look at that celebration! Young love is alive and well, isn’t it?”
I didn’t need to listen more to hear that he was talking about Savannah and The Apex Three. After an initial awkwardness on campus, everyone was obsessed with the unusual relationship. Everyone just loved Savannah.
“Fuck this.”
Barbie grabbed my arm, worry flickering in her eyes. “Cass, don’t cause a scene.”
“Oh no, I’m going to do much more than that, I quit.” I ripped the ribbon out of my hair and tossed it on top of my pompoms. “I can’t keep clapping while Savannah Lane waltzes off the field with her three champions like she’s living in a damn fairytale.”
Barbie’s grip tightened. “You’re the captain. The girls need you.”
For a second, I almost cracked. Almost. But then I laughed, because the truth was already burning its way out. “I can’t be captain of a team when my hearts bleeding out on the field. I need more than this. I need out.”
Her face fell. “Where would you even go?”
I bent down, scooped up my bag, and forced my smile into something dangerous. “Somewhere no one’s expecting me. Somewhere I can stop being the cheerleader and finally play my own game.”
“Cass—”
I gave her a quick hug before she could talk me out of it. Then I turned toward the tunnel, the stadium lights blinding behind me, the crowd still roaring forthem.