Page 44

AVERY

W ith the girls at my side, I unlock the door to our suite with a swipe of my key card. Conversation bubbles between us as we come off the buzz of adrenaline, post-win.

“I want a giant cheeseburger,” Charlotte calls out.

Brynn groans. “With fries and one of those skillet cookies with vanilla ice cream for dessert.”

“Oh my gosh, yes!” Charlotte’s eyes practically roll back in her head, and I laugh. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” she asks, flopping down onto the couch.

“Definitely not.” While Charlotte and Brynn are joining their men and the rest of the team for drinks and late-night grub at a local bar, I plan on getting a shower and curling up in bed. “I’m exhausted and perfectly content waiting for Damon to call.”

“You guys aren’t hanging out tonight?” Brynn asks.

“His dad arrived last night, so I told him to spend the night with him. He leaves tomorrow after breakfast, which means Damon and I can catch up after, before our flight back.”

“That’s amazing his father was able to make it to the game. I know Chris’s mother hated missing it,” Charlotte says with a sigh, and I hum out a noncommittal response.

“Yeah, it meant a lot to him,” I say as a fist forms in my stomach.

I never had a problem with Vinny Huhn before, but ever since my parents told me he blackmailed them?that he’s the reason they forced my hand in breaking Damon’s heart?I can’t help but view him through a different lens.

Every polite smile and friendly conversation over the years feels tainted now, like there’s something rotten festering beneath the surface.

I have no idea what his motivations were for forcing the breakup. Hell, I don’t even know that I believe my father but the timing lines up too perfectly to ignore. The request from my parents came only months after the walkway collapse, just as Damon was beginning his college football career.

One week Damon and I were planning our future, and the next I was being told to cut him loose or risk watching everything my family built go up in flames.

I always felt like there was a missing piece to the puzzle?some invisible motivation I just couldn’t see?and Vinny Huhn might very well be that puzzle piece.

“I agree. I’m wiped,” Brynn says, bringing me back to the present.

“Chris’s eating habits must be wearing off on me because all I can think about is food.” Charlotte grimaces. “I need a full belly before I go comatose.”

“Being the girlfriend of a division one college football player is no joke.” Brynn laughs as she snatches the remote off the coffee table and flicks on the TV.

Girlfriend. The word swims around in my brain, and I smile as I think of Damon’s postgame interview where he told the sports reporter we were a couple.

“Oh my God, Avery, look!” Brynn points, eyes wide as I focus on the screen to see postgame coverage with a clip of me and Damon kissing in high definition.

“That is so freaking hot.” Brynn squeals, needling me in the side before the news announcer cuts back to one of Damon’s postgame interviews.

“So, you two are official?” Charlotte asks, beaming.

“Looks like it,” I say, unsure of why my stomach’s sinking.

“That’s amazing. How weird is it going to be to see Damon smitten?” Charlotte says with a shake of her head.

“Another one bites the dust,” Brynn whispers, and we all burst out laughing when my phone starts ringing.

Sliding my phone from my pocket, I glance at the screen, fully expecting to see Damon’s name on the caller ID. So, when I see it’s my mother’s name instead, my stomach drops.

“Do you need to take that?” Charlotte asks, still giggling from our previous conversation.

“Um, yeah,” I mumble as I rise to my feet. “I’ll just be a sec.”

Hurrying toward my bedroom, I take a deep breath and swallow my nerves as I swipe to answer. “Hello?”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” My mother’s voice fills the line, anger dripping from her tone.

“It’s fine.”

“Everything is not fine,” she snaps. “Your father and I turn on the news and what do we see? Footage of the Griffins winning the championship, followed by a clip of their quarterback, Damon Huhn, kissing his girlfriend for the camera, for the whole world to see.”

“I told you I wouldn’t leave him again, and I meant it.”

“Well, I hope you know what you’re doing, because your selfishness may have just ruined all our lives.”

“I love him,” I say, wanting her to understand. Needing her to accept my choice. “I love him, and I never thought he’d give me another chance again after I broke his heart, but he did. He has. And as my mother, you should want me to be happy.”

“You’re right. I am a mother, and I have another daughter, Avery. It’s not all about you.”

I flinch as her words hit their mark. “Nothing is going to happen. You don’t need to worry about Vinny Huhn,” I say, believing it.

“He thinks you’ll impede Damon’s career. That you’ll mess with his chances of getting drafted.”

“Even if that’s true, Damon was already on the NFL’s radar. After winning the National Championship, he’s all but secured a career in football. There’s no reason to worry. No reason for Vinny to be worried or for him to hurt Damon?hurt us?like that.”

“You foolish girl.” My mother clucks. “So naive. You think love can conquer all, that it’s all you need. But your father’s career, the Astor family name, our legacy and financial security— those are real. Those things build a life. Not some romantic fantasy you’ve built up in your head.”

My hand tightens on the phone, and my knuckles turn white. “Maybe I don’t care about any of that. Maybe love is the only thing that matters.”

“Well, I’m glad you feel that way, Avery, because you might find out exactly what it’s like living without any of the things you’re accustomed to.”

“I already am,” I practically shout. “I’m paying my way at AAU. I’m working and?”

“Charging first-class flights to your father’s credit card?” she says, her tone smug. “Staying in the presidential suite at The Marlowe? Yeah, sounds like you’re really roughing it.”

Embarrassment blooms in my cheeks. Because she’s right. I can’t argue with that.

“Even if there’s truth to everything you’re saying, I made this decision for me. And I refuse to live my life based on some misguided fear that Vinny Huhn is going to ruin our lives, simply because he doesn’t like his son’s girlfriend.”

A bitter laugh trickles over the line. “The NFL commissioner’s daughter was dining in the atrium below the walkway when it collapsed, Ave. She was among the six dead.”

A cold rush surges through me, like all the air’s been vacuumed out of the room, and I can’t breathe.

My mother’s words settle in my chest like lead.

“The commissioner’s daughter?” I echo, barely recognizing my own voice, thin and brittle. “That can’t be true.” My voice is barely a whisper, and I sink onto the edge of the bed as I consider the implications.

Suddenly, everything makes a twisted kind of sense as the real missing puzzle piece falls into place.

This wasn’t just some misguided fear on Vinny’s part—it’s far more personal than that. The kind of personal that doesn’t fade with time or apologies.

My father’s mistake didn’t just kill six people. It killed the NFL commissioner’s daughter. It affected the person involved in league operations, player misconduct, penalties, and suspensions. A person who plays a major role in the draft.

All I can see is Damon, standing under those draft lights with the weight of my last name wrapped around his ankles like chains.

It won’t matter how good he is. It won’t matter what he’s overcome or how hard he’s worked. If this scandal about my father breaks, all the commissioner will see is the boyfriend of the girl whose family destroyed his.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I whisper, stunned.

“Would you have believed me?” Her voice sounds tired now, less accusatory. “Would it have made a difference?”

I don’t answer, because I honestly don’t know. Would I have given Damon up for good if I’d known this? Or would I have thought that my mother was just spinning tales to keep us apart?

The truth is, it doesn’t matter. I’m already back in this place where both our hearts are on the line.

“I need to go,” I say finally.

“Avery, wait—”

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I say and end the call before she can say anything else.

I stare at the wall, my thoughts a jumbled mess as I think of everything she just told me.

Is she telling the truth? Or is this just another one of her manipulations, a way to get what she wants?

I want to tell myself it’s the latter, that my parent’s fear is misguided and unfounded. But the truth, one I don’t want to admit, settles inside my chest like a stone.