Page 18 of The Endgame Is You (Rixon Raiders 4)

“Felicity, wait,” he said. “I owe you an apology. My prejudices about the football team, are just that, mine. I watched a couple of my good friends get hurt pretty badly by jocks... it left a sour taste in my mouth. I’m sorry.”

“I appreciate your words. But I meant what I said, Darcy. You don’t know anything about mine and Jason’s relationship.” And I intended on keeping it that way.

“You’re right, I don’t. As long as you’re happy, right?” He gave me a goofy smile, but it was like a punch to the stomach.

Because I wasn’t happy lately.

“Same time Thursday?”

I hesitated. I could request a different tutor and hope they had even half as much as knowledge and Darcy’s ability to break down the science and explain it in a way that I understood.

But that felt like the coward’s way out.

He was entitled to his opinions, even if they had hit a sore point.

I gave him a small nod and said, “I’ll see you then.”

Jason

“You think we’re ready?” Griffin asked me as we filed out of the room adjoining the locker room. We’d been watching game tapes from Dartmouth’s game against Yale last week. They were the team to beat. The team we needed to beat to stay at the top of the league.

“We’re ready,” I said with complete confidence. Since our opening game, we’d gone from strength to strength. Being quarterback always gave you a natural leadership role in a team, but now that I was captain, something had clicked. We all felt it. But it was more than that. I had something to prove. To myself, Coach, the team, the fans... Linc.

I needed to take them all the way.

Anything else was not an option.

“We’re heading over to the house if you want to come for a beer?” Gio said.

He and Griffin lived with a few of the other guys in a big house just off campus.

“Not tonight.” I wanted to make it home in time to see Felicity.

Between classes, the team, and her work at the shelter, we’d barely seen each other. I wanted nothing more than to take my sweet time exploring her body before I sank deep inside her.

“Hot date?” Griffin smirked and I flipped him off.

“Actually, I missed date night.” Guilt snaked through me. But I could make it up to her. I couldn’t, however, make it up to the game Friday night if we weren’t ready.

“Oh shit, you’re gonna be in the doghouse, man.”

“Nah, Felicity understands.” But as I said the words, my stomach knotted. I was asking a lot of her. We both knew the level of dedication and discipline playing college ball would require, but even I’d underestimated just how intensive it would

be. Playing for the team didn’t only mean practice and games. It meant bonding with the guys, being a brotherhood... a family. You couldn’t just shirk your way out of that. Especially not when you were the captain.

“I’ll catch you later,” I said to the guys as we filed out of the building. It was already dark.

I jogged to my car and climbed inside. Then I checked my cell. There was a text from Cameron, but nothing from Felicity.

With a heavy sigh, I fired up the engine, backed out of the parking lot and took off toward our building to make it up to the girl I loved more than I ever thought possible.

Our apartment in Powelton Village was less than a ten-minute ride. The closer I got to our building, the more I couldn’t help but feel like I’d messed up. Wednesday was always date night. It was something we'd started back in freshman year, to make sure we put aside some time each week for the two of us to just be Jason and Felicity.

I pulled into my allotted parking spot and cut the engine. It was almost nine thirty. Late, but not too late to salvage the night.

Grabbing my cell, I found Cameron’s number and hit dial.

“What did you do?” he asked.