Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Mom’s mouth forms a perfect O as full understanding dawns on her. “You’re saying you love her?”
I look around again, feeling vulnerable and exposed, but once again, our surroundings are too loud for anyone to overhear us. “Yes. Way too much to hold her back. She’s football royalty, Mom. And I’m a scrub. She shouldn’t be with me, and we both know it. So, I said what I needed to say to set her free to take a job opportunity Roman lined up for her.” I explain the potential job opportunity briefly, and Mom looks unimpressed.
“So, it’s a networking opportunity, not a job offer?”
“Well, yeah. But you know Chelsea. To know her is to love her. One interview, and she’d get hired on the spot.”
Mom tilts her head. “What exactly did you say to Chelsea to ‘set her free,’ as you so brilliantly called it? How bad was it, Luca?”
“It wasn’t that bad.” Yes, it was, a voice inside my head retorts. “Not in the big picture, anyway. I mean, yes, admittedly, it felt pretty damned awful as I was setting her free. But it had to be done.” I inhale deeply as memories of the devastated look in Chelsea’s blue eyes momentarily silence me.
“Luca, what the bleep did you say to her?”
“The specifics don’t matter. Chelsea was being really stubborn about the Thunderbolts opportunity, so I said something specifically designed to make her hate my guts—and it worked.” My heart pangs. “Unfortunately, I think I overshot a bit and made her want to murder me in a brutal fashion, but at least it made her finally ditch my ass, like she should have done a long time ago.”
“Oh, Jesus.” Mom palms her forehead. “Luca Edward Maguire, you’ve been an idiot.”
Normally, Ava Maguire scares the hell out of me when she middle-names me. But this time, I don’t care. My whole life is in shambles, so what more could she possibly do to me? “Middle-name me all you want, Ava,” I throw out. “My mommy being mad at me on top of everything else that’s gone wrong for me is a grain of sand on a never-ending beach of pain, baby.”
Mom shakes her head. “Don’t you see? Chelsea would never, not in a million years, take a job with Roman’s team. Contributing her talents to help Satan of all people on his quest to finally win it all would be Chelsea’s personal idea of hell.”
“Huh.” The woman’s making sense. I certainly didn’t want to play for the Thunderbolts when I had the chance. No, I wanted to make a name for myself on my own merits. To step out of Roman’s shadow, once and for all. And I know Chelsea feels the same way about her own success—she wants to earn it, fair and square.
“Also,” Mom says, “why would Chelsea ever want to owe a huge favor to Roman Maguire, of all people? Or for that matter to you—the man who said the horrible thing you won’t tell me and broke the poor girl’s heart?”
It’s a crushing thought, assuming she’s right about me breaking Chelsea’s heart. Surely, Chelsea had to understand where I was coming from, somewhere down deep, right? If not, then it’s no wonder my selfless plan backfired on me.
“Get her a job somewhere else,” Mom continues. “Like with the Knights, for example, and I’m sure Chelsea will leap at the chance. And once she’s working somewhere else, then you two can finally be together, out in the open, because you’ll both be working for different teams. True, the relationship will most likely need to be long-distance for a while, depending on where she ends up. But wouldn’t that be better than the way things are now?”
My mother’s a genius.
With my heart racing, I look toward where Marco’s been sitting down at the end of our row, but he’s not there. Feeling dizzy with excitement to put this plan in action as soon as possible, I glance frantically around the box and locate Marco chatting near the buffet offerings in the back with Cameron.
“Oh! You should ask Cameron if he’s got a connection for Chelsea, too!” Mom blurts, following my gaze. “And Levi, too, to increase your odds of striking gold for her!”
“You’re a genius, Mom.” I kiss her cheek before rising from my seat. “Thanks.”
Feeling alive and hopeful for the first time since last week, I start my trek toward the end of the row.
Only a few steps into my journey, Mom calls out to my back, “Love conquers all, my darling Luca—even among Buckeyes and Wolverines!”
CHAPTER 33
Chelsea
MORIARTY’S BEEN KILLING it in today’s away game against Miami so far, our first game of the season. But otherwise, our team is getting slaughtered. It’s midway through the third quarter, and I’m standing next to our defensive coordinator on the sideline feeding him stats and data. And thank God for that, because otherwise I’m sure I’d be thinking about Luca again, the same way I’ve been doing all week long, despite my best efforts.