Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
His new room is Brady’s room.
The room that Brady shares with Chase—that he has shared with Chase since they first arrived here freshman year nearly four years ago.
“I… But…” My throat is closing, and I look from one person to the next, to the next, my feet shuffling backward, my head shaking. “I don’t understand.” My voice is but a whisper.
“I mean, neither do we,” Mason offers, wrapping his arm around Payton and pulling her close. “We already reached out to Coach, but he didn’t have anything to tell us…”
Mason cuts a quick glance at Brady, and Mase sighs. “He told you about his injury over break.”
I nod, unable to keep the hint of concern from slipping in. At least he’ll have them to talk to now. When he needs someone.
“Wait, what injury?” Cam pushes. “What injury, Mase?”
“He wasn’t ready for everyone to know but…” Mason’s shoulders fall and he looks to me, letting me make the call, but it’s not my place to share anymore so I look away, more tears stinging the back of my eyes.
“Chase found out he has a spinal issue. He can’t play anymore, but…” Mason looks my way, ignoring the girls gasping around me. “Do you think that’s why he moved out? ’Cause being in the football house with everyone is too much?”
I lift my shoulders, not trusting myself to speak. Mason frowns, studying me.
“Have you tried to call him?” Ari worries. “To ask him what’s going on?”
They nod and Brady says, “Voicemail and it wasn’t exactly something we wanted to ask on there. He didn’t tell you, Paige, and ask you not to say anything?”
My eyes fall to the grass and I shake my head, unable to meet their gazes.
“What’s going on?” Payton walks up, tossing an empty smoothie cup in the trash on her way.
Cam fills her in quickly. “Nobody’s seen Chase and he’s not Brady’s roommate anymore.”
Payton’s head snaps back a little, and she tilts it to the side. “I saw his truck this morning.”
Everyone jolts, spinning her way, and her eyes widen. “Whoa, you guys are actually worried that something’s wrong?”
“Where did you see him?” Brady asks.
“In the west parking lot, you know the one by the baseball stadium? I was scoping out some outdoor shoot options on that side of campus… I think it was still there when I left.”
The guys take off immediately, their worry morphing into anger as they rush toward the answers they want.
When I don’t move, Cam looks at me with concern.
“Whatever is going on, it’s going to be okay,” she promises, following after her family.
She has no idea how wrong she is.
Ari hooks her arm through mine, dragging me along, but I tug myself free, giving her a tight smile when her features morph into a scowl.
“Paige?”
Tears prick my eyes, and I shake my head. “I can’t…” I breathe and then take off, running back to my dorm, but I don’t go inside. I go past it, heading to the bus stop and hop on the first one that arrives.
It takes me a few hours, but eventually I end up at the end of my grandpa’s long, winding driveway.
I make it halfway up before he comes out, having spotted me on the cameras, I’m sure.
“Paige, sweet—”
“Please don’t,” I whisper. “I only came here because I have nowhere else to go.”
My grandpa swallows. “I understand.”
“I just…I don’t want to be there when everyone finds out what he did. What you did.”
His chin lowers to his chest, and he nods. “He’s back?”
I nod, hugging myself, and when he ushers me into the house, I go willingly, locking myself in a spare room.
And then I cry myself to sleep. Again.
I’m dead asleep when the pounding on the door rips me from my dreams. Or maybe it was a nightmare, considering it was Chase’s voice that filled my head.
My heart skips, and my body stiffens in the bed, confusion rushing through me as I fight to push the fog of sleep away.
The sound repeats, louder now, and I bolt upright, straining to listen.
I blink, my mind still half-asleep, and then I hear it again, this time sharper, more persistent with a muffled shout. I scramble out of bed, but the pounding continues, erratic and relentless.
“You can’t be here.” My grandpa is stern. A voice reaches me as I wrap my head around the railing at the top of the stairs. “Leave. Now.”
My brows pull and then that familiar voice carries through the foyer.
“I’m not going anywhere!”
Chase.
The ache in my chest is overwhelming as the weight of the past few days floods me, crashing down on my ribs.
I stay frozen, hearing the voices argue, Grandpa’s words sharp but desperate, and Chase’s somehow quieter, with more urgency than I’m used to.
“I know she’s here. I know she’s here,” he repeats, almost like a plea, and I wonder if it’s directed at me or at my grandfather. “There’s nowhere else she would be.”