Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
All these emotions are moving through me like mad. I can’t even enjoy holding Fitz because I’m on edge. As soon as I got here, I got a text from Jayden Sinclair, the coach of the Bullies’ hockey team, asking me for a meeting first thing in the morning. I tried calling the house to see if someone died, but no one is answering, so I’m freaking the fuck out. I want to be happy; I mean, hell, I’m holding this cute little fat pink baby, and he looks like Shelli. I know she is fine, and I’m thankful, so I should be happy. I even lost my virginity tonight—I’m a man, yay—but I can’t enjoy any of that. I’m freaking out.
These thoughts are all going wild in my head. What if Shelli had died? I know that’s totally irrational—I just saw her and she’s fine, but what if? What if Callie hates me because I left her behind to come support my sister and didn’t cuddle? She’d want to cuddle, right? Girls like that. Shit, all my parents do is cuddle and touch each other. And I want to do that with Callie, but I fear she hates me. I probably sucked. I really should have warned her I was a loser virgin. Shit, my nineteen-year-old brother has more experience than me. Then what the hell does Coach Jayden want? What did those damn boys do? Fucking hell, I’m losing it.
When a strong hand grips my shoulder, I look up to see my dad watching me. “You okay?”
I nod. “Overwhelmed.”
Dad grins. “He is a cute little thing. Reminds me of Owen.”
Owen was fat as hell. I was too, but he was super fat. Left me no room in the damn stroller. Asshole.
“Yeah. He’s perfect.”
“He is,” Dad agrees, but I feel his gaze on me. “You sure you’re okay? You seem off.”
I swallow hard. “Just a lot on my mind.”
“Okay,” he says, and when I meet his gaze, I regret it. My dad can see through me. “Call me if you need me, you hear me?”
I nod. “Thanks, Dad.”
I leave shortly after that since Shelli needs rest, and I need to get back to the house to make sure things are okay. I almost call Owen to tell him what happened with Callie, but I’m not ready to unleash that. I’m not ready for his opinion, nor am I ready to admit she probably thinks I’m a dud. I really want to see her, to make sure we’re good. I almost go to the gymnastics team’s house, but I don’t. My anxiety is through the roof, and I need to calm down.
Thankfully, when I get to the house, no one is there. I park on the back side and head through the rear door to find everyone cleaning. They all look at me and then back down at what they’re doing.
Fuck me.
I get the rundown from Benny. “Campus police were here. A girl said Burnette touched her against her will.”
Fucking hell. Jackson Burnette, a lanky freshman, looks at me, and I swear he’s about to cry. “Did you?”
He shakes his head, and I believe him. “Adler, I swear, she was all over me. We were making out, and I grabbed her butt, and she freaked. As soon as she said stop, I stopped, and then she ran out as I tried to apologize.”
McLandry nods. “I was dancing with her friend—they’re on the softball team—and she said the girl has a thing about her butt. But she was super drunk and freaked. My issue is, how was Jackson supposed to know?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I guess it already got back to Coach, because I got a text to meet him in the morning.”
A collective number of “Fuck”s echo through our house. Dotson, one of our seniors, comes forward. “We shut everything down before the police got here. Burnette told them everything he told us, but the girl is still pressing charges.”
I close my eyes, cupping Burnette’s shoulder. “This is probably gonna be bad. You shouldn’t have grabbed—”
“Adler, really, she was rubbing herself on him. We all saw it, we have it on video, because she’s hot and Burnette is dorky as fuck,” Dotson says, reaching for his phone.
They try to show it to me, and I shake my head. “Okay. I don’t want to see it, but this needs to be a reminder to make sure you know who you are with. You can’t assume a situation is all right unless you both are of sound mind and know what is going on. You have to be careful, guys. Things get out of hand so easily, and we have to mind our p’s and q’s. You are the face of this team, and I refuse to have a stigma on our house that we’re dicks who harass girls.”