Page 126 of Through the Storm

Jason

[image]

Ethan

Holy fuck, they’re cute

Matt

they’re the size of my thumb

Jason

they’re the size of his FUTURE THUMB

I stare at the photo of the tiny cleats for a long moment.

Then I scroll back up and reads Ethan’s message again. And again.

I finally lock my phone and set it on the nightstand. I don’t answer.

But I don’t stop thinking about it either.

CHAPTER THIRTY

ben

TORTURE

The sun is barely up,and my lungs already feel like they’re on fire. Fucking training camp. But I welcome the pain. It distracts me from how much I miss Katy. It keeps me from thinking about her every second.

“Faster,” Coach shouts from the sideline.

I nod and start the drill again. And again. By the tenth rep my legs are shaking, but I keep going. Tyler tosses me a look when we’re finally done.

“Coach wants to kill us,” he mutters.

“Yeah,” I say.

The truth is, I love the challenge. I feel capable here. This is what I’m good at. The only thing I’m good at.

The whistle blows, and a couple of the guys jog over while we reset for the next set.

“Hey, Davis,” one of them says, bumping my shoulder. “How was your summer, man? Heard you got a girl.” He gives an exaggerated wink.

Another guy snaps his fingers.

“Oh yeah, the Montgomery girl, right?”

Someone else whistles.

“Yeah.” He grins. “She’s hot.”

My grip tightens on the ball before I can stop it.

Tyler sighs like a disappointed parent.

“Congratulations, assholes.” He looks between them, unimpressed. “You’ve all managed to say the worst possible thing.”