Page 55 of Forever Relentless

I added Briar to my contacts.

B: Running isn’t reserved for athletes

I huffed out a laugh. Jesus, she was so defensive.

Me: I don’t run with headphones in

I’d lost too many ear buds that way.

Me: If you wanted my attention, you should have called out

B: Who says I wanted your attention?

I read her text twice.

Me: If you didn’t want my attention, Briar, why are you texting me?

She didn’t answer.

I took my shower, brushed my teeth for the night, and by the time I’d finished my nighttime routine, she still hadn’t replied.

When I poked my head out into the living area, there was no sign of the others, and both my roommates’ doors were closed.

With a bottle of water in hand, I went to bed with noise-canceling headphones on and texted my brother.

Fifteen minutes later, we were playing a game, and I did my best to push everything from today to the back of my mind.

Sleep came eventually. Peace didn’t. It wasn’t as easy as that, unfortunately. There were some things that refused to be buried.

I knew that better than most.

Chapter 13

Noah

Morning training had done exactly what it should have done.

Kicked my ass.

Defense had film in the afternoon, and we watched Jamie Woods of the Cardinal Saints play his final college game. He’d declared for the Draft in January, lucky bastard. I hope he got drafted high. He earned it.

Now it was late afternoon, and the field was empty.

Not technically empty — the grounds crew had left cones scattered near the hash marks, and the goalposts cast long shadows under the stadium lights — but empty enough that I could hear myself think, which wasn’t always a good thing.

No music blaring over the speakers. No coaches yelling from the sidelines. No chatter bleeding out of the locker room.

Just turf and the hum of the lights overhead.

I’d dropped my helmet beside the forty and rolled my shoulders. The air still held some of the day’s heat, not like the heat back home, but it was better than the chill that had been in the air for too long.

I liked the field like this. No eyes. No grading sheet. No one waiting for me to fuck up so they could call me out in front of everyone.

I set two cones ten yards apart.

Shuffle. Plant. Burst.

Again.