I laugh at that. “There may be some truth to that.”
“Why did you disappear like that?” she asks, and her expression becomes confused and pained, as if she’s remembering all the times she sent a message and didn’t get an answer.
I work hard to swallow as I hold her gaze. “Because I wanted better for you, Amber.”
“But what’s better than this? Than us?” she asks, sitting up.
“There’s so much out there.” I sit up with her. “There is more to life than you being with me, Amber, and…I don’t know. I guess I just wanted you to see that.”
“But I don’t want anyone else but you, Joaquin. The day you resigned, you told me you loved me. If you loved me, you should have at least spoken to me about creating the distance before doing it.”
“I knew you wouldn’t have listened, Amber. You can be stubborn, and the last thing I wanted was to break it to you like that—not while our emotions were so high.”
She sighs. “I’ll be twenty in a month. I know that’s young, and it seems like I don’t know much about relationships or men, but what I do know is that I love you and the last thing I wanted was distance from you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you either,” I murmur.
She brings her head forward and rests her forehead on mine. “Just promise me no more ignoring. I know you don’t do well with people’s feelings, but promise me that.”
“I promise, Lakes.”
She smiles when I call her that, then she lays on her back again. “I’ll miss not having you as a coach, even though you were an ass sometimes.”
I laugh. Nothing more. The last thing I want to talk about is coaching right now.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes. My mom cooked for me before she went to work.”
“Does she know you’re here?”
“Hell no,” she laughs. “I told her I went to visit an old teammate.”
I smile as I watch her play with a strand of her hair. She looks at me, her brows dipping, and a wary smile sweeping across her lips. “What?” she asks.
“Nothing.” My head shakes, but I don’t stop studying her every feature. “I just really missed the hell out of you, Lakes.”
With a smile, she sits up and drapes her arms over my shoulders. We’re face-to-face. Nose-to-nose. “I missed you, Torres. Way more than I should have,” she says, and then she kisses me, and before I know it, she’s on top of me and I’m inside her again, and we’re starting round two.
FIFTY-THREE
For the first time, I wake up before Torres does. I watch him as he sleeps, a hand on his chest, and his face peaceful. I slip out of bed quietly, going for my bag in the corner. I’m dressed in minutes, and I pick up the room key on the counter before leaving.
I stop by the café they have in the lobby and get a little bit of everything, from croissants and jellies and fruit, to scrambled eggs and bacon. I pay for it myself, then go back up the elevator with the food in a bag and smile.
When I’m back in the hotel room, I make my way to the table and take everything out, placing it all on the table as quietly as I can. As I dig through the bag for the plastic cutlery, I hear a phone chime.
I glance at the counter and Torres’ phone is there. Normally I’d ignore it. It’s not like me to check his phone, but then I start thinking about how he ignored me for weeks, and then the worst thought possible comes to mind: that maybe there was someone else and it didn’t work out with her.
I place the cutlery down and go to the phone. I tap the screen, glancing over at the bed. Torres is still sound asleep. I tap the screen and it illuminates. There is no lock on his phone, which I find surprising. I swipe it open, and there is an email notification.
My heart beats hard and loud. I shouldn’t do this. This is an invasion of his privacy. I start to turn my back to it and forget it—whatever I may find—but then the phone chimes again.
I turn and pick it up.
Congrats, man!
I knew you’d get it! It was only a matter of time. Told you not to stress. Florida has way more girls too. Girls in bikinis, girls in clubs in short dresses. I’ll have to come visit you when you get down there!
No, but seriously. Big congrats. This is huge!
Mills
What? Florida? I frown as I read the email. There is another email below it from Florida State University. It was sent yesterday at 10:45 a.m. A few hours prior to when I sent him a text.