VERSUS (Second Chances 2)

This is it. This is the moment when I take the opportunity she’s unknowingly handing to me. I turn to face her, resting an arm over the back of the couch.

I stare at her face, knowing that she may never look at me like this again.

“Eden, I need to tell you something.”

Her brows pinch at the stress woven into my tone. “What is it?”

I suck in a long breath, hoping that it will calm me. It doesn’t work. “It’s about the night we graduated.”

Her expression lifts. “The night I found your ring.”

The night I let you down.

The need to touch her is strong, but I resist. I want her to process this on her terms, in her way. She doesn’t need to comfort me now. I’m the one who has to let her experience this and absorb it.

“You were never supposed to get in that car with Clark.”

Her eyes search my face. “What do you mean?”

This may very well be the defining moment of my life.

Coach is dead. I could keep this buried for eternity. I can’t be that man anymore.

Eden deserves better.

“Coach asked me to drive you home that night.” I keep my eyes pinned on her face. “I didn’t follow through. I let you down. I let your dad down.”

Time slows as she takes in each of my words. A string of emotions passes over her face. Surprise, then confusion. Finally, sadness settles there.

A tear wells in the corner of her eye. “You didn’t let me down. You didn’t let anyone down.”

“I sure as hell did,” I say without thinking, knowing that there’s a lot more to this story to tell.

I can’t spring it all on her at once. This is a starting point.

“Before I left for the party, my dad and I talked about how I would get home,” she says softly. “He brought you up.”

That’s news to me. When Coach asked me earlier that day to drive Eden home, he told me to keep it under wraps. He didn’t want her to think he was trying to control her every move.

“He was worried that Clark would drink too much beer.” She sighs. “When he picked me up that night, he promised my dad he wou

ldn’t drink. My dad told me I could go home with him as long as he didn’t have a drop.”

That explains why Clark had a bottle of water in his hand all night.

“You had to go to the airport.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Clark was sober. You didn’t let me down, Dylan.”

Relief should be washing over me, but there’s another chapter to this story that needs to be told.

“Let’s not talk about this now.” Her lips find mine.

I kiss her softly. “Eden.”

“Shh.” Her fingers skim over my mouth. “Less talking. More kissing.”

I nip at her fingers. “We can kiss later and talk more now.”

She brushes a path over my eyebrow with her thumb. “I have to go soon. I need to catch a flight in the morning.”