Chapter 119


    “But you are barely standing on your own feet. You are in no condition to stay with me for aplete


    conversation.”


    “I’ll stay with you,” I said very quickly. “I am not that drunk. I will listen, I promise.” Even though I was


    feeling slightly better, there were chances I’d fall on my face if I moved too fast. But that wouldn’t stop


    me. “I can prove it. Look.” My legs pushed my body up, propelling me in a rather wobbly way. But that


    didn’t matter. I’d prove to Aaron I waspletely fine.


    I wasn’t going to let the chance slip through my slightly intoxicated fingers or legs—


    A pair of big hands cut my trajectory, holding me by the waist.


    “Easy there. Let’s keep the standing to a minimum,” Aaron said as he effortlessly returned me to my


    former position, right beside him. Perhaps a little closer to his body. Which I wouldn’tin about.


    “Do you want to know that badly?”


    “Yes. I want to know everything,” I confessed, following no-filter Lina’s lead again.


    A humorlessugh left him. “I never nned for this to happen this way.”


    My hazy brain didn’t really understand that, but before I could ask, he continued, “I always yed


    football. That was all I knew for almost two decades. My dad was sort of a big deal in the coaching and


    management world back home, in Washington.” Aaron shook his head, those disheveled, short locks


    almost flickering under the soft light of the street. “He knew how to spot potential, had done it a million


    times. He was known for that. So, when he realized I had that raw talent he talked about so much, it


    was as if all those years of his career had been preparing him for that. For having a son he could mold


    into the perfect yer from the very beginning.”


    “He coached you since you were a kid?” I murmured.


    Aaron flexed his legs and leaned his elbows on his knees. “More than that. He turned me into his own


    personal project. He had this kid with potential for bing everything he had dreamed of, right at


    home. And he had the tools and the experience to make that possible. There was no room for failure.


    He worked hard on turning me into this wless football machine, which he had carefully assembled


    together since the moment my legs were strong enough to run after a ball and my hands wererge


    enough to hold one.” Aaron paused. He was facing the gloomy street in front of us, and I could see how


    his profile turned hard. “We both worked on that. And for the longest time, I thrived in it.”


    I found myself shifting closer to him until my arm and shoulder werepletely flush against him.


    “How did that change?” I asked, letting my body lean a little on Aaron’s side. “When did you stop


    enjoying ying?”


    He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, something softening in his expression. “That photo you


    mentioned earlier?” he asked, and then he faced away from me, staring into the empty street in front of


    us. “That was thest game I ever yed.” Aaron paused, and I could tell he needed a moment to


    gather himself from the way his voice had sobered. “That happened exactly one year after my mom


    passed away.”


    My heart squeezed in my chest, and I felt this urge to wrap my body around him, so I could shield him


    from the pain in his voice. But I limited myself to grabbing


    his warm hand and slipping my fingers between his. Aaron brought our inteced hands to hisp.


    “In that moment, as I stood there, watching the crowd and my teammates celebrate a victory I couldn’t


    bring myself to care about, I decided I’d pull out from the draft. And I did.”


    “That must have hurt so much,” I told him, my thumb caressing the warm skin on the back of his hand.


    “All of it, losing your mom and letting go of something you had worked all your life toward.”


    “It did, yeah.” His head dipped, and I watched him look at our intertwined hands. “My dad couldn’t


    understand it. He wouldn’t even try.” A bitter chuckle left him. “My football career had turned into the


    perfect escape, following Mom’s diagnosis. Instead of that consolidating our father-and-son


    rtionship, it turned us into coach and yer instead. Nothing more than that.”


    More loss. My heart broke for Aaron. I squeezed his hand and then very slowly leaned my head on his


    arm.


    He continued, “He said I was throwing away my life. My future. That I would fail. That if I did drop an


    opportunity that would change my life, he didn’t want to have anything to do with me. So, I graduated


    and left Seattle.”


    Aaron still held my hand in hisp; his fingers had tightened around mine as he talked. I kept the side


    of my head on him as I felt my other hand fly to his forearm. It was the only way I could express how


    N?velDrama.Org owns ? this.


    sorry I was for what he had gone through without engulfing him in a tight hug I wasn’t sure I’d be able


    to let go of. At least, not for the rest of the night.


    “It must have been so hard, growing up, limited by someone else’s idea of what you should and should


    not be.”


    He absently yed with my fingers, the soft caresses of his skin against mine causing tingles to crawl


    up my arm. “I realize that now, in hindsight. I never noticed while it happened; it was just how things


    were. I was given a set of goals, and I simply went with it,” he exined, his thumb trailing up my wrist.


    “I was never unhappy—at least, not until I realized that perhaps I wasn’tpletely happy either.”


    “And now? Are youpletely happy now, Aaron?”


    Those soft brushes of his fingers against mine came to a stop, and he didn’t hesitate when he


    answered, “Completely? Not yet. But I’m working my fucking hardest on getting there.”


    Chapter Neen


    For anyone witnessing my foolish attempts at reaching the bedroom, it would have been pretty obvious


    that I was about to face-nt on the floor. And they wouldn’t be wrong. It was a wonder I was able to


    move at all, considering my feet barely lifted off the ground with all the dragging they had been carrying


    out.


    Ironically, and contrary to the story my body told, I didn’t think I had ever felt more awake than I did as I


    crossed the threshold of that door.


    My head was working at full speed. Processing everything Aaron had told me about his past. I kept


    spinning and turning even the tiniest pieces of information until I waspletely sure I had them


    pinned down securely so they wouldn’t flee my memory.


    Never mind that my legs wobbled with every step I took and exhaustion throbbed through my body.


    Aaron’s confession—because it had felt like he was unveiling something he had kept guarded and


    locked away from sight—had created a little riot in my head.


    Tags:


    Source: