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I shifted uncomfortably because that was not the version of him I had built up in my mind. In my eyes, he was an arrogant snob who would do whatever it took to get where he wanted to be, but that wasn’t the case at all.
“What happened during your freshman year?” I asked being more careful this time.
“Same thing,” he shrugged. “I wasn’t going to risk my scholarship. It wasn’t worth it when everything was riding on me staying here and finishing my degree.”
He held my gaze, and I saw something steady and unyielding in his eyes.
“My sisters won’t get a shot if I mess this up. So it’s not just about me and the field. It’s about me giving an opportunity to those who mean everything to me. I know it’s not the story you wanted, but it’s the truth.”
His words hit me harder than anything he had ever said to me before, and it stung. My throat went dry, and I had to swallow harder than usual to get the lump that had formed down. And for a good while, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how this would fit into the narrative that I had been so sure of, but, like always, I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut.
“So why are you playing now?” I asked, the question coming out softer and less persistent. “Why try out this season?”
“Because…” He winced as if the answer pained him as much as it mattered. “I fucking love football.”
His honesty caught me completely off guard. He wasn’t fighting me, or hesitating, or spinning some kind of story to get rid of me. He just gave me the painful and very simple truth.
Then he let out a caustic laugh. “My parents would kill me if they found out I’m doing this instead of actually studying.”
I stared at him in disbelief. His words forced me to look at him in another way and to reevaluate everything I thought I knew. None of this lined up with the guy I saw on the field. That guy was confident and had his shit together when he carried a team. But this version was of a guy keeping quiet because this part of his life wasn’t supposed to exist.
“You’re serious,” I said more to myself than to him.
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to either. I let out a slow breath as my thoughts scrambled to catch up. He was the star player. The guy whom everyone was watching. The one who was building a name for himself in real time, and none of it was supposed to happen, at least not the way it was right now, so publicly.
For a fraction of a second, something similar to doubt slipped in, and I wondered if I might’ve pushed him too far or if I had maybe missed something important. Then my mind snapped back to where it had been all along, to Frank Delaney, because none of this explained him.
“So what does he want from you?” I asked as the edge crept back into my voice. “If you’re not supposed to be doing this, then why is he suddenly so interested?”
His expression hardened immediately. “Drop it.”
“No. You don’t get to shut me down after everything you just said.”
“He has nothing to do with anything we just discussed.”
I pinned him with my gaze. I wished I could believe him, I really did, but the things I had seen proved he wasn’t telling the whole truth. Delaney wanted him for some reason, and I needed to find out what that was.
“That isn’t what it looks like,” he said.
“I don’t care because nothing is ever what it seems.” I stepped closer. “Did he promise you something? Was it money? Or help with your grades so you could remain eligible?”
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything, so I decided to keep pushing.
“Because that’s how this works,” I added. “Boosters don’t just show up out of nowhere—”
“Enough!” he snapped, and the word cracked through the space between us with the intensity of a lightning bolt.
Trace took a step forward, and I could instantly tell the last of his patience had vanished.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then tell me, because right now it looks like you’re being set up and you’re just going along with it.”
“Can’t you just let this go?”
“No.”
For a second, we just stared at each other, and then the last sliver of control he had left snapped.
