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“That’s a risk you’ll have to take,” he replied simply. “Luckily, at your age, you have nothing but time on your side.”

It was too real. The terrifying possibility that I’d choose loyalty over my future and end up with neither. Dad hadn’t given me the map I’d hoped for. He’d just reminded me that I was the one holding the compass.

No matter what he said, the ghost of a wrong choice was mine to live with.

“Thanks, Dad.” My voice sounded a lot smaller than I wanted it to. “I’ll check in later.”

I didn’t give myself the luxury of mulling over my dad’s advice. After he hung up, I grabbed my coat and headed straight for the library.

To Dakota.

She’d mentioned something about research, and although I knew better than to interrupt when she was on a roll… this wouldn’t wait.

I pushed through the glass doors, and my heart dropped. It was as if every student at Havenport had converged on the place. Every desk was filled, study groups formed random rings on the floor, and there were even loners in the window bays. Noses in books, hushed discussions, and a silence so productive that the scrape of pen on paper was loud enough to hurt my teeth.

Finding Dakota in a hurry was no longer a possibility.

“Do you mind?” A girl with curly hair and freckles glared at me, a stack of intimidating books pressed to her chest.

I gave her the once-over and smiled. She looked like just the kind of person I needed to bump into.

“If you were neck-deep in research and didn’t want to be distur—”

“Top floor. Now, please move.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I took the stairs two at a time, rehearsing what I’d say once I saw her. Imagining what she’d reply. How she’d have just the right words to make this gnawing ache in my gut go away.

I was out of breath and sweating when I finally got up there. Relieved, too, to discover that the girl had been right. The floor was mostly deserted. A couple of students took up a table by the large windows, but that was it. She had to be up here.

Dust motes danced in the stale air as I reached the final row of shelves. I slipped into the narrow aisle, my sneakers silent on the carpet until I reached the middle section. There she was. Half-buried in a fortress of open textbooks and messy legal pads, tucked away in the same corner she’d retreated to after her last article dropped. It was the library’s version of a blind spot. A place so choked with dry, academic volumes that no one else ever bothered to venture this far back.

I stalked toward her table, and once I was close enough, noticed the Highlanders jersey she wore. My jersey.

The oversized mesh swallowed her frame, hanging low enough to expose the delicate curve of her collarbone. And seeing my name draped over her skin like that, like she was mine… did something inappropriate to my pulse.

Everything about this felt like a distorted mirror of the last time I’d cornered her here. Back then, she’d hated my guts, and I wanted to take that notebook of hers and set it alight.

Now, the only fire in the room was the one she’d started under my skin.

It took every ounce of my self-control to keep from reaching across the table and pulling her into my lap. She looked like she belonged to me, and the realization was a hell of a lot more inconvenient than any headline she’d ever written.

A soft smile lit up her face and threatened to undo me right then and there. “Are you okay?”

“I wouldn’t be interrupting your study session if I were.” I clasped my hands together and leaned in. “I have a problem, and I think you’re the only one who can help me.”

“Surprise, surprise.” Dakota slowly closed her book and then pinned me with a pointed gaze as she idly tapped her pen on the table.

The heat in her eyes stirred something in me, but I suppressed it for the sake of a more urgent topic.

I stared at my number on her chest and took a breath.

“I spent the morning staring at transfer offers.” The air got sucked out of the narrow space, making it feel even more claustrophobic. Dakota stopped tapping her pen, but didn’t say anything. “Big schools. Schools I only ever dreamed of going to. Programs that can guarantee my pro career, signing bonuses... everything I could ask for.”

This was a hell of a lot harder than taking a hit on the fifty-yard line. Especially with her just sitting there, looking at me.

“My dad thinks I should go,” I said with a sigh. “Logically, it’s the right move. But I’m stuck. It feels like I don’t know anything anymore. I love this team. I love—” Our eyes met, and my heart rate doubled.

I reached out, my thumb grazing the back of her hand, and my skin sparked at the contact. Still, she gave me nothing. She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t say anything, either.