Rival Dreams (Rival Love #3) (2 page)

Then he lists off all the reasons why. From injuries, to being benched the entire time—not really benched, but not starting, and being third or fourth string—to getting cut early. Not to mention, if it turns out the team he’s on can’t afford him, they’ll get rid of the newest player, and then he’s back to nothing. With no education to back him up. It happens.

And I get all those reasons. But you know what? That shit is fear talking, and I can’t let fear put me in a corner. I can’t let that shit get to me. The only thing that is getting to me is leaving behind the one thing I fought so hard to keep, Skylar. But if I truly love her like I say I do, then I’ll let her go.

Uncle Bri and I talk a little longer before he has to get off the phone because Maxwell figured out how to break free from his cage.

I lie back on my bed and sigh, just as there’s a knock at my door.

Chapter 3

Skylar

Balancing Chinese food, packets of swimming practice schedules and binders of stats on each swimmer while attempting to knock on a door is not something I recommend. When the door opens, the binders shift, and I almost lose the bag of Chinese food. “Whoa, whoa, I got it.” Caleb grabs some of the binders from me.

I regain control of the bag and ease my way into his room. My gaze goes directly to the laundry littering the floor. “Uh …” I know guys have a tendency to be messy, but I’ve never seen his room like this.

Caleb laughs. “None of that is mine. That’s Kyle’s.”

I sneer at the underwear near my feet. “Seriously, how can you ignore this?”

“I’m not here most of the time. And when I’m expecting you to stay over I make him clean it up.” Caleb sets my binders down on his bed. “What’s up with this stuff?”

“I ran out on you earlier. I felt bad. So I brought us dinner. I thought we could spend some time together. Also, I wanted to tell you the exciting news.”

He walks over to me and grabs the bag from my hands. “Yeah, what’s that?” He sets the bag on his desk and starts dishing out the cartons of food.

“I’m going to be captain of the girls’ swim team, and Gary is captain of the boys’ team.”

“Awesome, babe,” he says, but his voice isn’t exactly as enthusiastic as I wanted. I brush it off, though. Maybe he’s hungry or exhausted from all the studying.

Coming up behind him, I walk my fingers across his shoulders and down his back. Caleb turns with a sultry grin. “You know I love it when you do that, don’t you?”

I nod. “Mmm-hmm. Just like I know you love this.” I kiss the corner of his mouth and run my fingers through his hair. He moans and pulls me so we’re face to face. His lips part my own, and his hot tongue rakes across mine.

His hard body presses against me while his kisses trail from my lips down my neck. I dig my nails into his shoulders as Caleb lifts me. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he breathes against my collarbone. “I love you, Skylar.”

“I love you too.” He carries me over to the bed and sets me down.

I stare at him as he starts to walk away from me. “Um …”

He laughs. “Babe, we can’t get too carried away. Kyle will be back any minute, and he’s not getting a free show of any kind.”

I pout. “Okay. But you owe me.”

He scoops some fried rice onto a plate and looks over at me. “Oh, do I?”

“Yup.” I watch him continue to make us each a plate. “Did you get your paper done?”

Caleb stops dishing out food from the container in his hand and shakes his head. “I, uh … I’m taking a break from it.”

“Maybe I can help you with it if you’re really that stuck.”

“I’m not stuck.” He sounds upset, but I’m not sure why he would be. I think maybe I’m misinterpreting his tone.

“Okay.” I push myself off the bed and make my way toward him. I press my cheek against his back and wrap my arms around him. “I just wanted to help.”

Caleb sighs and twists so we’re facing each other. “I know. But sometimes, Sky, I need to be able to do some stuff on my own. Without anyone’s help. You know?”

I nod, but I don’t think he’s really talking about his paper. Whatever it is, I’ll let him work it out himself, if that’s what he wants.

He hands me my plate and I take a seat on one of the moon chairs facing the TV. Caleb plops down in the other. “You know this has nothing to do with you, right?”

I smile. “Okay. I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

He leans toward me and kisses my lips. “You’re amazing. You know that?”

“Oh, I’ve been told.”

Caleb frowns and returns his attention to his General Tso’s chicken. He picks at his food in silence, so I take the hint and remain silent too. Whenever Caleb is worried about something or is grouchy, I find it’s best to just not say anything. He comes around, he just needs his space. I’m the same way, but sometimes, like now, I really wish he’d open up. But I know Caleb, and he isn’t going to open up anytime soon. This means I’m going to be sleeping by myself tonight.

Once I finish eating, I toss my paper plate into the trash and pick up my binders. Caleb clears his throat. “Where are you going?”

“Home,” I answer, and kiss his cheek before making my way to the door.

His arms lock around my waist. “Hey, come here.”

I’m just starting to let him pull me back onto his bed when his door opens. Kyle storms into the room, dropping his backpack in the middle of floor. He takes a seat at his desk and chucks off his shoes. There’s a sweat stain circling the armpits of his shirt. His shaggy golden hair flops into his eyes. He pushes it back with his hand and says, “Hey, Sky. Didn’t know you were visiting.”

“Kind of a surprise. I’m leaving, though. There’s extra Chinese if you want it.” I start to twist away from Caleb. Caleb frowns again. I kiss him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Kyle says, drawing my attention away from Caleb’s pout.

“No problem.” My gaze returns to Caleb. He still looks upset.

I’m about to ask him what’s wrong, but he asks, “You aren’t going to stay?”

“I would if you wanted me to. But you don’t seem like you want that.”

“I always want you to stay, babe. I’m just … thinking a lot. That’s all.”

I nod. Kyle moans through a mouthful of food. A giggle bubbles out of me, and Caleb shakes his head. “Dude. I’m trying to have a conversation with my girl, not listen to your foodgasms.”

“This shit is so good,” Kyle responds.

Caleb rolls his eyes and groans as he walks me over to the door. “I’ll walk you back to your place.”

“Caleb, I want to stay and spend time with you. I have a long day tomorrow and so do you. I won’t see you until Friday afternoon, for our appointment.”

He looks at me with a confused expression. “What appointment?”

“You know, the apartment? You told me this morning you’d look at it with me.”

“Oh …”

Now I’m the one who’s confused. Earlier he said he’d look at it. Now he’s acting like this is the worse idea ever. I push myself out of his room and into the hall. Caleb is right beside me. We walk in silence down three flights of steps. I spin on the landing and face him. “What is wrong? Is it the whole idea of us living on our own in an apartment that has you freaking out? Or is it your workload? I’d like to know.”

“Sky …” He reaches for my arms, but I take a step back.

“I want to know.”

“Nothing is wrong. I’ll be there. Okay?”

I nod. He kisses my forehead. “Okay.”

Chapter 4

Caleb

After walking Skylar back to her dorm, I take the long way back to my own. The air is brisk and reminds me of winters in Ohio, but not as harsh. At the end of the month I’ll be in Indianapolis, doing a training session for the NFL recruits.

I have to keep focused on the goal at hand. But shit, Sky’s face when she talked about the appointment for the apartment and how she looked as if she was going to cry if I blew it off killed me. I’ve got to find a way to tell her that maybe this apartment thing isn’t going to work out.

I should have told her after the phone call. I should have just come right out and said it then, but I waited. And now my time is coming up short. Three weeks, to be exact. Yeah, I mean, I could stay in school for another year. What’s one more year, right? But that’s the thing: if I do that, this opportunity will not come back around. Not going into the NFL. I’m talking about the high demand for quarterbacks. Five teams are in demand this upcoming year. That’s like an all-time record. I think one guy is out with a permanent injury that he got skiing, three are retiring, and one was cut for doing a horrible job. This is my chance. But of all the teams in demand for a quarterback this year, there is one team that
isn’t
looking, and that’s the North Carolina Panthers.

That means I can’t keep Skylar
and
follow my dreams. I have to be fair to her, man up and tell her. But how do you possibly tell someone who owns your soul that you can’t be with her anymore?

I just gotta get through this week. Before we go apartment hunting I’ll tell Sky what’s going on. Who knows, maybe she’ll be happy and decide to follow me wherever I end up. Or maybe she won’t, and I’ll lose the best thing that ever happened to me.

I’m approaching my dorm when I see a group of girls huddled by the door. A short blond and redhead are standing next to the ID scanner on the door. Neither has on a coat and it’s a chilly forty-five degrees outside. A third girl has on a heavy brown coat, her black hair is pencil straight, a spider tattoo on her right hand. She’s near the ashtray and is easing a cigarette to her mouth. Gross.

The blond stares at me and breaks out in a fit of giggles. She smacks the other girl and whispers something. The redhead looks over at me and smiles with a deep blush on her cheeks. The smoking girl glances over at the other two and says, “Nice. Just make her more embarrassed, Sarah.”

“Shut up! Hi! I’m like your biggest fan,” the redhead blurts while throwing her arms around me. She feels like an iceberg against me. I shiver and pull her back.

“Thanks,” I say. I get my key card out to buzz myself in when a chilled hand lands on mine. I glance over at the redhead. I think she’s trying to give me a sultry smile but it comes across all wrong because of her chattering teeth. “Um, do you girls live here?”

The smoker rolls her eyes and glares at the coatless girls. “We do live here. These two thought it would be grand to drag all of us to a club down the road. But while this one had to have a smoke before we left, they decided it was a perfect time to pick up guys and drag them with. But everyone on campus knows you have a girlfriend.”

“Shut the hell up, Charity!” the blond snaps. “Maybe he and his girlfriend are in an open relationship. Besides, it’s just dancing.” She turns to me with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, sorry ladies. I actually only dance with one girl, and that’s Skylar.” I slide my card and open the door. “Have fun, though.”

As I make my way inside, the redhead runs in with me. She hands me a small scrap of paper while pressing her cold lips to my mouth. I push her back and glare at her. She shrugs. “Call me sometime when you’re looking for a little fun.”

That will be a frozen fucking day in hell, hon.
I don’t tell her this for fear she might break down and cry or something. This is one thing I can say about Sky: she laughs about these kinds of encounters. I, on the other hand, cannot. They remind me too much of Danielle. And honestly, that bitch and anyone like her can stay the fuck away from me. She practically ruined Skylar and me when we were in high school. Faking a pregnancy, stalking me, destroying shit and making it out to be like Skylar did it. Yeah, fuck that.

When I enter my room, I toss the number in the trash, take off my coat and shoes, and fall into bed. I should be working on that paper, but exhaustion is winning. I pull my phone from my pocket and call Sky. Yeah, I know I just dropped her off. And she’s probably studying one of her anatomy books. The dissected human body might be fascinating to my girlfriend, but it’s definitely not to me.

After the fourth ring I finally hear, “Hey, you.”

“Hi. I missed you.”

“Yeah, well, you should have stayed over. Brie is out with her new boyfriend.”

I laugh. “I give them two weeks, tops. What’s this now, boyfriend number fifty-five?”

“I don’t know, but don’t label them like that. It’s not nice. Some people aren’t as lucky as we are.”

“I know. But if you remember correctly, we weren’t as lucky in the beginning as people might assume around here. Speaking of which, I got attacked by a herd of girls again. Two of them were dressed like, what’s the word you use, ho-licious? And the other just looked annoyed to be there. The sluts, though, they attacked me. And one kissed me.”

“Excuse me?”

I sit up a little and sigh. This is the first time a girl just openly kissed me while I’ve been dating Skylar.

This conversation reminds me how utterly screwed up I am, though. Because here I am opening up to Skylar about this kind of crazy shit, but I can’t tell her about going to Indianapolis at the end of the month, or that I’m not coming back next semester. And if someone just openly fucking kissed me knowing damn well I’m with Skylar, what’s to stop some crazed professional football fan from doing the same thing? No offense to any fans out there, but I love Skylar more than anything. She’s the only one who owns my lips, body, and heart.

“Sky.”

“I was waiting for this notch of craziness. I mean the phone numbers were like, whoa. Especially in front of me. The balls on some people astound me. But this girl just kissed you and you called to tell me?” I hear her sniffle. “Thank you.”

I’m already jumping out of bed and whipping my coat back on. “Babe, don’t cry. I’m coming back over.”

“No! No! Don’t come back over. Just … Oh, this is embarrassing. I’m not sad, I promise. I’m really happy that we can trust each other enough to tell each other these kinds of things.”

I stop putting on my coat and sigh. She’s right. I should just tell her about the draft and not keep holding it back from her.