Loving a Man Who Forgot Me Novel Chapter 24
My stomach lurched, and I pasted on my own smile, resisting the urge to dart my eyes over to Abel. Was he watching this?
Coach, or I should say, Jason, sauntered over to me and smoothly curled one arm around my waist as he bent and pressed his lips to my cheek. “Congratulations,” I squeaked.
Jason straightened, still beaming from the win. “Not a terrible way to spend our ten-month anniversary, right? Now we have another reason to go out and celebrate.”
I swallowed dryly and nodded. “Mmhmm.” And at that moment I lost the struggle, giving in and flicking my eyes over his shoulder to Abel, who was definitely watching, his face hard and eyes dark.
Jason turned, seeming to notice him for the first time.
A stunned expression overcame him momentarily, and then he proceeded to have a fanboy moment.
“Oh, wow! Hey, man, I’m Jason Richards, head football coach at Darlington, and a huge fan of yours.” He thrust his hand out.
After an almost awkward length of time, Abel accepted it. “Nice to meet you, Coach.
Congratulations on the win tonight, and, you said it’s your ten-month anniversary?” He looked between the two of us, something like accusation in his eyes when they met mine. Guilt made me looked away. Not for Abel, but for Jason.
“Of our first date. That’s right, sometimes I still can’t believe I convinced this girl to take a chance on a lowly gym teacher and coach.”
Jason curled his arm around my waist again and hauled me in tight, completely oblivious to the tension filling the space that everyone else was aware of. Scarlet heat suffused my cheeks. I was the lowest of the low.
“Yeah, she’s something special, isn’t she?” Abel said pointedly. I cringed. No way would Jason have missed that.
It was Aunt Jax who came to the rescue. “Well, we better be going. We have our own celebrating to do, and we won’t keep you two.”
I wanted to hug her. And I did. I hugged them all, except Abel, and congratulated Aiden on the victory, and then I quickly got Jason out of there.
Hand in hand, we made our way through the parking lot, thankfully in the opposite direction of the others. Halfway there, Jason bumped his hip into mine and squeezed my hand.
“So I take it you and Mr. Rock Star were more than just friends growing up?” It never seemed like the right time to tell him we were ever more than that.
I mean, how did you tell a guy that you used to date—correction—used to be in love with one of his celebrity idols? And that would have led to questions about how and why it ended. Most guys didn’t want to hear, “it’s complicated,” when it came to your ex.
Omitting the whole thing seemed better than lying. But now I was worse than a liar, because there was something else I was keeping from him. Lowest of the low, remember? Pond scum. That was me.
I slowed and then stopped all together, turning on my heel to face him. “I’m sorry I never told you, I just . . .” I let out a heavy breath, not quite knowing what to say. “You just thought I’d be incredibly intimidated? Because I am,” he let out a self-deprecating laugh.
I cringed slightly, feeling even worse. I hadn’t kept it from him to protect him. I was more selfish than that. What was lower than pond scum? “I’m sorry. I should have mentioned it.” He ruffled a hand through his hair. “It’s okay. I’ll try my best not to be insanely jealous.”
A relieved breath escaped when he wrapped his arm around me and we continued toward his Jeep and my Lexus, parked side by side. I nudged him in the side playfully and teased, “Jealous of him or me?” He chuckled. “You obviously. Man that guy is so cool. Was I a total dork back there, all hi, I’m a huge fan? It was like meeting his dad all over again.”