Philip looked downward and shook his head from side to side. He spoke slowly and quietly, because he knew if he got angry, he just might punch his teammate, and that wouldn’t be wise right before a big game. “You know, Carter, I didn’t see you coming round when I needed a ride or a helping hand or someone to hang out with while I was laid up. Maybe at first, but you—all of you—you all got tired of hanging around the gimp who might never play football again.” Philip lifted his head and looked directly at Carter. “The only one who stood by me was Sara. She’s the only one who didn’t abandon me, because she doesn’t give a damn about me as a football star. She cares about me as a human being. I almost forgot what that meant until I met her.”
“Damn Philip, sounds like…”
Philip cut him off. “Sounds like what? Like I’ve fallen for her? You’re right. I have. I’ve fallen hard. Sara is just about the best thing that ever happened to me, and if it took me getting stuck in a wheelchair to open my eyes to who my real friends are— Well, you know something? That was maybe the best thing that could have happened.” He turned his back to Carter, but then he turned around to face him again. “I’m in love with Sara, but you wouldn’t even know the meaning of the word love. You don’t even know the meaning of the word friendship. Why don’t you take your fake concern and get the hell out of here.”
Carter put the wallet on the desk and bent his arms upward showing Philip his palms, like he was surrendering. “Hey man, relax. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you more, but you don’t need to bite my head off. And so what if you had taken the bet?”
“Damn it, Carter!”
“Okay, okay,” Carter said. He swiped his wallet off the desk and took a few steps toward the couch. He shuffled a few twenty dollar bills and started to put them back in his wallet. “But hey, it’s not like some guys on our team never slept with a girl for a hundred bucks. You wouldn’t be the first, you know.”
Philip was about to snap at Carter when something caught his eye in the doorway. His lips parted. “Sara.”
“Is that true?” she asked in a small voice. She was standing at the threshold of the dorm, partway in and partway out. “Did you sleep with me because of a bet?”
“What? No! No, of course not.”
“Is that what this was all about? A bet?” Sara turned her head and looked along the walkway outside the apartment at the pretty blonde sitting on the ground and talking on a cell phone several doors down. She recognized the girl as Brittany, the cheerleader who had been kissing Philip and sitting on his lap the day Sara met him. She looked back at Philip. “Oh my God, it is! You would never have looked twice at someone like me otherwise. None of you jocks ever looked at me before.” She ran her hand through her hair. “Oh God, it all makes sense now. Brittany really is your girlfriend.”
Philip walked over to Sara in the doorway and grasped her arm. “Sara, that’s not true. What you heard Carter say was—”
“The truth. Don’t touch me!” Sara pulled her arm out of Philip’s grip. She looked at Philip and then at Carter before turning around and running off.
“Sara!” Philip said, heading after her, but his bum knee wouldn’t let him keep up. “Sara, wait!”
Carter jumped up and gripped Philip’s shoulder. “I’ll get her, don’t worry.” He skipped past Philip. “Mary, stop!”
∙•∙
Sara ran across the lawn in the direction of the library building. She really didn’t know where she was going, just that she was running away.
She always knew it was too good to be true, a handsome, popular, local legend like Philip would not be interested in someone like Sara, not without an incentive. Of course it was a bet. Of course he wasn’t into her. Of course he was only using her. What angered her even more was that she allowed it to happen against her own good judgment. She let herself get caught up in Philip. She let him do things no other man had ever done. She let him get close to her and she let her guard down. And yes, she let herself fall in love with him.
Last night, when she thought he tossed her aside for another girl at the New Year’s party, Sara had been more stoic about it than she was now. She told herself it was worth it and she wouldn’t trade it for anything, even if her heart did wind up getting broken in the end. But this was different. She’d been played for a fool, and nothing was worse than that. Stupid girl, she chided herself, running faster as she heard a voice calling to her from behind.
A man gripped her arm and stopped her from running. She looked over at Carter. “Let go of me.” She tried pulling out of his grip, but he wouldn’t release the stranglehold he had on her arm.
“No, I’m not letting go. You need to listen to me, Mar—I mean Sara. What you think you heard, it’s not true. There was no bet.”
“Bullshit!” she spat.
“There wasn’t!” He sighed. “Okay, yes, I suggested it to him a couple months ago, but Philip blew me off. He’s not the kind of guy who uses people like that,” Carter insisted. “He’s just not. Out of all the guys on the team, he’s the one with the most integrity. We’re kind of a mess without him.”
“Why should I believe you?” Sara asked with more than a little skepticism, while she continued struggling to get her arm out of Carter’s vise-like hold, but it was useless. He was a big burly football player and he was far too strong for her.
“Because he just told me he loves you.”
“He did?” Sara softened for a minute, but her gut told her this was still a trick. “You’re lying!”
“Why would I lie? There’s nothing in it for me. No offense, but I don’t care about you.” Sara scowled at Carter. “But I do care about Phil, and I don’t want to be the one who messes things up for him. He needs you.”
“Sara!” Sara and Carter turned their heads toward the sound of Philip’s voice. He was about five hundred feet behind them, and he was down on the ground. “Sara,” he called out again.
Sara gasped when she saw that Philip had fallen onto the grass. She ran back toward him, with Carter close behind. When they reached the spot on the grass where Philip sat, they both kneeled down next to him. Sara touched his thigh. “Philip, what happened?”
“I tried to run,” he said, grimacing with pain. “I think I blew out my knee.”
“Oh God, no,” Sara said, distraught with worry over Philip. She’d already forgotten why she was running away.
Capturing her hand on his thigh, he said, “It’s fine. I’ll be fine, as long as I have you.”
Sara looked up from his knee to his face. She was about to say something when Carter reached around Philip’s back. “Let’s get you inside,” he said, pulling Philip to his feet. “Do you want me to take you to the medical center?”
Philip shook his head no. He leaned on Carter and the three of them walked back to the dorm very slowly.
∙•∙
Inside the room, Carter opened the freezer and took out a gel ice pack. He pressed it to Philip’s knee. “I’ve got it,” Philip said, holding the ice on his knee and closing his eyes as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed. It didn’t hurt as badly now that he’d walked on it a little and loosened it up. Under normal circumstances, he’d never break into a run without warming up.
When Philip opened his eyes, he saw Sara and Carter exchanging worried glances. “Carter, can you give us a few minutes?”
“Oh…Uh. Yeah, sure. Listen, call me if you need anything. I’ll come by later to check on you.” He clamped Philip’s shoulder, and then he gently touched Sara’s and said, “See you, Sara,” before leaving the dorm room.
Sara remained fixated on Philip’s knee. “Oh god, this is all my fault.”
“Stop it,” Philip told her. “I’m gonna be fine,” he said in a tone that sounded more than a little irritated. “Right now I’m less worried about my knee and more concerned about the fact that you’d believe I orchestrated some elaborate seduction because of a bet.” When Sara looked away, he reached for her hand and pulled
her over to sit next to him on the bed. He was not about to let Sara start a pattern of jealousy and mistrust. They needed to deal with this right now. “Sara, look at me. What kind of man do you think I am? I mean, do you really think I need a hundred dollars so bad that I’d take you with me to spend the holidays with my parents just to get laid? Does that even make any sense?”
Sara covered her eyes with one hand before looking at Philip again. “You didn’t know I was going to stay.”
Philip closed his eyes in exasperation. “I guess there was just one trick I played.”
“Excuse me?”
He opened his eyes to look at her. Honesty time. “I have a confession.”
“What is it?”
“Remember when we were at the orange grove, and you told me your mom would freak out if you invited a friend without telling her?” he asked.
“Right.”
“Well, my mom isn’t wild about unexpected overnight guests either. She…she knew you were coming.”
Sara’s brow knit. “What do you mean?”
“I told her I was bringing you. See, I didn’t just ask you to drive me so you could drop me off. I always intended for you to stay.”
Her eyes flashed. “What?”
“Don’t get mad. Listen, I knew you didn’t have plans. And I didn’t want you to be alone for the holidays…No—” he shook his head and corrected himself. “It was more than that.” He licked his dry lips. “I wanted you to be with me. I didn’t want to be away from you.”
She finally smiled a little. “I don’t know what to say.”
Resting his hand on top of hers, he said, “Just say you won’t leave me anymore, Sara. Say you don’t believe I’m the kind of guy who would take a bet to get a girl in bed, or who’d bring you to a party and kiss someone else.”
A tear rolled down Sara’s cheek. “Oh God, Philip, I think the world of you. I do.” She started speaking very fast. “But all my life, people have disappointed me, even my own family. They don’t give me a second thought, so why would you? Why would anyone?”
Shaking his head, Philip said, “Sara, I love you, and I can see us being together forever, but you gotta stop this. You’re gonna have to figure out a way to deal with your insecurities and mistrust or we’re not even gonna make it to our one-month anniversary.” When he saw her lips quiver, he softened. “Oh, baby.” He wiped her tear away with his thumb. Seeing the hurt on her face, Philip felt a knot form in his stomach. She really had no clue how special she was. “Listen to me sweetheart. I struggle with insecurities too.”
“Really?”
“Of course. On the field and off. It’s part of life. But I gotta tell you, I couldn’t feel the way I do about you if you weren’t amazing. You are so sweet. And you’re kind and caring. You’re smart and funny. You’re modest and beautiful. And hot tempered and judgmental and too quick to think the worst about people. And those aren’t even half of the reasons why I love you.”
Nodding, Sara whispered, “I love you too, Philip.” She pressed her face against his chest, nestling into his arms. “I’m sorry Philip. I really am. I’ll never doubt you again.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Carter informed the Barracudas coaches about what happened to Philip, so the team managers decided it was best for Philip to rest instead of accompanying the team to the Flamingo Bowl. He was ordered to see a doctor the next day. Philip agreed, but he told Coach Fairchild that wild horses wouldn’t keep him from practicing with the team later in the week.
On January 2nd, Sara awoke with her cheek resting on Philip’s warm chest and his arms folded around her. She lifted her head to look at him, and a smile came to her face. Sometimes she had to pinch herself to believe this was all really true, that someone as amazing as Philip Mason was in love with someone like her. Yesterday, he told her to stop feeling insecure where he was concerned, and he was right. She needed to work at it.
Philip stirred as the morning light filtered through the window of the dorm room. He smiled when he saw Sara looking at him. Running his knuckles over her cheek, he said, “Good morning, beautiful.”
Sara felt herself blush. “I’m not beautiful.”
“You are to me,” he said with the sincerest expression on his face. Sara felt a lump in her throat, and she pressed her face into his chest again.
Running his hand over her hair, he asked, “Hey, you okay?” His voice was etched with concern.
Lifting her head again, she merely nodded.
“Hey, I just remembered I have something I want to give you.” He folded back the covers and got out of bed naked, limping toward the chest of drawers. He opened the top drawer, took something out, and slid the drawer closed again.
She watched intently as he limped back to the bed, and was relieved to see that his knee didn’t seem to be any worse after what happened yesterday.
He climbed on top of the covers. “I want to give you something to prove how much I care about you. I never want you to have any doubts about us, ever again.”
“Philip, that’s sweet, but you don’t need to give me anything to prove how you feel.” Sara felt a little embarrassed that Philip would think he had to give her something in return for her trust. “I believe you. Yesterday was just a misunderstanding. Well, mixed with a little of my insecurity, and I’m going to work on that. But honestly, I don’t need you to give me anything.”
Philip held up a shiny silver key. “It’s an extra key to the room. I want you to have it,” he said, taking her hand and pressing the key into her palm. “That way, you’ll know how much I want you to be with me.”
Sara looked down at the key in her hand. When she looked back up at Philip, she felt tears rolling down her cheeks. “I don’t know what to say.” She found herself speechless a lot lately. It was sometimes hard to find the right words to fit the situation.
He gently clasped her fingers and folded them closed with the key inside. “You don’t have to say anything…except yes. Say you’ll move in with me.”
Sara blinked. Her lips parted when she finally realized the enormity of Philip’s gesture. He wasn’t just giving her a key so she could come and go as she pleased. He wanted her to live with him! Suddenly, the hand holding the key became sweaty. How should she answer? Swallowing hard, she said, “Philip, this is big.”
“I know.”
“I’ve never lived with a guy before.”
“Neither have I…lived with a girl, I mean.”
“Do you think it’s too soon?”
“I don’t know,” he said truthfully. “Do you? Baby, it’s your call. Do you want to?”
Sara looked into his eyes and no answer came to mind, at least nothing she could formulate into a sentence. Was it too soon? They’d only been a couple for about a week. Living together could be deal-breaker. She refocused on Philip. He was waiting for an answer.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to find her voice again. “Yes,” she finally blurted out, allowing her heart to answer instead of her head. The girl who started out the semester being so sensible and cynical and analytical had just thrown caution to the wind. She led with her emotions for once in her life and it felt amazing, freeing.
Philip’s lips descended on hers as he pressed her back onto the pillow, sealing their agreement to take their relationship to the next level with a kiss, and more.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Philip helped Sara move her things into his dorm room the next day. Most students—as well as the RAs—weren’t back from winter break yet, making this the opportune time for bending a few rules by unofficially moving in together. She brought some clothing, her laptop, some treasured books, and some toiletries. She told Philip she could manage on her own, but he insisted on doing this together. His limp was a bit less pronounced, but the last thing she wanted was for him to suffer a setback by overdoing it, especially after what happened on New Year’s Day.
He shot her a look and gently told her not to worry, so she backed off
. She knew she could easily turn into a mother hen, but that wasn’t the relationship she wanted with him. She was his girlfriend, his equal, and his soon-to-be live-in lover. He was his own man, and he knew his limits, so she forced herself to stop hovering.
Sara didn’t move everything she owned into Philip’s dorm. She left some of her clothing behind. She wasn’t giving up her room, not yet. Her father was paying her tuition and living expenses, so as far as he knew, it was business as usual. The room was already paid for. As for Sara, she needed a fallback position just in case things didn’t work out.
Philip’s dorm room was so much nicer than hers. It was really more like a suite. There was only one bedroom, but then, only one person lived there—until now. The apartment had a separate sitting area with a sofa, a desk, and chair, there was an eat-in kitchenette, and a bathroom that had a stall shower and a soaking tub with a Jacuzzi. Theoretically, the athletes needed a tub to soak their aches and strains away, but Sara imagined the tub got used more often for carnal pursuits than it did for therapy. She knew firsthand that Philip enjoyed water sports.
Philip plopped onto the bed while Sara stowed her things in her new home. He smiled as he watched her. “You do know what the best part of living together is, don’t you?”
While placing some of her clothing on hangers in Philip’s closet, Sara turned her head and gave Philip a skeptical look. “No, but I suppose you’re gonna tell me.”
“Come here.”
Sara wrinkled her brow. “I’m a little busy here,” she told him.
“Saaara,” he taunted her in a sing-songy fashion. “Saaara.”
Sighing, she shook her head from side to side. “Okay, okay,” she acquiesced. As soon as she was within reach, Philip pulled her onto his lap. With his hand on the small of her back, he pressed her toward him, kissing her. Leaning away ever so slightly, he started to unbutton her blouse with his other hand. “Well? Don’t you want to know the answer?”
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