Frayed: A Small Town Sports Romance (Willow Springs Series Book 1)

by Laura Pavlov

  I pushed to my feet and reached for her hands. She loved me. I knew she did. But it was her way, or the highway and I’d always gone along with that. But I didn’t want to do it anymore.

  “I love you, Mama. I own my part in this. I should have spoken up sooner. I need to tell you something.”

  Her dark eyes searched mine. “What is it?”

  “I quit cheer today. I don’t want to cheer with Karina. I don’t want to cheer for Alec. I honestly don’t like being thrown up in the air anymore. I haven’t liked it for a long time.”

  She let my hands go, and she moved to sit on the bed, shaking her head with disbelief. “It’s a little early for a midlife crisis, Adelaide. I don’t know what is going on with you. What did Coach Hansen say? Can this be undone, or did you burn that bridge?”

  “Savannah,” my father said, his voice harsher than I’d ever heard it. “She doesn’t want to cheer. She shouldn’t be forced to do something she doesn’t like.”

  “You have both lost your damn minds. Edingtons don’t make commitments and then break them.”

  “I’ve never broken a commitment in my life before now. Maybe sometimes it’s okay. Just like you think Alec breaking his commitment to me is okay.” I crossed my arms over my chest and faced her. “You know what Coach Hansen said?”

  “What?” she huffed.

  “She said she was proud of me.”

  “Proud of you? For being a quitter?” she hissed, pushing to her feet and moving to the door.

  “Yes. She tried to talk me out of it at first because she thought it was just about Alec and Karina. But I told her that I haven’t liked cheer for a long time…. that I did it because you wanted me to. And she said that life was short and that she was proud of me for finally doing what I wanted. Do you hear that, Mama? My cheer coach is proud of me for finally finding my voice. Why can’t you be?”

  A tear ran down my mother’s cheek, and a part of me wanted to tell her I would make things right with cheer. I would fix things with Alec. I would stick with her plan. Because I couldn’t stand the idea of breaking her heart. But I didn’t. I couldn’t do that anymore.

  “All right. I think we’re all tired, and we need to put this conversation on the back burner. Let’s talk again when we’ve all calmed down,” my mother huffed and stormed out of my room.

  Daddy winced before walking over to me and kissing the top of my head. “Goodnight, Ladybug.”

  “Goodnight,” I whispered.

  I went to close the door right as Clem came flying around the corner and whisper-shouted, “I told you. We are woman. Hear us roar.”

  She ran back to her room and I heard her giggling through the walls.

  I dropped back down at my desk and stared at the essay question. Well, I’d just had a very negative experience with my mom. But I hadn’t a clue how to turn it around.

  I decided to climb into bed and call it a night.

  I group messaged the Magic Willows and called for an emergency meeting tomorrow after school. They all agreed to meet. And then I scanned my phone to read the texts from Sherman asking us if we’d finished our homework.

  Asking if we wanted to start a weekly study group.

  He wanted to know how many colleges we were applying to, as he had narrowed his list to seventeen.

  Seventeen.

  And I’d applied to one so far.

  I responded and said that I was still deciding on schools. Because I was. I had plenty of time to change the course of my future. And I intended to do it.

  A text popped up from Jett and my stomach flipped.

  Jett ~ Seriously? Seventeen schools? Any luck with that essay, Ace?

  Me ~ Working on it. Just told my mom about cheer and she’s not happy.

  Jett ~ One rebellious thing at a time. Ease her into it.

  Me ~ What are you doing? It’s late.

  Jett ~ Just getting home.

  Me ~ Hot date with Jessica?

  I couldn’t believe I wrote it, but I wanted to know. I didn’t think they were together, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

  Jett ~ Nope. I had a fight.

  Me ~ Did you win?

  Jett ~ Yep.

  Me ~ Good job, I guess? But you could get hurt. I don’t know if fighting is the answer.

  Jett ~ Not for you, Ace. You’re too good for that shit. Night.

  Butterflies swarmed my belly for some reason.

  Me ~ Good night. See you tomorrow in class.

  He didn’t respond. But I had a big smile on my face. Because I liked my new friendship with Jett. He was smart and funny. Obviously, he was painfully good looking. And he understood me in a way that most people didn’t. And I liked it.

  “Okay, there’s a lot to go over today,” Ivy said, flipping the notebook open and holding her pencil up as if she were ready to start documenting our every word. She was still on a high about the East Texas girls winning the state soccer meet. We’d all been out there cheering her on as she’d scored her final goal in her high school career.

  “So many rules with you lately,” Coco hissed, sitting forward on the couch and resting her elbows on her knees.

  “I call it as I see it. So, let’s start with what we found out from our mothers about Mrs. Radcliff being pregnant.”

  Maura reached in her pocket and tossed a photo on the table. “I found this late last night. My mom attended your mom’s baby shower, Co. And she looks hella preggers here.”

  We all leaned forward and studied the photo. Mrs. Radcliff looked huge.

  “Jesus. It looks like she’s carrying a full-grown bodybuilder in there,” Gigi said through her hysterical laughter.

  “Preeclampsia,” Maura said. “I asked my mom about it and she said your mom had a really tough pregnancy with you. She was puffy and miserable.”

  Coco threw her hands in the air. “Of course. And she holds it against me to this day. It all makes sense now. I’m not adopted. I’m responsible for nine months of her looking like shit for the first time in her perfect little life.”

  “At least you know you’re a Radcliff,” I said.

  “Or so we believe. Maybe I was artificially inseminated with someone else’s egg and sperm. I just can’t believe I come from those people,” Coco huffed.

  We cracked up.

  “There is no way Cricket Radcliff would allow a foreigner to come out of her vagina. It just wouldn’t happen. She’s far too haughty for that shit,” Ivy insisted, and we all laughed some more.

  “Okay. Mystery solved for now. But I’m going to watch them closely over the next few months. There’s something off, and I will get to the bottom of it. But let’s hear what’s happening with you,” Coco said, turning to face me.

  “Well. I quit cheer.” I sucked in a long breath after I said it.

  “You did?” Maura asked. “Finally. You hated it for so long. It’s about time.”

  “Hell, Alec cheating on you might be the best thing that’s ever happened to you,” Gigi said.

  “What did your mom say?” Coco asked, and the concern in her eyes made me laugh. Turns out, everyone feared my mother.

  I loved that my best friends weren’t surprised that I’d quit cheer. They were aware that I hadn’t been happy doing it for a while.

  Because they listened.

  Because they knew me.

  “She’s currently not speaking to me. And my dad and I leave this weekend for Clem’s race up north. Of course, Mama claims she has a board meeting for NCL or something. It’s the state meet. Clementine made it as a freshman. I can’t believe she’s missing it.”

  “Clem is going to take over the world before she graduates from high school,” Ivy said as she continued to write in the book. “What about Alec? Have you talked to him again?”

  “He’s coming over in a half hour. He wa
nts to talk. And I do too. I need him to know that I don’t hate him, but I also don’t want to get back together. Ever.”

  “Fucking finally.” Coco fist-bumped the sky. “You’ve outgrown that kid. He was never good enough for you.”

  “Ty said he’s pretty broken up about it,” Ivy said. “But I don’t think you should get back with him either.”

  I nodded. We continued talking and laughing until the doorbell rang, and they all hopped up to leave. I made my way upstairs and slipped on my jacket. I didn’t want to talk to Alec in the house where Mama could eavesdrop. I stepped outside, and we dropped to sit on our porch swing.

  “Hey,” he said, turning to face me. “I haven’t seen you much at school. I’d almost think you’re avoiding me.”

  “I kind of am. It’s a little awkward, right?”

  “It doesn’t have to be, Addy. We can get past this. It’ll just take some time.” He pulled his hoody up over his head as the wind bustled around us.

  “That’s the thing. I don’t want to get past it, Alec. I’m not even that mad at you anymore. I think our moms sort of forced this whole thing on us. We just didn’t know anything different. But I think maybe you have something with Karina and you should give that a try. You keep going back to her, so there must be a reason.”

  “What? I don’t want to be with Karina. I want to be with you. What are you saying? You don’t want to get back together? Ever? You can’t mean that.” He grabbed my hands and held them in his.

  I nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I think this has run its course. I want to move on, and I think you should do the same. We’re not going to be best friends at first, because there’s obviously some hurt there. But eventually, I think we’ll get past it. We have a history.”

  “You’re not making any sense, Addy. My mom told me you quit cheer. This is all because you’re upset with me. And I get it. I fucked up. I should have told you that my parents were fighting. I’ve heard my mom threaten to file for divorce a few times. I don’t know what’s up with them. But I lost myself for a bit. I know I screwed up. You have to forgive me.”

  “That’s the thing. I do forgive you. This isn’t about me being mad at you. It’s about me figuring out what I want for the first time in my life.”

  “Oh, so now you’re quitting cheer and you’re quitting me?” He pulled his hands away in a huff.

  “You don’t get to be the victim in this, Alec. You quit us long before I did.”

  “I never quit us. I just messed up. I thought with my dick and not my head. That’s what guys do sometimes.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  Oh my gosh, he was taking a page out of the Savannah Edington handbook. Justifying his actions. I thought about what Jett had said, and he was right. Alec never took responsibility for his actions.

  He was an entitled little prick.

  “Well, not the guys that I want to date. Listen, I don’t want to fight with you, I really don’t. But I’m done, Alec. I’m moving on. And you should do the same.” I pushed to my feet and he reached for my hand.

  And I felt absolutely nothing for him.

  “Addy, please. We’re going to State together next year. You know we’re going to end up together, so why torture us during our senior year. I love you. This is our time.”

  Our time? Didn’t he just have sex with Karina a week ago?

  Was it not our time then?

  I pulled my hand away. “I don’t know how to make this more clear for you? We’re done. I’m done. Maybe we’ll find our new normal as friends down the road, but for now, I think it’s best that we both do our own thing.”

  He tried to grab my hand again. “So, you don’t care if I fuck Karina a hundred more times, huh?”

  I yanked my hand away. “There’s no need to be cruel. But honestly, no. You can fuck whoever you want, Alec. And I can do the same.”

  “You dated me for three years and never put out. And now, what? You’re going to fuck around on me?” Alec said, reaching for my hand again.

  The door flew open and my father stood there staring at us. “It’s time for dinner, Ladybug. It’s time to say goodbye, Alec.” His tone was stern, and his eyes were hard as he stared at my ex-boyfriend.

  Oh my god.

  Had my father overheard our conversation?

  So much for making peace with Alec. We had a long way to go before we’d find a friendship, and at the moment I couldn’t imagine things ever being normal with Alec Taulson again.

  I was claiming my life back.

  And it felt damn good.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jett

  My motorcycle rumbled down the dirt road, and I passed the white VW Bug before pulling over and parking my bike. It had been almost a month since the first time I’d brought Adelaide out here, and the girl had come every day since. I gave her a hard time about it, but honestly, I didn’t mind at all. We mostly talked about school, and life, and sometimes we both just did our own thing and didn’t say much. She was working on her damn college essay for TU and still hadn’t made a dent in it. I knew she was going through a lot, but she claimed she’d never felt better.

  I didn’t have a lot of time today because I had a fight tonight, but I felt like coming out and sitting by the lake for a bit. Jax and Shaw were at basketball practice, and they had no idea I spent so much time with the girl outside of school. It didn’t mean anything. We were both going through some shit with her trying to figure out where to go to school without pissing off her mom, and me trying to make sure I made the right decision about which school to sign with. The offers were coming in and I had a few impressive schools that I hadn’t expected to recruit me. The whole experience was humbling.

  “Hey. What’s up?” I said as I walked down to the water and watched Adelaide trying to skip a rock for the millionth time. I couldn’t take it any longer. The girl had clearly never been taught how to skip a rock properly.

  “I’m practicing my rock throwing skills,” she said.

  I came up behind her and reached for her hand. I’ll be damned if my dick didn’t jump to attention at the mere contact. I’d never cared much for oranges and cinnamon, but now it was the scent that I craved. This was why I didn’t do attachments. The last thing I needed was to be craving anything about Adelaide Edington. I wrapped my large hand around her small one, forcing her to grip the rock between her fingers.

  “You don’t fucking chuck it. It’s not a baseball.” I pulled her arm back, and her head settled against my chest. “Slowly and with purpose, let it go with enough finesse to skim along the top of the water.”

  She let me move her hand forward before she released it and it was far from my best work, but it was a hell of a lot better than anything she’d done to date. It bounced a few times before sinking out in the distance. We stood there watching it before I realized her hand was still in mine and I jerked it away and moved to sit on the large rock beside her.

  “Wow. That wasn’t bad, right?” she asked, clearing her throat.

  “It wasn’t terrible.”

  She laughed. “I didn’t think you’d come out today. I thought you had a fight?”

  Was she keeping tabs on me now? I guess when you hung out with someone every day, this is what happened. It wasn’t my thing normally, but for whatever reason, I didn’t mind telling her what I was doing.

  “I had some time to kill. I got a verbal offer from UCLA today, so I met with Coach Stephens after school to talk about it.”

  “Wow, Jett, that’s amazing. What do you think you’ll do?”

  I shook my head. “My gut still tells me to go with Coach Devo at TU. I verbally committed, and my word means something, at least to me it does. And I wouldn’t be able to afford to fly home to see my mom and Gram if I were in Los Angeles. If I’m in Austin, I can hop on my bike and come home whenever they need me. And they can c
ome see my games if I’m close too.” I knew that was important to my mom.

  “I think you have your answer. But it’s got to feel good to know that you have options.” She pressed her hip up against mine as there wasn’t enough room for two people here. Didn’t stop her from crowding my space though.

  “How about you? How’s that essay coming?”

  “Well, Alec has texted me forty-two times today, and he made a scene when I left school because I didn’t want to talk to him. That was a fairly negative experience.” She laughed hard. “But I think the admissions committee might be looking for something deeper?”

  I rolled my eyes. “What the hell is that dude’s deal?”

  That dickhead, Taulson, had no problem cheating on her, but now that they were broken up, he suddenly couldn’t live without her.

  “I don’t know. He wants everyone to feel bad for him, but according to Ty, he and Karina are still hooking up, so I have no idea why he’s hell-bent on getting back together? I don’t know why he doesn’t just date Karina? I’m actually disgusted that I dated him for so long. I don’t think I ever really knew him. And there’s this weird awkwardness with Mama T. Almost like she blames me for our breakup.”

  What were we, girlfriends now? Why was she telling me all this stuff?

  This was a shit ton more information than I normally wanted—but I liked Adelaide, and I didn’t even mind hearing about this stupid shit. Although it aggravated the hell out of me how Taulson’s mom treated her. Hell, I hated the way her own mother treated her.

  “She’s an asshole, just like her kid, if you ask me. He fucks around on you, and she blames you for ending it. That’s why that kid thinks he can do whatever he wants and not be held responsible. I’m so happy Clementine put her in her place a few weeks back.”

  She laughed all over again at the memory. She’d barely been able to get the words out at the time because she couldn’t stop laughing.

  “The girl gets ninth place in the Texas state cross-country meet as a freshman and comes home to find our mom and Mama T talking about me and Alec. They never even asked Clem how she did. So, yeah, she gave it to them. She reminded Mama T that Alec was the one who went poking around with Karina James. No pun intended, she’d said. I thought Mama would faint at her words.”