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“How come?”

“Because I love him, but he’s never going to love me back.”

Silence followed, and I stared up at the clouds because they were easier to look at than Jude. As expected, it hurt to admit out loud how one-sided my feelings were. I didn’t know a lot about love, but I did know it wasn’t supposed to feel this lonely.

And what I did know was that I deserved more than a one-sided love. Giving in to this thing with Rhodes would be easy. The hold he had over me was magnetic and inexplicable. But at the end of the day, I wanted to be loved back. That wasn’t wrong, was it?

“I’m sorry,” Jude said finally.

I just shrugged. I didn’t know how to reply. To be honest, I didn’t think there was much I could say. All I had to do was accept it and hope my heart would catch up eventually.

CHAPTER 35

Rhodes

Are you okay?

Ignoring me doesn’t convince me that you’re okay, little wolf.

Something had changed with Theo, but I didn’t know what. It was the little things. I was acutely aware that his gaze didn’t linger on mine during meetings and that he didn’t privately tease me every chance he got. I immediately noticed how he intentionally left extra space between us and kept conversations as short as possible. He stopped finding reasons to be near me, stopped hanging back after practices, and stopped texting altogether.

He wasn’t rude or cold. If anything, it would’ve been easier if he were. Instead, he was still kind and respectful as always. He treated me like he treated everyone, which I hated.

It was as if he’d finally decided to draw a line between us.

It should’ve been a relief. After all, hadn’t I spent weeks trying to convince him of exactly that? Except, now that he was finally listening, it was killing me more than I’d admit. A deep ache like no other wrapped itself around my heart. I couldn’t quite put the words to just how much I missed him. The feeling was overwhelming and confusing. It wasn’t a feeling I was used to.

Some part of me was convinced I could fix this. After an early morning meeting on game day, I waited outside the locker room for him to come out. A few players quickly chatted with me as they passed by, and I engaged them just enough to appease them before they moved on.

Theo was the last one out, and I grabbed him by the elbow before he could pass by.

“Hold up,” I said. He stopped, but he didn’t look at me. He gently slipped his arm free of my grip, the movement polite enough that no one would’ve thought twice. As he shouldered his bag, he took two small steps backward, as if rebuilding the distance between us.

“What’s up?” Theo said.

“What’s wrong?” I replied.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked. “If I need to work on something on the field, just tell me, and I will. I’m sure my dad will help me run drills before the game tonight.”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. You don’t need to practice—I mean, you do. Everyone does, but that’s not what I want to talk to you about.” Jesus fuck, what the hell was wrong with me? I was rambling. I never rambled. But I couldn’t seem to get my thoughts perfectly organized the way I liked. “I just wanted to talk to you about what’s going on with you and me—”

“You coming?” Wyatt called from down the hall, cutting me off.

“Yeah. Just give me a minute,” Theo said.

“I’m counting the minutes, McLaughlin!” Cody shouted.

“We’re all going to grab something to eat before we have to be back here,” Theo explained to me as the others walked away, their laughter echoing down the hall. “So, if that’s all, Coach, I’d like to go with them.”

Coach. It wasn’t said playfully. It was formal. Why did the term sound so ugly coming from him? He never called me that when we were alone. That single word said more about where we stood than anything else.

I should’ve let him go, but instead, I found myself searching his face for… something. Anything. I just wanted to see one thing that would tell me how to get through to him and fix this. There was nothing. Theo just waited patiently for me to say something more. His expression was polite, but his attention was already drifting down the hall to where his teammates were waiting. The worst part was that it wasn’t cruel. He just simply didn’t want to be here anymore.

“Yeah, that’s all,” I said softly. “Just be safe. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Later, Coach.” He offered me a slight nod before heading after the others.

I couldn’t look away. By the time he caught up to Wyatt, his shoulders had relaxed. His laughter carried down the hall a moment later, light and genuine. It should’ve been a relief to know he was okay.