On The Rebound: An Enemies-to-Lovers Sports Romance (Steinbeck U)

by L A Cotton

  I headed straight for Zach’s apartment after Callum gave me the address. His confession had spun my world. It didn’t fix everything. It didn’t fix the years of hurt and disappointment, but it was a start. There was still the small matter of Dad to deal with… but as Callum had suggested, we could take baby steps.

  I checked my cell phone to make sure I had the right building. My heart beat wildly in my chest as I slipped inside. I couldn’t imagine how Zach felt after what happened at the bar. Mr. Messiah had called him Declan. That wasn’t just plunging the knife into his heart. It was twisting it and tearing open his chest for good measure.

  My hands trembled as I knocked on his door. I could have called ahead but I didn’t want to give him a chance to tell me that it wasn’t a good time. When you loved someone, you loved them through it all—the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. I wanted to be there for Zach, even if he thought he didn’t want me to be.

  The door opened and relief sank into me, but it quickly melted away, replaced with confusion as I stared at Victoria dressed in nothing but a shirt.

  “Oh, it’s you.”

  “I... is Zach here?” My brows furrowed.

  I couldn’t stop looking at her. Her long bare legs peeked out from under the shirt, a man’s shirt.

  Zach’s shirt.

  No.

  My stomach fell away as the truth of what I was seeing slammed into me.

  No, he wouldn’t.

  She was his brother’s girlfriend, and I was his—

  “He’s a little preoccupied right now.” Her voice yanked me from my thoughts, the smug victory painted on her face like a slap in mine.

  “But you’re Declan’s—”

  “I know. It’s weird, right? But Zach and I have been helping each other come to terms with things and well, it just happened.”

  “N- no, he wouldn’t.” I sucked in a shaky breath, feeling myself begin to unravel. “We’re... I’m his...”

  “Look, I know you two share history. He told me all about it. Even showed me the photograph...” She smirked. “I gotta say, I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  “Ph- photograph?” I felt sick.

  “Yeah. The one from Halloween.”

  I couldn’t process what she was saying.

  Zach still had the photo of me from last Halloween... and he’d showed it to her?

  Fuck. I was going to puke. I was going to puke all over her, standing there looking like a supermodel, wearing his shirt.

  “I need to go.” I took off down the hall, stumbling my way down the stairs, and spilled out onto the sidewalk.

  I barely made it around the side of the building into the alley before my entire stomach contents emptied all over the ground.

  I’d promised myself never to let Zachary Messiah hurt me for a third time...

  Yet here I was, my heart in pieces and my pride in tatters again.

  And this time, I only had myself to blame.

  Zach

  “Fuck,” I groaned, reaching out and fumbling around to locate the persistent bleeping piercing my skull. My fingers grazed my cell and I dragged it to my ear. “What?”

  “I swear to God, Messiah, if you don’t answer your door right now, I will kick the fucking thing down.”

  “Callum?” I shot upright, rubbing my temples. I hadn’t even checked the name, my eyes bleary from a night I’d rather forget.

  My chest tightened as I forced out the memories.

  “I mean it, Zach. Answer your fucking door.”

  “Yeah, yeah, keep your hair on.” I climbed out of bed and pulled on some shorts. My room was a fucking mess, clothes strewn everywhere.

  Running a hand through my bed hair, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. I was a mess. Hickeys dotted my neck and chest, so I grabbed a t-shirt on the way out and pulled it over my head. Callum didn’t need to see those.

  The second I opened the door, he burst inside, knocking me backward. “What the fuck?” I barked, righting myself.

  “I should knock your head clean off your shoulders, you fucking asshole.”

  “Whoa, man,” my hands went up, the banging in my skull making it a little hard to concentrate. “I know I screwed up, but I can explain.”

  “Explain? You’ve got some fucking nerve, man, screwing my sister over like that and standing there acting like you didn’t break her heart all over again.”

  Shit.

  I’d known Calli would be upset, but I didn’t think—

  “This is what I was worried about,” he hissed. “I knew the second you two were in close proximity everything would go to shit again. I should never have told her to come here.”

  I jerked back as if he’d slapped me. “What did you say?”

  “Last night, after you left, we talked... and I told her to come here because you needed her. What a fucking chump I am.”

  “She was here?” My brows knitted. “But that doesn’t—”

  “Yeah, she was here. Me and Josie spend the entire night trying to calm her down. She’s fucking crushed. How could you do that to her? To Declan? You’re a real fucking piece of work, Zach—”

  He wasn’t making any sense but the pounding in my head wouldn’t stop. I padded over to the refrigerator and pulled out a gallon of juice, chugging it down.

  “Really? That’s all you’ve got to say for yourself?” Callum followed me.

  When I’d drained the thing dry, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “I can’t think with you yelling at me and the hangover—”

  “Hangover?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t exactly enjoy seeing my dad like that. We managed to get him back to his hotel, but he was a fucking mess. We came back here and well, you can see how well that worked out for me.” I flicked my eyes to the empty bottles littered everywhere.

  “Was that before or after you fucked Victoria?”

  Everything slowed down and then slammed into me so fast I didn’t know which thought to deal with first.

  Fucked Victoria?

  Had he lost his goddamn mind?

  “What did you just say?”

  “You heard me,” Callum gritted out. “Don’t even try to deny it. Calli saw her, she saw her with her own eyes.”

  “Calli saw... seriously, man, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I ran a hand down my face wondering if I’d woken up in some alternate dimension.

  What the fuck had happened last night?

  “I don’t understand,” Callum said, his expression softening. “Calli said she came here and saw Victoria wearing your clothes.”

  “I lent her a shirt after my dad puked over us both. She had a shower here and then I told her to go. I wasn’t in a good place.”

  “So, you didn’t fuck her?”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m ass over elbow in love with your sister. Why the fuck would I jeopardize—oh shit, Calli thinks...” My heart lurched into my throat.

  “Yeah, now you can see my predicament. Victoria made it pretty obvious something went down between the two of you.”

  “Fuck.” Panic welled inside me. “Where is she?”

  “Who, Victoria?”

  “No, not Vic, you asshole. Calli?” My voice cracked. I needed to find her. I needed to find her and explain.

  “She spent the night with Josie. I’m not sure you should go over there yet. She was pretty pissed.”

  “I can’t believe she thinks I’d... fuck...” I slouched against the counter, my initial anger giving way to bone-crushing defeat.

  “Look at it from her point of view.” Callum grimaced. “She came here to be with you and Victoria opened the door half-naked, wearing your shirt, acting like the two of you—”

  “Yeah, okay,” I cut him off unable to hear anymore. I got it, I did. But I couldn’t help the disappointment coursing through me at the thought that she didn’t have more faith in me.

  “It’s going to take time,” Callum said as if he could hear my thoughts. “The two of you have histo
ry... She mentioned Halloween.” His voice dripped with accusation.

  “I... uh, yeah... we saw each other last Halloween.” This was as awkward as fuck.

  “Victoria said some stuff... stuff I’m thinking you didn’t share with her. So you need to figure out how she knows, because if you don’t handle her, I will.” Protectiveness burned in his eyes, but I only felt relief. It was about time he stepped up and acted like the brother Calli deserved.

  “This has been a long time coming, you know?” I said.

  “What?”

  “You, pulling the big brother card.” My lips curved into a smirk and he flipped me off.

  “Yeah, well break her heart again and I’ll break your legs. Let’s see you try to run circles around me then.”

  “Dude, I could run circles around you blindfolded and legless.”

  “In your fucking dreams, Messiah.” Quiet laughter rumbled in Callum’s chest as some of the resentment and anger between us faded away.

  “I gotta tell you, man, this is not how I saw this conversation going.” I rubbed the back of my neck.

  “You need her. If you’re going to get through what’s coming, you’re going to need her.”

  He meant Declan; the hard decisions that would eventually have to be made.

  “So what? Is this you giving me your blessing?”

  “No, it’s me telling you that if you don’t find a way to fix things and make my sister happy, I’ll make life very difficult for you.”

  “Get in line,” I grumbled.

  “What?”

  “You haven’t met Xavier yet.” The guy was scary as fuck.

  “Xavier? Who the hell is Xavier?”

  “Owns a biker bar on the edge of town. Calli and Josie hang out there sometimes.”

  “My sister hangs out at a biker bar?”

  “Yup. From what I can gather, he’s taken quite a shine to her.”

  “I... I don’t even know what to say to that.”

  “It’s a good thing.” I chuckled. “At least, I think it is.” Calli had people. Josie. Xavier. Freya. She’d found a tribe to lean on and I couldn’t be prouder of the girl she’d become.

  “Still, I don’t like the sound of it. A biker bar...” He cussed under his breath.

  “You won’t be here next year, and who knows where I’ll end up. She needs people around her, Cal. People who care.”

  “Ouch.”

  “That’s not... you know I didn’t mean that how it sounded.” I let out a heavy sigh. “But with your mom gone and Madison off living her life, Calli came here on her own...”

  His expression fell. “And we both let her down.”

  “Yeah, we did.”

  “So we’d better figure out how the hell to make it up to her.”

  “Actually, I have an idea.”

  “You do?”

  I nodded.

  But first I needed to take care of something.

  “Zach, this is a surprise.” Victoria smiled but I saw the flicker of fear. “Do you want to—”

  I shouldered past her and entered her room at the sorority house. Of course, she had the biggest room built into the loft conversion. The Dorma window gave her great views of the campus, but I wasn’t here to admire the view.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” I snapped, the second she closed the door.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Last night, when I was taking a shower...”

  “Oh, you mean that.” She flicked her hair off her shoulder. “It was nothing. I knew you wouldn’t want Cassie sniffing around after that stuff with your dad, so I got rid of her.” She shrugged. “It was no big deal.”

  “No big...” I dragged in a ragged breath. “Are you really that fucking vindictive that you let her leave thinking we fucked?”

  “I never said that.” She pouted, batting her long lashes at me as if it would actually work.

  “You answered the door wearing my shirt and nothing else. I know you, Vic. I know you’ve had it out for Calli since the second you realized who she was to me.” I stalked toward her, my eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “You’re jealous, but what I can’t quite figure out is if it’s because you care about me as a friend or if you’re really that sick and twisted that you’d fuck your guy’s brother.”

  Crack. The sound of her palm against my cheek filled the space between us. “How dare you? I’m just trying to protect you. She doesn’t care about you, she’s just—”

  “She is the only person who cares about me. Calli isn’t a jersey chaser, Vic. She doesn’t give a shit if I play ball or if I never play again in my life.”

  She saw me.

  Not the name.

  Not the jersey.

  Not the talent.

  She only ever saw me.

  “Zach, come on,” her cold façade melted away as she tried to reach for me, “we’re friends, aren’t we? We need each other.”

  “No, Victoria,” I shirked her off. “We’re not friends. We’re not anything. Stay away from me and stay the fuck away from Calli. Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure everyone knows what a conniving, selfish bitch you really are.”

  Her gasp filled the room, but I didn’t stick around to hear her pleas.

  I was done with her.

  And if she knew what was good for her, she’d be done with me too.

  “Thanks, man.” I clinked my beer against Callum’s. “I couldn’t have done this without you.” We were up on the roof terrace of my building. It wasn’t much, a few planters and old garden chairs but the view was pretty sweet.

  “I’m just surprised my old man had all that stuff lying around still.”

  “Do you think they’ll ever figure it out?” Calli and her dad were worlds apart and he really didn’t deserve a second chance, but then, neither did I.

  “Stranger things have happened.”

  “Like this? Us sitting here, drinking a beer and shooting the shit?” I chuckled.

  “Yeah, exactly like this.”

  Comfortable silence settled over us, until Callum asked, “What do you think you’ll do? You know, about the team, being at SU?”

  “No way I’m leaving now.” Calli was here, and I’d only just got her back.

  “I thought you’d say that...”

  “Growing up, I never wanted it. I used to watch Declan and I was so in awe of him, of his passion for the game... but I never once thought I wanted to do that. Because deep down, I knew I’d never shine so long as he was in the room.”

  “Yeah, I get that.”

  “But junior year, when I joined the team, I was surprised how easy it came. Or maybe I wasn’t, not really. It was weird, you know, being so good at the one thing you’d rejected your entire life. Honestly, I don’t know where my head is at right now.”

  “You have time. But know what I think?”

  “Go on, I’ll humor you.”

  “I think you want it,” Callum said. “You’re just too scared about what it means.”

  “You sound like her, you know? You sound just like Calli.”

  “Taught her everything she knows.” His eyes crinkled with laughter, but his expression quickly dropped. “I was a real fucking asshole to her. I wouldn’t blame her if she never spoke to me again.”

  “She came here, didn’t she? Deep down, that has to mean something.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” He scrubbed his jaw, staring out at the town below.

  “I keep thinking it’s fate,” I said quietly. “I wouldn’t have ended up here if it wasn’t for Declan’s accident...”

  “And Calli might not have ended up here if it wasn’t for Mom’s death.”

  “Yeah.” My chest tightened. “But what I can’t figure out is if that’s really fucking tragic or some kind of poetic justice.”

  “Does it matter? Life threw you both a curveball and then gave you the one thing you needed to come out the other side. Lucky,” he muttered. “I think it makes you both as lucky as hell.”

&n
bsp; “I haven’t won her back yet.” My eyes slid to his, my lips pressed into a thin line.

  “You’ve got this. She loves you, Zach. She never stopped.”

  “How do you—”

  “Because she told me. She looked me in the eye and told me. And do you know what? I wasn’t angry or pissed, I was relieved. Because it means she’s stronger than we ever gave her credit for. It means we didn’t ruin her.”

  I flinched at his words. But he was right.

  Calli was strong… and beautiful… and humble. She was fucking perfection, and I would spend my life making it up to her if that’s what it took.

  “Okay,” Callum stood up, draining the rest of his beer. “It’s time. Are you ready?”

  I accepted his offer of a hand up and nodded.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Calli

  “Uh, Callum, where are we going?”

  “You’ll see,” he said cryptically as he drove suspiciously near to Zach’s apartment building.

  “Seriously?” I hissed when I realized he was pulling off the road into the parking lot. “You said we were going to hang out at the bar with Josie.”

  He wanted to meet Xavier. It was weird, having him pull the big brother card, but I couldn’t deny I liked it.

  I liked it a lot.

  “Zach didn’t sleep with Victoria, Calli.”

  “I know.” I pressed my head against the car window. I think I’d known it the second the words tumbled from her lips, barbed and cruel. Victoria wanted me to think she’d had sex with Zach. But by the time Callum had come to pick me up, I’d calmed down enough to realize the truth.

  Zach was many things, but he wasn’t a cheat. Which meant Victoria was a liar. Still, I’d been upset and confused. She was there, in his apartment, forcing herself between us.

  I’d spent the night with Josie watching cheesy romcoms on her small laptop screen. I wanted to confront Zach, but I also needed to get my head straight. Because being with him, being with the King of SU came with baggage. There was the team, girls like Victoria, his family...

  I needed to figure out where and how I fit into all of that.

  Besides, I hadn’t heard so much as a word from Zach all day. It didn’t exactly instill me with hope.