Chapter 7 - THE FIRST ABANDONMENT

Adrian POV

The meeting room feels like a courtroom, and I'm both the defendant and the witness for the prosecution.

Coach Rowan's words echo in my head: One more incident, one more lapse in judgment, and you're gone.

I keep my eyes fixed on the conference table, afraid to look up and see the disappointment in the faces around me. These men welcomed me like family, and I repaid their trust by going behind their backs.

"You understand what this means for team chemistry?" The coach continued, his voice cutting through my thoughts.

"Yes, sir," I reply automatically.

But I don't understand anything anymore. Three days ago, I thought I knew who I was, what I wanted. Now I'm sitting here letting them tear apart the girl I love to save my own skin.

"Division rivalries are won and lost on unity," Ethan adds, his voice still raw. "One weak link destroys everything."

The accusation hits its mark. I am the weak link. I'm the one who couldn't keep his hands off his best friend's sister.

"I take full responsibility," I manage to say.

"Do you?" The coach leans forward. "Because from where I sit, it looks like you let a nineteen-year-old girl manipulate you into jeopardizing everything we've built here."

The word 'manipulate' makes my stomach churn. Jules didn't manipulate me. She challenged me, pushed me, made me want to be better than I thought I could be.

But admitting that would mean admitting I wanted this as much as she did. That I made a choice knowing full well what it could cost.

"She's always been like that," Ethan says bitterly. "Gets what she wants, consequences be damned. Remember when she convinced Dad to let her redesign the booster dinner seating chart? Caused a three-hour argument between board members."

The guys chuckle, and I want to scream. They're reducing Jules to some spoiled princess stereotype, and it's not true. Not the Jules I know.

Jules who stays up until 2 AM helping her roommate study chemistry. Who volunteers at the animal shelter every weekend.

"She probably thought it would be fun," Tyler adds. "Dating the dangerous transfer. Slumming it with the bad boy."

My hands clench into fists under the table. They're talking about her like she's not human, like she doesn't have feelings that can be destroyed.

"Cross?" The coach's sharp voice snaps my attention back. "Something to add?"

I look up and meet his eyes, those eyes that looks like Jules', but cold where hers are warm.

"No, sir," I say quietly.

Because what can I add? That I'm in love with his daughter? That every moment with her felt like coming home? That she's the first person who ever made me believe I might be worth something?

They'd laugh me out of the room.

"Good," Coach nods. "Because I need to know you understand the severity of this situation. You came here with a reputation for causing problems but I took a chance on you."

The reminder of my past hits like a gut punch. At my last school, I was the whistleblower who exposed a hazing scandal. Lost my scholarship, my teammates, my future all because I couldn't stay quiet when I saw something wrong.

Now I'm staying quiet when I should speak up, and it's killing me.

"You gave me an opportunity," I say. "I won't waste it again."

"See that you don't," Ethan says, his voice harder than I've ever heard it. "Because if you think you can sweet-talk your way back into my family's good graces, you're wrong. Jules might have fallen for your act, but I know exactly what you are."

"What am I?" The question slips out before I can stop it.

Ethan's laugh is bitter. "You're a guy who destroys everything he touches. Your last team, this team, my sister. It's what you do."

The words cut deeper than any punch could. Because there's truth in them—twisted, unfair truth, but truth nonetheless.

"That's enough," Coach intervenes. "We're here to move forward, not rehash the past."

But the damage is done. Ethan's words confirm every fear I've carried about myself since I was twelve years old and my father walked out, saying I was too much trouble to stick around for.

"I want to make something clear," Coach continues, his voice dropping to the tone that makes opposing teams sweat. "Cross is still part of this team, but he's on probation. Any contact with my daughter any at all and he's gone. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," I say, hating myself for how easily the words come.

"And the rest of you," Coach's gaze sweeps the room. "This situation doesn't leave this room. We don't air our dirty laundry in public. Jules made her choice, and now she lives with the consequences."

Jules made her choice. Like this was all her idea. Like I didn't pursue her just as hard as she pursued me.

But I sit there and let him rewrite history because the alternative is losing everything I have left.

After the meeting breaks up, I'm the last to leave. My legs feel wobbly as I make my way to the parking lot.

"Cross," Tyler calls out, jogging to catch up. "Are you okay, man?"

"Fine," I lied.

"Look, I know this sucks," he says, falling into step beside me. "But you did the right thing in there. Sometimes you gotta cut your losses."

Cut your losses. Like Jules is a bad investment instead of the best thing that ever happened to me.

"She'll be fine," Tyler continues. "Girls like Jules always land on their feet. Rich daddy, family connections, she'll bounce back."

But Tyler doesn't know that Coach cut her off financially. Doesn't know she's been kicked out of the only home she's ever known. Doesn't know she's facing all of this alone because the person who claimed to love her chose his scholarship over her heart.

"She's tougher than she looks," Tyler adds.

"Yeah," I say, my voice hollow. "She is."

I get in my car and sit in the darkness, staring at my phone. Three missed calls from Jules, two voicemails I can't bring myself to listen to.

I should delete them. Should block her number and move on like Coach wants.

My phone slips in my hand, and suddenly her voice fills the car:

“Adrian, please. I just need you to know that…”