All Chapters of Before We Were US: Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Noah’s POVNeither of us knew how to react, what to say, or what to do next.The words I’d just bleedingly confessed hung in the freezing air between us.The ocean filled the silence, waves rolling rhythmically onto the shore before dissolving into a hiss of white foam and retreating back into the night. I stood perfectly still, barely daring to breathe, my shoes slowly sinking into the damp sand. The biting coastal wind swept across the open bay, but right now, I couldn't feel the cold.My right hand was still locked in its brace against my chest, but my left hand remained at the nape of her neck, my fingers tangled slightly in her hair. Her small hands were still pressed flat against my shirt. I knew she could feel it,my heart hammering an erratic, frantic rhythm against her palms, beating so hard it felt like it was echoing out loud into the empty night.For months, maybe even years, if I was being completely honest with myself, I’d imagined telling Isla I loved her. I had run throu

Noah’s pov I’d never been to Atlanta before.Dad kept both hands on the steering wheel as traffic crawled toward downtown, while I sat staring out the passenger window, trying not to think about why we were here.There were cars everywhere.Six lanes.Honking.Buildings so tall they blocked half the sky.It didn’t feel anything like Pine Ridge.It was the first time since the night at Sunset Bay that the reality actually settled heavily in my gut. I was out of Pine Ridge.For the first time since graduation, it hit me that home was hours behind us.I kept rubbing my thumb against the edge of my brace,I’d spent enough of my life in training rooms, locker lines, and ice baths to know what sterile walls looked like. I was just terrified of the answers waiting inside them.With football, I always had a plan. Learn the playbook; it meant that if you executed the assignment and read the coverage, you knew exactly where you were going to land on the field, trust your teammates and read the d

Noah’s POVThe turf beneath my cleats felt different. I stood on the indoor training field with a football in my right hand, staring at the padded yellow target twenty yards away. Beside me, Karen stood with her clipboard tucked against her chest, watching me with the exact same expression she’d worn since the first day I walked into her clinic ,completely unimpressed.“Twenty yards, Noah,” she said. “No winding up. No forcing the shoulder. Keep it clean.”Three months ago, twenty yards would have sounded impossible. Now, it was the next step.I planted my feet into the turf and took a slow breath. Ten yards had come first, then fifteen, every throw followed by another examination, another exercise, and another reminder that recovery wasn’t a race. I brought the ball up as my elbow settled into the new position Karen had spent weeks correcting.Then I threw. The football cut through the air in a tight spiral…thwack!..dead center.I stared at the target, and for a second, I forgot to b

Isla’s POVBy the time it was three o’clock , my eyes were practically cross-eyed from analyzing quarterly projections. I was just about to close my laptop and start packing up my desk when my phone buzzed against my desk.Noah 🏈: Go straight back to the hotel. Take a shower and get ready. There’s a dress laying on the bed, wear it. You always look beautiful to me, Izzy, but tonight I want you to look your absolute best.My eyebrows pulled together as I stared at the screen, a sudden flutter starting in the pit of my stomach.I tapped his name and dialed him. It rang three times before going straight to voicemail.“Noah Callahan, what are you doing?” I muttered under my breath, scoffing with a nervous laugh as I carried my bag over my shoulder and hurried out of the office.Part of me thought he was joking or over-dramatizing things, but when I unlocked the suite door twenty minutes later, my breath caught in my throat.Laid out neatly across the white hotel duvet was a stunning red