All Chapters of The Captain Wants Me Back!: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Joey's POVI didn't go straight to the club that evening. Most days I would have headed there after my tutoring sessions, but today I was too tired to go immediately. I needed a long bath and a short nap.I stepped inside and found Cassian on the floor in front of the television, his eyes glued to the screen; he was watching PJ Masks.He barely spared me a glance as he muttered, "Hi, Joey."Oh, I wasn't going to take that.I crossed the room, dropped down beside him, and planted a loud kiss on his cheek."Ew," he said, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "Go away.""No," I said, laughing. "I am not going anywhere."I kissed him again, twice, until he squirmed and tried to shove me off."Tell me you love me first," I said, holding him in place."No!" He yelled.I reached for his ribs and tickled him. He burst out laughing before he could protest or say anything."Fine, fine!" he shouted between giggles. "I love you! Now, stop!"I let him go, smiling, and pressed one more kiss to

Joey's POVMy eyes widened at Winona's words.She held the phone higher so he could see the screen, the number already dialed, and her thumb hovering over the call button."I have your face right here. I have your car. And I have every word you just said to her recorded on my doorbell camera, which, by the way, has been running this whole time."I blinked. We didn't have a doorbell camera. Even the CCTV wasn't working. But if that could work, then I was all in.Roland's grin faltered for the first time since he had stepped out of his car."You are bluffing," he said, sounding completely unsure of that anymore."Try me," Winona said.For a long second, nobody moved. I stood frozen between them, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my ears.Roland looked at me one more time, something calculating behind his eyes, as if weighing whether this was worth the risk. Then he laughed and raised both hands in surrender."Fine," he said. "Fine, but this is not over."He got back in his ca

Joey's POVI walked fast, not looking where I was going, my chest still tight from everything that had just happened at the cafe.I didn't go home. I couldn’t. Not with Winona and Cassian there, people who might see my face and ask questions I had no answers for yet."Watch where you're going, Kid!" A man yelled as a bicycle’s bell rang behind meI jumped out of the way just in time before he could hit me."I'm sorry," I apologized over my shoulder before I swore under my breath. "Focus, Joey."Just saying those words to myself wouldn't help. So, I forced myself to pay attention as I walked the sidewalk instead of the mess spinning around in my head.I kept replaying the look on Gabriel's face, the way his jaw had tightened right before I stood up, as if I had reached across that table and hit him right on the heart. I didn't mean for it to come out that way, didn't mean for any of it to sound or seem that way at all.He had only been trying to help. That was the worst part. He hadn't

Gabriel's POVI stood there a long moment, certain my eyes were playing some cruel trick on me. Joey and Roland together, his arm resting over her shoulders, and she wasn’t pushing it away.I thought about the cafe, about her sharp words the day before, about how every word she said had hurt me. Was she also doing this to hurt me? But it didn't make sense because she didn't know about Roland. She knew Ryder as my friend, but not Roland.But then again, Joey wasn't the kind of person to do this to get back at someone.I wasn't sure what was going on, though deep down I wanted to find out.Still, I did not approach them. I turned and walked the other direction instead, tray still balanced uselessly in my hands and my appetite completely gone."Davenport! Get over here!"Roland's yelled across the lawn. A few heads turned before mine did. I stopped, tray still in hand, and found him waving me over like this was the best possible moment for me to arrive.I didn't want to go over there, bu

Gabriel's POVMy sling finally came off that morning, and my shoulder felt strange without it, lighter but somehow more fragile, like it might slip out of place again if I moved too fast.Apparently, Dr. Conrad increased my off-duty time because he thought I would ruin my arm by disobeying him. But since I hadn't, he told me the real time. In two more weeks, I'll be cleared for football drills, and in another I'll be able to play.I couldn't wait.I stood in the kitchen testing my arm by rolling it slowly in small circles. Then I reached for a knife on the counter, determined to cook something myself for the first time in days.I got as far as lining up an onion on the cutting board before Ryder walked in and snatched the knife out of my hand."Absolutely not," he said."My arms are stronger," I said. "The doctor cleared me this morning.""The doctor cleared you for walking around in a sling, not knife work." He set the knife down on the far side of the counter, out of my reach. "Sit