When Trust Is Gone - The Quarterback's Regret Novels & Stories

One guy—Jeremiah, the backup goalie—grinned nervously as he said to me, “Honestly, the way you walked out? Kinda legendary.” That one made me almost smile. Almost. But none of it fixed what Caleb had broken. Not just my heart had been broken. My trust, my sense of safety and the belief that love, when given fully, would be held with care, had been broken. I wasn’t sure I could get that back. So I stood there with arms folded tighter around me while the wind blew strands of hair into my eyes and the smell of charred meat clung to my clothes and tried to forget that someone I once loved was actively poisoning my name like it was sport.

Walter answered each question with a specificity that gradually, uncomfortably, chipped away at my initial skepticism, details that felt too precise to be easily fabricated. "I loved her very much," he said quietly, near the end of the call, his voice thick with what sounded like genuine grief. "Losing her, losing all of you — it's the greatest regret of my entire life. I understand if trust takes time to rebuild. I'm not asking for anything except the chance to try." By the time I hung up, something in my chest had softened considerably, cautious hope threading through the lingering wariness. "He knew things," I told Leon, replaying the conversation. "Specific things. Things that felt hard

The way she always knew the truth, even when I tried to hide it. I remembered how she had begged me to trust her. To be with her. And I had not. Now she was dead. And I would never have her again. I collapsed to the ground, my head in my hands. I did not cry. But the quietness in me was worse than any tear. It was the quietness of a broken bond. The quietness of regret. The quietness of a man who knew too late… That he had destroyed the one thing that had ever truly been his.

The way her laugh, rare, and usually at my expense, had cracked through the air once yesterday, bright and real, before she caught herself. I shut it down. No. Don’t go there. She couldn’t even look at me without seeing a ghost from eight years ago. And I couldn’t look at her without feeling the weight of everything I’d lost. I shoved the card into my pocket, like burying it would make the assignment disappear. Behind me, I could still hear Cole’s words echoing, low and sharp: Trust is life or death. You don’t trust, you don’t win. End of story. He made it sound so simple. But trust wasn’t simple. Not when it had been broken. Not when the person standing across from you on the ice was also t

He still wasn’t facing me. “I never did report about you though,” he continued. “I never told them where you went. I just... let you go. I don't know why, but I wanted to trust you. I think a part of me always did. And now... Caleb’s dead. And I keep wondering if I should’ve done something different. If I didn't let him go, if I was the one reporting back, if I didn't trust my instincts about you, maybe he would still be alive. While I'm not saying that you are bad, I'm just saying that maybe he would be alive.” My heart squeezed. I turned toward him fully, fingers tightening around the blanket. I closed my eyes for a moment too long, squeezing them shots as I forced my emotions down.

"And you don't have to worry at all, Leo. Not about anything. I know what I did before was wrong, getting between you two. I won't say or do anything again." "I trust you, Nate." And it was true. I did. "And even more than that, I trust Quinn. Things are different now. I know what it's like to lose her, and I know I can't handle that. So I'm sure as hell not going to screw it up." "It's not going to be easy." Nate's voice was mild. "But I guess you both know that." "We do. But we're going to make it work."

“I never raised him like this. I always knew him going independent was going to be bad for all of us. Whatever happened between you both was in the past, and he should forget about it. Problems happen in relationships, no relationship is a solid rock.” It was okay for Mrs Ravenford to put it that way, but I figured it was going to be hard to forgive someone you thought you could put your trust in but had regretted as the person had failed to uphold that trust. I hadn't been loyal to Tristian, and I regretted my actions, but there was no need crying over spoilt milk. I was going to have to make do with the spoilt milk. I was going to transform the spoilt milk to milk that was worth consuming.

What I could offer, I did. Once, I trusted fast - ended up ignored. Alone. Left behind while everything cracked. Saw it all fade, Ethan. Won’t hand that chance back. Still, right here, while you speak so kindly, after everything you’ve done to keep me safe… something inside won’t settle. The thought of agreeing, of burning that paper and truly trusting this could last - makes my chest tighten. What if one morning comes and it’s just silence, empty space where you once were? Like last time

"That's right. I told you that you would regret this. Remember that kick you gave me at the correctional facility three years ago, George? I haven't stopped thinking about it since then. So, how does it feel now?" George's mouth hung open, as if every last drop of his strength had been sucked out of him. He collapsed into the muddy water. Regret, despair, and agony gnawed at his insides like venomous snakes. He finally understood that what he'd lost wasn't just a woman who loved him with all her heart. He'd also lost the biggest trump card he'd ever had. "Geri, I was wrong… I know that now…" He lay on the ground, sobbing until his voice broke.

So, I announced my decision firmly, “I can’t live with a self-centered man like you, Maddox. I am leaving with my son. And remember one thing ...” I turned to leave and said, “It’s not a curse or magic. I am leaving because you stabbed me in my back. You can blame anyone you want, but the problem is with you. You aren’t a trustworthy person. And there’s no relationship without trust, Maddox.” With that, I covered my face and ran out of the living room, the tears streaming down my cheeks burned my soul with grief. My love, my happiness, my trust, all was gone, deserting my heart. I didn’t even know whom to trust anymore.