The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

~CARTER~

I slam my fist against the steering wheel. I’d f*****g messed up again. I never thought kissing someone at the stadium after the game would have made Scarlett angry with me.

If I had known, I wouldn’t have done it.

The stupid tradition was only a way for the academy to make more money. They knew more girls would come to the games once they knew there was a chance to k**s the star player. It was a good strategy until now. It was f*****g messing with my life.

I always knew Clara wasn’t happy when I kissed other girls at the end of my games, but she never reacted as severely as Scarlett did today.

But why was she even angry? Didn’t she hate me? Why did this bother her that much?

It didn’t matter why. I had to find a way to stop it if it meant that she would start speaking to me again.

I’ve spent the whole day wondering what the f**k I did to make her ignore me like that. I was restless for hours. Now I knew the reason, and I was even more restless than before. I had to find a way to make it up to her.

I’m about to leave the parking lot when I see Clara, Alaric, and Nicole walking out of the academy.

I frown. What were the three of them doing together? I wasn’t even aware that Alaric would be here today. I was even more surprised to see Nicole with him. Their arguments were so bad recently that it was very rare to see the couple together.

I hadn’t spoken much to Alaric since our mini argument after he found me with Scarlett. It’s the first time we’ve ever fallen out this badly. I knew he wanted me to stay away from Scarlett, but it wasn’t something that I could do right now. Even if I tried explaining it to him, he wouldn’t understand.

I knew it was wrong. I knew that it was too soon after my breakup with Clara to be going after her sister. It was never my intention for things to reach this far. I was only supposed to mess around with her, a harmless game, but now it was so much more than that. One f*****g taste, and I had lost my mind. I wanted to taste her over and over again. I couldn’t get enough. I felt like I was under a f*****g spell.

Scarlett doesn’t realize the hold she has on me.

Clara looks up in my direction, and her eyes widen when she sees me.

I don’t want to hurt you, Clara. I never wanted to hurt you. I’ve never spoken those words directly to her, I’ve always kept it in my head.

I can see the pain in her eyes as she looks at me. I regret ever dating her. If I knew I would hurt her this badly, I wouldn’t have started something I couldn’t finish.

Nicole says something to her, and she breaks her eye contact with me to look at her. I don’t wait around. I pull out of the parking lot, and Alaric watches me as I leave. Any other time, I would have stopped and spoken to my brother.

I hate this. I hate arguing with him.

I pull out my phone and dial Coach Dillon’s number. He answers on the second ring.

“What’s up, player?” He asks me.

“I need to find out something,” I tell him.

“Tell me.”

I knew he was about to flip.

“Can we stop the tradition at the end of our games where we have to k**s a random girl from the stand?” I ask.

There is a long pause on the phone, followed by uncontrollable laughter. “Tell me you’re f*****g joking, Carter.”

“I wish I could,” I growl. “I’m serious about this. I want that tradition to stop.”

“What’s your f*****g problem?” He asks me. “f*****g around with girls is your specialty. Why do you want it to stop all of a sudden? Something going on with you?”

“I don’t need a lecture,” I tell him. “All I need to know is if it’s possible to end it.”

“f**k no.” He answers me. “This has been happening for years. If you don’t want to k**s anyone, then stop being the star player.”

I knew he meant it as a joke, but I took it seriously.

“Thanks for nothing,” I say as I end the call.

I knew I would hear more about this for practice. First, I failed for the first time, and now I was asking to change a tradition that was successful for years.

Dillon said it himself: If I wanted to stop kissing random girls after my games, I had to stop being the star player.

Ares will be trying out for the team later this week. It was supposed to be later this year but I managed to get an open spot for him. Since he was my brother, the coach was willing to give him a chance. I’ve trained him personally for this. I could step aside a bit to let him shine. That way, he would be happy, and Scarlett wouldn’t get hurt by my actions.