I WATCHED QUINN disappear from my bedroom before letting loose a sigh and sinking further down in my bed.

I hated talking about myself, and I was dreading answering these questions, but the fact of the matter was that Quinn was here on a job. She had people to answer to and a task to complete. And that was the worst part of all of it; if Quinn finished her assignment...she'd leave. Like hell was I ready for that to happen.

Still, I knew I had to give her more than I had.

Quinn returned a few minutes later and helped prop my knee up and balance an ice pack on it. It didn't hurt as bad as when I'd crawled up on shore, but the throbbing hadn't faded completely.

It hadn't throbbed as badly as my cock had earlier, though. Fuck, waking up to Quinn Castle in my bed was the best goddamn thing. Especially considering I was allowed to touch her, make her come, finger-fuck her until she was screaming into the pillow.

I swallowed a groan at the recent memories. I could practically still feel the way she clenched around my fingers, and hell...that was something. As soon as my knee healed up, I'd be using more than my fingers to make her scream. I had so many plans for her and this bed.

"There," Quinn said with satisfaction as she looked me over, propped up by pillows and covered in ice. I couldn't help but notice the way her eyes lingered on my bare chest before trailing over the rest of me. I smirked, and when our gazes finally met, she blushed a pretty pink at being caught.

"Shut up," she muttered as she walked around to the other side of the bed and slid onto it.

"I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did. With your eyes."

"Well, you were saying some things with your eyes, too," I countered.

"It's not my fault that you're...you."

"Mm," I hummed. "So articulate. No wonder you're a writer."

Quinn launched a pillow at me, which I quickly knocked to the side with a laugh. Meanwhile, she shook her head, evading my gaze as she settled onto the bed and opened her laptop. But as irritated as she pretended to be, she couldn't keep a barely suppressed grin from sneaking onto her face.

God, she was cute. Her hair was slightly tangled, and her eyes still had a sleepy droop to them. But there was also a glow about her that was undeniable. She radiated an energy that I felt in my bones, and I knew when she left, it was going to leave a fucking hole inside me.

The thought sobered me, but I refused to let it ruin the time we had right now.

I sighed. "So, what else can I tell you?"

Quinn had peppered me with questions over the last week, but they'd all been pretty surface-level. It was almost as if she was tip-toeing around everything she really needed to know. All things that would really sell this article. It made me wonder if she wanted to drag out this visit as much as me. My chest warmed at the thought, even if it didn't solve the overall problem lingering between us.

Quinn pursed her lips together in thought, still staring at her computer screen. A moment passed before she opened her mouth and then closed it again, her frown deepening. I raised a brow, curious about her internal dilemma. Finally, she cleared her throat and tried again.

"Why don't you tell me what started your football journey?"

I nodded. Talking about my upbringing wasn't my favorite thing, but I'd had enough years and space from the bad parts of it to be able to talk through my past.

"I grew up loving football because my dad loved football. It was on all the time at our house."

At the mention of my dad, Quinn finally looked up from her screen. The look of sympathy on her face told me she already knew what happened to him.

"He was born and raised in New York until his dad decided to move their whole family down to Evergreen, hoping the cheaper living expenses and a slower-paced lifestyle would solve all their problems. My grandpa worked on the docks until damn near the day he died to make a good life for his family on this island. Hardest working man I knew."

"I can see where you got your work ethic," Quinn said quietly, keeping her attention on me even as her fingers were poised to type on her keyboard.

I shook my head. "The work I've done is nothing compared to him. But I've tried to make decisions in life that would make him proud."

"I'm sure you have, August."

Despite knowing she was just trying to make me feel better, her words soothed something inside me. I missed them. My grandparents. My dad. My mom. Every fucking day. It was part of the reason I came back to this island. It made me feel close to them.

I sighed. "I grew up in a household of decades-old Warriors fans. It was just something that was ingrained in me, and I became obsessed with the idea of playing. Of being on that field. Of being the person that my dad and my grandpa cheered for. Maybe it was some fucked up way of wanting their attention–even though they gave it to me freely–or maybe it was just the energy that football instilled in me. I don't know, but I craved it. The only problem was Evergreen didn't have any football teams. They didn't really have...any sports teams."

"That's why you're building the community sports complex."

I nodded. "My mom was the first one to buy me a football. She said I didn't need a team to learn the basics. She encouraged me to follow my dreams even when she probably thought they were unattainable."

Quinn's eyes softened, and I knew she must know about my mom, too. I swallowed the emotion in my throat, and Quinn cut in before I could go on.

"We don't have to...we don't have to do this, August."

I shook my head. "No, it's okay. It's good for me. To talk about them."

Quinn still looked uncertain. So I cleared my throat and tried my best to act unaffected so she wouldn't put a stop to this.

"When my parents realized I actually had some potential, they searched for youth organizations I could play with on the mainland," I continued. "I began making the trek back and forth so I could practice with a team."

"That's some real dedication," she commented gently.

"I actually loved the extra time on the water, taking the ferry. It's a good place to think." I shrugged. "Lucky I felt that way, too. Because if I wanted to play on a high school team, I had to enroll in school on the mainland. So I was making that trip every day. It paid off, though. I got scouted my senior year, went to a DI college on a scholarship, and was drafted to my dream team."

Quinn's soft smile crept into her words. "Your parents must have been so proud of you."

I lowered my gaze, unable to look Quinn in the eye when I said the next part.

"Neither my dad nor my grandpa made it to see me get drafted. The days on the dock wore on gramps, and a drunk driver killed my dad when I was a junior in college."

Quinn sucked in. She grew quiet momentarily before she managed to breathe, "August...I'm so sorry."

She didn't sound surprised, but she did sound regretful. Like she should have known what she was saying, she should have known the truth. Because she did know, I was sure. But I didn't expect her to memorize the timeline of my life. Even if it was partly her job to.

"I had my mom," I said, swallowing hard. "We had each other. I played for her."

Quinn fell silent, and I knew what she must be thinking.

I played for Mom.

And then Mom died of cancer.

And then I quit.

"It's not the only reason," I said quietly.

"That you played? Or that you quit?"

"Both. But you can tell them it is."

God, I must really like her. Because there was no way in hell I'd ever let any reporter so much as breathe my mom's name again. Even if it were to honor her. Even if it were to put my fame in her name, like I was telling Quinn she could do. But I wanted to give her an out that the Warriors might accept.

Because they'd never let her announce the truth.

"I don't...understand, August," Quinn said slowly. "What do you mean by that? What are the other reasons?"

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, debating what to say. I could feel Quinn's attention, her stare, as I figured it out.

"They won't publish the other reasons," I finally said bluntly. At this point, I needed to be blunt.

Her brows furrowed. "It has to do with the Warriors, doesn't it? With the organization? That's why you left?"

"You could say that."

Quinn cocked her head to the side. "That's what you made it seem like the other time we talked, too. So I've been trying to figure it out, August. But unless I somehow missed something major, even though it was my job to know everything, you had a really positive relationship with others on and off the field up until the very end. With your teammates. Your coaches. Management. With...with everyone."

I cleared my throat, looking pointedly at her with a raised brow. "Well, not...everyone."

"No. Not every–" Quinn let out a soft giggle, but then her face went slack as realization must have dawned. "One."

"And the only reason you missed it was because it happened before you got there, Castle," I explained as she put two and two together.

Her eyes flicked to mine, and I grimaced because I knew that this conversation needed to end before she got hurt.

But based on her expression...it might have been too late.

☀️

a bit of a more serious chapter as we dive into the mysteries of august fletcher 🫶🏻 sorry for the delay but I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

xoxo amelie