Right Before The End | BOOK #4 IN THE PSU SERIES

Nineteen

"I'm sorry, mom." She cranked her head to the side to look at me and she let out a sigh of disapproval. "But you aren't. I mean, you don't act like you are!" Her words were filled with disappointment.

And the last thing I would ever want was for my mom to be disappointed in me. I didn't want either of my parents to be disappointed in me. Or to lose Sage. I didn't want any of that– ever.

"I'll change mom, I'll be better."

"I don't want you to change, Blaise. I just want you to stay home. I don't want you to leave, I don't want you to hate coming back here. You won't even tell us why you left– I just need to know, was it me? Was it me and daddy–"

"Gross. Please stop referring to him as that."

She batted her eyelashes. "I'm sorry, Blaise. You are my miracle baby and I don't want you to go away ever again for that long. Please don't go away again." She brushed my hair with her hand. She looked me in the eyes, her own were glossy and I felt my heart beating slower.

God. It would have been easier to just stay in Paris.

"Enough of me! What is up with the tattoos?" She asked, a smile appearing on her face. I chuckled, "I got bored."

She hummed. "Your father told me about the one above your knee." Well, it was more like on my knee.

"Yeah."

"Have you tried to talk to her yet?"

Yes, I have tried to talk to Sage. But the issue is that Sage doesn't want to speak to me. Sage still cares about me– I found that out using physiological warfare, but she doesn't want to speak to me. We are on the right path.

"We had to replace every pillow on your bed after two weeks of you leaving, you know that? Her tears had actually ruined the pillows. She would come over, and just go up to your room and cry. She would leave, and come back crying. Every day. It lasted for months,"

I cleared my throat.

"I don't want to talk about it, mom."

"But you just left! How do you just leave someone like her!"

A throat cleared and my eyes met him in the doorway.

"Hiding from me?"

Reese's voice teased as he walked over to the couch that was adjacent to us. He wore a Penn State Polo as he plopped down and kicked his feet up. Mom laughed before chucking a pillow at him.

"Never hiding," I muttered.

Mom looked at me, her forehead scrunched up in confusion. I sat up, getting ready to stand up. "Never hiding– but just running, right?" I offered him a look of warning before mom stood up next to me.

"My baby boy is as tall as his father– and is as tattooed as his father. He's all grown up, isn't he?" Mom pinched my arm as Reese laughed.

"All grown up and looking like the perfect football player." I squinted at him.

Before I could tell him to shut the fuck up, we were interrupted by Baker, Drew, Leighton, and Slater trudging in. "Football? As in soccer? How the hell did that even happen anyway?" Baker asked as he walked over toward his dad and slapped his legs. Reese just glared at him and pointed to the other available seating.

"Yeah. Thirty million dollar professional soccer player my ass. How the hell was it that easy for you?" Leighton added on.

I shrugged. "Just a born athlete."

Slater's eyes met mine after I uttered the sentence. "Not for every sport though." He spoke back.

I nodded. "Right."