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The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 209 - Still Wanted · Oct 26, 2026

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Chapter List (410)

Page number / 9

201 Chapter 201 - Stay Here 2026-10-26
202 Chapter 202 - Tonight Was Enough (R) 2026-10-26
203 Chapter 203 - More Wanted 2026-10-26
204 Chapter 204 - Other Options 2026-10-26
205 Chapter 205 - Same Marks 2026-10-26
206 Chapter 206 - Bruises and Scratches (R) 2026-10-26
207 Chapter 207 - After the Marks 2026-10-26
208 Chapter 208 - Four Streets Away 2026-10-26
209 Chapter 209 - Still Wanted 2026-10-26
210 Chapter 210 - No Message 2026-10-26
211 Chapter 211- Monday 2026-10-26
212 Chapter 212 - Just Go 2026-10-26
213 Chapter 213 - Easier While He Held Her 2026-10-26
214 Chapter 214 - The Hidden Letter 2026-10-26
215 Chapter 215 - Her Story 2026-10-26
216 Chapter 216 - You Never Came 2026-10-26
217 Chapter 217 - I Don’t Live Here Anymore 2026-10-26
218 Chapter 218 - Not Here 2026-10-26
219 Chapter 219 - No Answer 2026-10-26
220 Chapter 220 - The Chat 2026-10-26
221 Chapter 221 - Last to Know 2026-10-26
222 Chapter 222 - Toxic 2026-10-26
223 Chapter 223 - Your Father 2026-10-26
224 Chapter 224 - Three Thousand Dollars 2026-10-26
225 Chapter 225 - I Still Can’t Leave You 2026-10-26
226 Chapter 226 - Too Complicated 2026-10-26
227 Chapter 227 - Get Your Hands Off Her 2026-10-26
228 Chapter 228 - Still Here 2026-10-26
229 Chapter 229 - Money 2026-10-26
230 Chapter 230 - What He Owes 2026-10-26
231 Chapter 231 - Back to Normalcy 2026-10-26
232 Chapter 232 - The Jacket 2026-10-26
233 Chapter 233 - Use the Car 2026-10-26
234 Chapter 234 - Mall 2026-10-26
235 Chapter 235 - Nothing Happened 2026-10-26
236 Chapter 236 - The Psycho’s Coming 2026-10-26
237 Chapter 237 - Jealousy 2026-10-26
238 Chapter 238 - You’re Mine 2026-10-26
239 Chapter 239 - Liked It (R) 2026-10-26
240 Chapter 240 - Same Hands (R) 2026-10-26
241 Chapter 241 - Third Place Came Back 2026-10-26
242 Chapter 242 - Take First 2026-10-26
243 Chapter 243 - This Was Their Moment 2026-10-26
244 Chapter 244 - Keep Counting 2026-10-26
245 Chapter 245 - The Result 2026-10-26
246 Chapter 246 - Everyone Else 2026-10-26
247 Chapter 247 - Cynthia Came 2026-10-26
248 Chapter 248 - You Know Now 2026-10-26
249 Chapter 249 - Too Perfect 2026-10-26
250 Chapter 250 - His Phone 2026-10-26

Chapter 209: Chapter 209 - Still Wanted

ZAC’S POV

Zac reached Kyle’s house shortly after one.

Cars lined both sides of the driveway. Music carried through the closed windows of the indoor pool building behind the main house.

He parked near the street and checked the time.

Roxie finished babysitting in four hours and forty six minutes.

He would leave before six, drive to the Robinsons, and take her home whether she called him or kept pretending she wanted an Uber.

Zac put his phone inside his jacket pocket and walked around the house.

The pool room felt hot after the cold air outside. Moisture covered the windows, and the smell of chlorine mixed with whatever Kyle had poured into the plastic cups on the table.

Kyle saw him first.

”There he is.”

Mason looked away from the pool basketball game.

”Your mother finally let you out?”

Zac removed his jacket. ”For a few hours.”

Dylan sat at the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. He looked past Zac toward the entrance.

”Where’s Roxie?”

”She’s busy.”

”She coming later?” Kyle asked.

”Probably not.”

Zac pulled off his sweatshirt.

Kyle stared at the scratches along his neck and shoulder. Mason lowered his cup.

”What happened to you?” Mason asked.

Zac touched the longest scratch near his collarbone. ”Nothing.”

”Roxie did that?”

”Yeah.”

Kyle moved closer. ”Damn.”

Zac should have covered them.

Instead, satisfaction moved through him.

Roxie had watched every time he pulled away that morning. She thought being careful meant he wanted her less.

The scratches proved otherwise.

”She gets feisty,” Zac said.

Mason laughed. ”I knew it.”

Kyle looked at the cut on his lip. ”She bit the same spot?”

”More than once.”

”Why’d you let her?”

Zac looked at him.

Mason nodded. ”Stupid question.”

Dylan was the only one who did not laugh.

Nobody inside the pool room could see the marks Zac had left on Roxie. Her coat covered her wrist. Her jeans and shirt covered the bruises near her hips.

The scratches on Zac made the guys imagine Roxie losing control because she wanted him.

The marks on Roxie would make the room quiet.

Zac pushed the thought away when Kyle handed him a cup.

”That’s mostly vodka,” Zac said after smelling it.

”It’s mostly juice.”

”You’re a terrible liar.”

”Drink more. It’ll taste better.”

A girl near the hot tub watched him over the edge of her cup. Her eyes moved across the scratches.

”Your girlfriend let you come here alone?”

Zac recognized her from one of Kyle’s classes but could not remember her name.

”Roxie isn’t that insecure.”

”So she knows you’re here?”

”She knows.”

The lie came easily.

Zac changed into the extra trunks Kyle had brought and joined the pool game.

For the next forty minutes, the game took over.

Mason guarded the space they were using as a goal while Zac moved through the middle.

Kyle raised both arms to block a long pass.

Zac threw over him and put the ball directly into Mason’s hands.

Mason scored and slapped the water.

”That’s why I picked him.”

Someone near the hot tub cheered.

Kyle shoved Zac’s shoulder. ”You could’ve done that during the season.”

”I did.”

Kyle opened his mouth, then stopped.

The last yard.

Zac threw the ball harder when the game started again.

They kept playing until his shoulders hurt and the first drink began warming his head.

The attention felt good.

Nobody called him a disappointment. Nobody asked about the academy or acted like one failed play erased everything he had done before it.

They still saw the quarterback.

When the game ended, Zac climbed out and reached for his towel.

The girl from earlier held it toward him.

”You’re still good.”

Zac took it. ”Still?”

”I meant with the season being over.”

Her eyes moved toward the scratches again.

”So how serious is this girlfriend?”

”Serious.”

”Completely unavailable?”

”Yes.”

She touched his arm.

Zac removed her hand. ”I have a girlfriend.”

Her smile changed. ”I was only asking.”

”You asked. I answered.”

She walked back toward the hot tub.

Zac had no interest in following her.

He still liked knowing she had tried.

He sat beside Dylan at the edge of the pool and accepted another cup.

”You look proud of those scratches,” Dylan said.

”Maybe I am.”

”She okay?”

Zac glanced at him. ”Roxie?”

”No, some other girl scratched your neck and bit your mouth.”

”She’s fine.”

Dylan watched him. ”You always say that when something’s wrong.”

Zac looked toward the pool. ”What do you want me to say?”

”That everything’s good.”

”It is.”

”You came here alone. You keep checking the clock, and you look pissed even when nobody’s talking to you.”

”I had family shit today.”

”I’m talking about you and Roxie.”

Zac turned toward him. ”What about us?”

Dylan rested his hands against the wet tile.

”You used to put all your energy into football.”

”What does that have to do with her?”

”You trained before school, practiced after, watched film at night. Every time something went wrong, you worked harder until you fixed it.”

”That was football.”

”Now you do it with Roxie.”

Zac laughed. ”You’re crazy.”

”Your whole day depends on what she’s doing.”

”No, it doesn’t.”

”She looks at you and you’re happy. She pulls away and you act like everything’s over. Some guy talks to her and you lose your mind.”

”You haven’t seen Ethan around her.”

”I’ve seen you get angry because he spoke to her.”

Zac tightened his hand around the cup.

”You think I should let her leave with him?”

”I think you hear half of what people say when you’re angry.”

”Here we go.”

Dylan looked at the scratches.

”Football gave you somewhere to put everything.”

”Everything what?”

”The anger. The need to prove you’re better than everybody. The way every problem has to be won.”

”She isn’t a game.”

”I know. That’s why it’s getting bad.”

Zac’s expression hardened.

Dylan lowered his voice.

”You put everything into her now.”

”She’s my girlfriend.”

”You used to talk about Tennessee because you wanted to play there. Now you talk about where Roxie will sleep and where she’ll work.”

”I still want Tennessee.”

”Then tell me what you want there that has nothing to do with her.”

Zac thought about the field, the team, and the coach who had contacted him.

Then Roxie entered every part of it.

She would wait after practice. She would sleep in his bed. She would sit in the stands wearing his number. She would complain about the apartment while eating whatever he cooked.

Without her, Tennessee looked like a field, a dorm, and strangers.

”There’s no point going somewhere that takes me away from her.”

”You wanted it before you knew she’d come.”

”That was before we were together.”

Dylan looked at him. ”You were together. Nobody else knew.”

Zac said nothing.

”I’m not telling you to break up with her,” Dylan said. ”I’m telling you to calm down before you ruin it.”

”She matters more than everything else.”

”Yeah, and that sounds great until she does something you hate.”

The marks around Roxie’s wrist entered Zac’s mind.

Dylan had no idea what happened inside the grill. He had no idea Roxie told Zac he was hurting her and Zac kept his hand around her.

Zac still felt like Dylan had seen it.

”You’re supposed to be my friend.”

”I am.”

”Then stop talking like I’m some psycho.”

”I didn’t call you that.”

”You’re acting like it.”

”I’m acting like you need something in your life besides waiting for Roxie to look at you.”

Dylan stood and picked up the pool basketball.

”Spend one afternoon hanging out without thinking about whether Roxie still wants you.”

”She wants me.”

Dylan glanced at the scratches. ”We can all see that.”

He tossed the ball toward Zac.

”Then quit being weird and play.”

Zac followed him into the water.

The game kept his attention for a few minutes at a time.

Then Roxie returned.

He wondered whether Jason had exhausted her yet. He wondered whether she had eaten lunch. He wondered whether she was thinking about Ethan’s college papers.

He wondered whether she expected Zac to arrive at six after telling him she would call an Uber.

Zac forced himself to watch the ball.

Dylan thought he could not enjoy one afternoon without Roxie.

Zac was going to prove him wrong.

The fact that he kept thinking about her made him play harder.

When the game ended, Zac checked his phone.

Three thirty eight.

No messages.

He opened their conversation and typed:

How’s babysitting?

He stared at it.

It looked like he had spent the party waiting for an excuse to contact her.

Zac erased the message and locked the phone away again.

By four thirty, more people had arrived. The music grew louder, and someone opened the doors leading to the covered patio.

Zac sat near the hot tub with Kyle and Mason.

Another girl asked how long he and Roxie had secretly been together.

”Months,” Mason answered.

Kyle pointed toward Zac’s scratches. ”They were busy.”

Zac threw a towel at him.

The girl laughed. ”Roxie really did all that?”

”Yeah.”

”Does she know everybody can see?”

”I’m not hiding it.”

Saying it gave Zac another rush of satisfaction.

Roxie had marked him.

She had chosen him.

Every person who stared made his mother’s accusations feel more stupid. Roxie wanted him, regardless of his family’s money or the Prescott name.

Kyle started telling stories about their summer football camps.

One story turned into another.

For the first time in weeks, Zac talked about football without turning every memory into a plan about Tennessee and Roxie.

At five ten, Dylan asked whether he planned to leave soon.

Zac checked the clock.

”Yeah.”

He stayed seated.

The Robinsons were less than twenty minutes away. He still had time.

Someone called for another game.

Zac told himself he would play once and leave.

Kyle picked him first.

Zac entered the water and left his phone in the locker.

The game became competitive immediately. When it ended, Kyle demanded another round.

Zac stayed.

He wanted to enjoy himself without checking the time every five minutes.

Someone handed him another drink.

He took it without asking what was inside.

By the time Zac climbed out, his shoulders ached and his head felt heavier.

He dried his face and looked at the clock.

Six twelve.

His stomach dropped.

Zac opened his locker and grabbed his phone.

No messages.

No missed calls.

Roxie might still be waiting inside the Robinson house.

She might already be in an Uber.

She might have found someone else to take her home.

Zac opened her contact.

His reflection appeared in the dark locker door. His eyes looked unfocused, and his wet hair hung across his forehead.

He had drunk more than he planned.

Dylan entered behind him.

”You forgot.”

”I didn’t forget.”

”It’s after six.”

”I can see the clock.”

”Call her.”

”She didn’t call me.”

”She said she wasn’t going to.”

”I told her I’d pick her up.”

”Then why are you standing here?”

Zac looked at Roxie’s name.

He could not drive.

Even if he could, Roxie would ask where he had been. She would hear the party and the alcohol in his voice. She would ask whether girls were there.

Then Ethan would come up.

The college papers would come up.

Zac remembered her wrist.

If Roxie pushed him while he was drunk and already angry at himself, he might grab her again.

”If I go there now, we’ll fight.”

Dylan’s face changed. ”Then call her.”

”What am I supposed to say?”

”Tell her you stayed too long and drank.”

”I didn’t forget.”

”You knew the time and kept playing. That’s worse.”

Zac’s jaw tightened.

”She’s safe.”

”You have no idea where she is.”

”She found a ride.”

”You’re guessing.”

”She would call if she needed me.”

Dylan gave him a look.

Zac heard how bad it sounded.

Roxie had asked him to come over before. She had asked him to stay.

He had spent the morning making her feel like he did not want to touch her.

Now she had stopped asking him for anything.

Zac typed:

Did you get home?

His thumb hovered over the screen.

If she said yes, she had managed without him.

If she said no, he would have to admit he was drunk and could not come.

If she ignored him, Zac would spend the night wondering who had driven her home.

He erased the message.

Dylan watched him.

”You’re really not saying anything?”

”She told me she could handle it.”

”That doesn’t mean she won’t care that you picked this.”

”I didn’t pick anything.”

Dylan looked through the changing room door toward the music and shouting.

Zac had chosen every extra game.

He had chosen every drink.

He had stayed after checking the clock at five ten.

He had spent the afternoon trying to prove Roxie was not controlling every part of his life.

Even that had been about her.

Kyle appeared in the doorway.

”You leaving?”

Zac looked at the phone in his hand.

”No.”

Dylan shook his head.

Kyle held out another cup.

Zac took it.

Staying away was safer for Roxie. He was drunk, angry, and had already bruised her once.

All of that was true.

It was also easier than calling her and admitting he had chosen the party after promising to come.

Zac placed his phone facedown on the bench and followed Kyle back toward the pool.

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