Great game. You suck. Can I have your babies?
Variations of those kinds of comments fill my screen, but I frown when I come across a few from the same account that areless garden-variety. And the username has my last name in it, which always weirds me out. You never get used to seeing people use your name as part of a cutesy username.
Do youthink about me as often as I think about you? I miss the way you looked at me. I know it wasn’t your fault we were torn apart, but I’m still not over it.
What the hell?
“You going deaf, Logie?” Wright bends over and peers into my ear, as if he could tell just by looking.
“Knock it off,” I say, shoving him away before closing the app and locking my phone. There’s only so much crazy I can deal with in a day, and I get enough of it from Griffin. He chuckles as he flops back into his seat.
“Everything okay?” Sebastian asks. He’s more tactful than Griffin, but he’s just as curious.
Fuck me. I’m going to have to tell them, aren’t I?
I wait until the rest of the team files past us. Not like I need a bigger than necessary audience for this conversation. Maddox, Ryder, Griffin, and Sebastian all watch me with expressions ranging from amusement to concern. Which is why I’m going to end up spilling the beans. Because I can’t have these guys worried about me when nothing is wrong.
“Spill it,” Ryder says when the chaos on the plane winds down. I lean forward, ignoring the flight attendants as they run through the customary pre-flight safety spiel. We’ve all heard it a thousand times and could recite it in our sleep.
“I wasn’t purposefully ignoring you guys yesterday. I didn’t see the texts.”
Maddox quirks an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”
“I had plans,” I say, blowing out a breath and running my hand through my hair. My stomach does an annoying little twist as I’m hit with a moment of worry. What will they think aboutall of this? They’ve already given me so much shit for things with Blair.
“Dude, are we going to have to tickle it out of you, or something?” Griffin asks, exasperated. The idiot actually leans over with his hands extended toward my midsection, but I bat him away.
“Grow the fuck up. I was at a football game, okay? It was loud, I was having fun, and I didn’t notice my phone vibrating. Can we drop it now?”
“What football game?” Ryder asks. “The Warriors weren’t playing last night.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, because I should have known they wouldn’t let this go. “It wasn’t a pro game. It was a school team.”
My friends watch me expectantly, waiting for me to give them something else to go on, but I don’t.
“Why are you being so cagey?” Bash asks. “What school team were you watching, Byrne?”
Dammit. “Southwest Junior High, okay?”
Total silence greets me at that. The only noise around us is the hum of the plane as it taxis down the runway, the air recycling through the cabin, and the chatter of our teammates and staff. My friends sit there, gaping at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“Southwest Junior High. You went to a football game at a junior high school?” Maddox narrows his eyes at me. “Why?”
Letting my head flop back against my seat, I blow out a deep breath. “Do you remember those kids I was talking to at family night?”
They all murmur that they do.
“Well, one of the boys was wandering around the arena after practice last week, and we got to talking. The tall kid with the curly hair. He said he was hanging out waiting for his sister tobe done with work, so I showed him around, took him into the weight room, made sure he had some fun.”
Griffin grins like a crazy person, his hazel eyes twinkling under the little spotlights overhead. “And who was this kid’s sister, Logie?”
Of course. Ofcourse,that would be what he latches onto. He’s going to be completely insufferable after this. “Blair is his sister. But I didn’t know that until she came looking for him. I thought he was related to the dark-haired woman at family night, I swear.”
“Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling me you hung out with Blair’s little brother—the Blair you slept with in LA who pretended she didn’t know you—and then you went to her brother’s football game? You’re leaving a helluva lot out, bro.”
I’dliketo leave everything out, but there’s no way that’s going to happen now.
“I just… I found some shit out about her—them—that changed some things for me. And Reed’s a good kid. He hasn’t had any men in his life for a while, and he was so excited to hang out and do simple stuff, like benching with me, that I ended up taking them out for dinner and football came up, then the next thing I know, I’m promising him I’ll show up at his next home game. It’s not a big deal, okay?”
