“I think I said something wrong.” He says at the same time.
When our eyes meet, we smile.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about Tucker and Colsen. I would have told you if you had asked me out or something. But things happened so quickly, and I didn’t think about anything but the way I was feeling right then with you. But I wasn’t cheating on anyone, I promise.”
Nash rakes a big hand through his dark brown hair.
The action causes a strand to fall over his forehead, and I have to sit on my fingers to resist the urge to brush it away.
“Don’t worry. Tuck and Col explained everything to me when I came clean about us hooking up. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”
“I don’t blame you, Nash.” I murmur. “I can only imagine how it must have sounded. We don’t know each other that well, but I promise you I’m not a cheater.”
He considers my words, and he shifts on the bench to face me before speaking again. “There’s a reason I freaked out.” Nash says, looking uncomfortable as hell.
“It’s ok. You don’t owe me an explanation.”
“But I want to explain. Like everyone else at our old campus, you must have noticed that I was benched pretty much all season last year. It wasn’t because of an injury.”
Nash explains what happened with his former coach and how his teammates didn’t support him.
“But it wasn’t your fault.” I raise my voice, upset about how he was treated. “You had no way of knowing if your hookup lied about being single.”
“Yeah,” he sighs. “But Coach Hiddink didn’t care about that. I guess someone had to pay, and it was easier to hate me than his own wife.”
I shake my head. “Yeah, but that was shitty to you. He should have addressed his problems with his wife rather than punishing you.”
“There’s no point dwelling on the past. But I wanted to explain why I reacted like a total asshole. I really want to have a good year, and I really like my new teammates. I didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes that fucked everything up in Hemlock Beach.”
I can’t blame him. “Thank you for explaining that, Nash.”
“There’s another thing. Did I say or do something wrong right before you mentioned having boyfriends? Was I too rough with you?”
There’s a part of me that wants to come clean about everything. That I was at that party and I was in that room the night of the murder. But would Nash believe that I can’t remember anything after Tim started kissing me? If I told him how I woke up, would he jump to the conclusion that I did it? I’m still trying to figure it out for myself, but I feel terrible for not being honest after he just opened up to me about why he transferred to Star Cove.
“No. You were fine. No, more than fine. You were great. I liked everything that happened between us. I just?—”
“I spoke to the police earlier.”
I freeze, fighting the urge to squirm under the intensity of Nash’s gaze. I force myself to stay calm, at least on the outside.
“They wanted to know if I remembered anything else about the night of the murder.”
“What did you say?” I can’t help but ask. But I hope I don’t sound as shaky as I feel.
Nash shrugs. “That I was too wasted to really remember anything. That must be why I thought I saw you when you’re sure you were packing your apartment instead. To be honest, it’s not that strange that I thought I saw you.”
He isn’t making any sense, but I’m relieved he didn’t tell the cops that I was there.
“Why do you say that?”
The answer surprises me. “Because I spent a lot of time thinking about you.”
“You did?” I swear he blushes.
Nash Belkin is the epitome of the alpha male athlete. Popular and handsome, but serious and intense to the point of looking impossible to approach.
“I might have been stalking you here and there since we had that class together.”
