He picked up on Taryn’s reaction too.
“Not really.” She looks worried. “I don’t know. Maybe?”
Colsen and I look at each other, and he asks the same question on the tip of my tongue. “Care to elaborate?”
“I knew Nash from college. We had a class together last year.”
I don’t know if I like the sound of this. “Did you two date? Or hook up?”
I feel like an asshole when she hesitates. “No. Absolutely not. Or at least, I had this huge, embarrassing crush on him. But we ran in totally different circles. He was one of the mostpopular athletes on campus, if not the most popular. I thought he wouldn’t even remember me or know my name.”
Again, Colsen comes to my same conclusion. “But he did?”
“Yeah.” Her voice is soft, barely above a whisper.
“He would have had to be an idiot not to remember you.” I say honestly.
I don’t like where this is going.
“So what happened?” Colsen is braver than me when he asks that question.
I’m shitting myself right now that she’s gonna say that she likes Nash and he likes her back and that they’re together. “Did he ask you out?” I force myself to utter those words, bracing myself for the answer.
“No. He didn’t. He just told me he remembered me and I…”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Colsen voices the same thing I think Taryn is struggling to admit. “You still like him.”
“I do.”
If I thought my unrequited feelings for Bex caused me pain, nothing could have prepared me for the way I’m feeling right now. I can feel my heart breaking in my chest. Taryn’s words cause me physical pain.
Throw me a bunch of hundred miles per hour shots and I’ll step in their way to defend my goal. But right now I’m defenseless against the feelings I’m starting to have for Taryn.
I clench my fists, furious with myself for letting this crush grow into something that hurts so much. What the fuck is wrong with me?
My first instinct is to walk away and lock myself into my room to wallow. But my feet refuse to obey my wishes.
“Are you telling us this because you want to be with Nash?” I have no right to feel bitter about this. And I really don’t. Like with Bex, I want Taryn to be happy, even if that’s not with me.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. Maybe? But I don’t think he even likes me. And besides, I feel like the worst person on earth because my crush for Nash doesn’t change the way I’m starting to feel about the two of you.”
Colsen and I look at each other.
This has the potential to be a fucking mess. But despite everything, Taryn didn’t say that she didn’t want me. I decide to focus on that.
“So you like Nash but you still like Colsen and me?”
“I understand if that makes you mad.” She turns her head to the side, tormenting her bottom lip with her teeth.
Things went wrong with Bex because I let my feelings grow out of proportion without letting her know how I felt. Except for a drunken, inappropriate advance during a collegiate event that got me almost kicked off the team. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Coach Harrison that furious. And my teammates and I have pushed our luck plenty of times in my four years as a Cove Knight.
“Baby,” I take her hand in mine, encouraged to open my heart to her when she doesn’t resist my touch. “I could never be mad at you for being honest with me about your feelings.”
Colsen agrees. “Same. You could have chosen not to say anything.”
“Exactly.” I nod. “And first off, let me tell you something. I don’t know Nash too well, but if I had to guess how he feels about you, I’d say that he likes you.”
