Page 28 of Wildflowers and Wide Receivers

My head jerks to look at him and he throws his hands up. “It wasn’t me.”

Everyone knows about my night from two years ago with Sophie, regardless of the fact that I told them nothing. I became an interest to them when I went from a recluse player to spinning her around the dance floor. Apparently, my actions made me an enigma to the teammates at the party and it was discussed at length.

“Darius?” It could be him; he is a busybody and a gossiper who overheard Tyler and me talking at the training facility.

“Nope.” Sully’s smirk stretches into a full-blown smile. He’s enjoying this and I give him a look that lets him know I don’t think this is funny. “It was Reid. He was mentioning it to Bryan and others overheard.”

That makes more sense given the fact that Sophie and Camille are friends.

“What else did he say?” I ask him, but it’s Camden who chimes in.

“I overheard this from Bryan. From what Lexi told him, after your little run-in at her office, she called Camille to find out all the scoop about you.”

Did you hear the needle just scratch across the record to halt time? Because I swear I did and my jaw drops.

“She did?”

“Yep and that was a couple of weeks ago.”

Not a couple. Now it was a lot. A lot of weeks ago we had that run-in at her office. Was this before or after I asked if I could see her again? Regret stings like an old wound that I waited so long to initiate another conversation with her. Then again, now she’s seeing someone, so it’s not like it would have mattered.

“And you’re just now thinking to tell me this?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Apparently, she thought Vivi was your daughter.”

And with that, he just confirms every worry I’ve ever had. She didn’t know about John, she didn’t know how my life completely imploded, and all this time she thought I used her and ghosted her.

My heart sinks into my stomach.

I know I’m in the wrong here, I should have had someone reach out to her to let her know I wasn’t coming. In the perfect world, she would have seen something or heard something, since we do have overlapping friends, and understood, but that’s not what happened. I don’t blame her for not coming to find me, if the roles were reversed, I certainly wouldn’t.

I should probably answer him with something, but I have nothing to say.

Seeing my mood drop, he throws his hand across the back of the couch and studies me before asking, “So what are you going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You like this girl,” Camden states as if it was that simple.

“Yeah, well, she’s got a boyfriend.”

“How do you know?” His brows rise.

“Because, despite what you think, I actually did make a move. I asked her if I could see her again and she told me she was dating someone. Case closed.”

“But is it really?” he asks suspiciously and I let out a deep sigh.

Maybe I could text her. I glance at my phone which is lying on the coffee table.

“Do it. Do it. Do it,” Sully chants.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” I tell him, but I pick up my phone and pull up her name.

The text thread is obviously blank and it taunts me.

“Quit staring at it. It’s just a text.”

Tyler is watching me, staying quiet. He knows me the best and he knows not to push.