Page 37 of The Problem with Players

“Yeah. I’m sure I’m just getting wedding jitters.” I glanced at my watch. “But we should get?—”

“I saw Wesley with another woman today,” Nathan blurted out.

My chest tightened as I looked up to meet his stare once more. He frowned and shook his head slightly. “I wasn’t sure how to bring it up, but well…if it were me, I’d want to know.”

“Was the woman a blond?”

“Yeah. They walked into my brothers’ butcher shop earlier today. They went in laughing and seemed a littletoofriendly.”

They were together today, too?

That felt like another knife to my gut. Yet this knife seemed to cut even deeper, seeing how Nathan delivered the news to me. I was humiliated. Though I tried to shake off the feeling.

“Drew,” I muttered. “That’s his best friend. Who just so happens to be his ex, too.”

Nathan’s brows raised. “I beg your pardon?”

“I know. I found out on Super Bowl Sunday.”

The bewildered look flashing across his face would’ve been funny if it wasn’t such a heavy topic to my spirit. “Get outta here,” he said. “You’re telling me he has a best friend who’s also his ex that you didn’t know existed?”

“Oh, I knew Drew existed for a long time. I just thought she was a man.”

“He didn’t tell you Drew was a woman?” he whisper-shouted.

I would’ve laughed if it wasn’t so damn embarrassing. “Nope.”

He gave me a blank stare before blinking a few times. “And you’re okay with this?”

Absolutely not. Not in the slightest. “I don’t really have a choice. She’s his best friend. What am I supposed to say?”

“No,” he sternly stated. “You’re supposed to say no. There was something about them that made it seem as if they had some kind of?—”

“Can we stop talking about my life and get to practice?” I snapped. I didn’t mean to snap at him, but that was what happened when I was embarrassed or sad. Instead of tears, I found rage and annoyance.

He tossed his hands up in surrender. “Sorry. Breaking rules.”

“All the rules.”

“But…” He paused and grimaced. “They were sharing an ice cream cone.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“They were licking an ice cream cone together. One cone, two mouths.”

The embarrassment seeped deeper into my soul as I stood still like a buffoon. “Let’s just get to practice.”

“Avery—”

“Stop,” I begged. “Please.”

“But—”

“I just told you that you’re not a crappy person, Nathan. Please don’t make me regret every single word.”

His eyes flashed with compassion as he nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”

“Ice cream, Wesley?!”I barked, rage shooting through my system as I paced my living room. He sat on the living room couch, staring at me as if I’d lost my mind. “You were licking ice cream with her?! On Main Street?! You might as well have been licking her vagina in public, for goodness’ sake!”

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