Page 131 of Fair Catch

But all the fight inside me dies the second a tall, dark-haired guy covered in tattoos slips out the front door. One that’s familiar enough to have my stomach roiling at the sight of him.

“Madden?”

He halts in his tracks, brows crashing together. “Hayes, right?”

“Yeah,” I say slowly, stopping beside him. “Do you live here?”

Madden glances back at the townhouse he’d just left, then back to me. I swear to God, if he says no, I might actually—

“No, I was just…visiting someone.”

My heart drops into the pit of my stomach, and I don’t know if I want to scream, cry, or vomit on the spot. All I know it that there’s a good fucking chance that I’m too late.

Please, don’t let me be too late.

“Listen, I gotta get going,” he says, frowning while glancing back at the house. “But it was nice to see you again.”

“Yeah. You too,” I manage, though I’m feeling the exact fucking opposite.

A plethora of emotions wage a war inside me as I stand here, watching him jog to a car parked down the street and climbing inside.

Sadness, panic, anxiety, fear…numb.

But then I get fucking pissed.

Storming up the sidewalk, my fist lands on the door with three hard knocks, and then I wait. My stomach is knotted and coiled like a viper ready to strike when the door finally opens.

“Seriously? I saidsneak—” The brown-haired guy answering the door pauses and frowns. “Oh. Sorry, you’re not who I thought you were.”

I blink at him and try to shake off the weirdest way anyone has ever answered the door. “Is Kason here?”

His dark brows shoot up over sage green eyes, and he crosses his arms. “Maybe. Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Kason’s—” I cut myself off, not knowing how to describe myself. Because saying I’m his exanythingdoesn’t sit right.

Thankfully, I’m saved from having to figure it out, because Phoenix appears behind the wannabe bouncer’s shoulder, popping his head in the opening.

“What’s going…Hayes?” He frowns when he notices me before asking, “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for Kason, apparently,” the other dude says.

Phoenix’s eyes dart to him, then back to me. “Kason’s not here.”

For the briefest,briefestmoment, I feel relief. But then I remember all the mornings Q left the house with a girl still in his bed, only for her to sneak out later, and I’m hit with that same, panicked anxiety all over again.

“Do you know when he’ll be back? I can wait if—”

“He won’t be back ‘til Monday,” Phoenix says, cutting me off. “He’s down in Indianapolis for the Combine.”

Son of a fuck-knuckle.

I suck in a deep breath as I build up the courage to ask the question—or maybe to hear an answer I might not want to hear.

“The guy who just left,” I start, hating the obvious insecurity in my voice. “Is he…Was he here for Kason?”

Phoenix looks confused as he glances over my shoulder to where Madden just was. “What guy are you talking about?”

“Dark haired, lots of tattoos. His name is Madden.”

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