Page 28 of Fair Catch

It is indeed.

Sighing, I nod and continue. “The worst part is, as much as I still wanna be pissed about it, I also understand why he did it. There were things he was afraid to tell me, decisions he made that he’d felt were embarrassing and shameful. Those are powerful emotions, you know? Sometimes enough to wanna hide them from the people you’re closest to.”

“The ones who you only want to see the best in you,” Hayes confirms, his attention still focused on me. “And while that’s understandable, the rationale behind it doesn’t make it right for him to lie.”

I tip my beer toward him in acknowledgment. “No, it doesn’t. It just makes it a lot fucking harder to hate him for it.”

Hayes is a logical person, at least from what I’ve gathered. With how cut and dry he is—and how easily he will put me in my place—I know he’d be the first one to tell me I’m overreacting or don’t have a leg to stand on.

The two of us fall into a comfortable silence, watching but not watching the movie flashing on the screen while we finish our beers. I’d figured the conversation is as finished as our beers, but I’m surprised when Hayes grabs my empty from me and fetches two more.

“So this lie,” he starts, while handing me a second beer. “It was obviously big enough to put a massive strain on your relationship.”

“Yeah, it did, but it’s more than that now, because I’ve already forgiven him for it.”

He frowns as he drops back down beside me. “So if that’s the case, I guess I’m just confused why you still aren’t talking?”

“And here comes the complicated part,” I tell him, a sardonic laugh falling from my lips. “When this all happened last year, it also uncovered some issues in our friendship that both of us had become pretty blind too. Or maybe we weren’t blind to it, but we were too afraid of what fixing it would mean going forward.”

Part of me still is, though I choose to leave that part out when I continue.

“We’d been friends for so long, he felt more like a brother. But in turn, we’d grown very codependent on each other—to the point of it being toxic to both of us. He’d always been the protector, always putting my happiness before his own, but it turned him into my crutch which led to me eventually feeling like he was being overbearing.” A long, relenting sigh leaves me. “And the lie just ended up being a by-product of him finally choosing to put himself first.”

“You were feeding each other until it became a cycle you couldn’t break out of, no matter how stuck you both felt,” Hayes murmurs, clearly filling in the blanks. “Which is why you’re now spending some time apart.”

All I can do is nod before taking another drink from my beer, the heavy, somber feeling not getting any lighter, even with sharing some of its weight. Even if it makes me sound more like a neurotic mess than he already thinks I am.

“I know you didn’t sign up to play therapist when I moved in, but I appreciate you listening.”

“No, I didn’t,” he confirms, nodding his head a couple times. “But if we’re gonna make this situation work through the end of the year, then knowing stuff like this about you is helpful.”

I frown, unsure I heard him right. “Really?”

“Absolutely. That way I don’t do or say something that’ll trigger you or set you back on the progress you’re trying to make. I’m not that much of an asshole.”

Rising off the couch, his second empty in hand, he heads to the kitchen and tosses it in our recycling. He glances over at me afterward, catching me gawking at him like he’s a fucking Jonas Brother or something.

“What?” he asks, halting in his tracks.

Shaking my head, I say, “Nothing, I’m just surprised.”

The wink he gives me before heading down the hall has my stomach flip-flopping like a pair of sandals, but the way my full name sounds falling off his lips when he calls back to me is nearly enough to melt me into a pile of goo.

“Like I said before, Kason Fuller. I’m full of surprises.”

Eight

Hayes

September

The past couple weeks have been both interesting and unexpected when it comes to Kason, and I’m not entirely sure if I like it more or less than when we were at each other’s throats. Nothing has really changed, yet if feels like since he gave me a little more insight into who he is—plus why he’s living with me and his rocky relationship with Phoenix—I’ve started to be a little more tolerant. At least in the moments of silence when we’re watching horror movies, which has become a pretty regular thing, tonight included.

“What’re we watching tonight?” I ask, strolling down the hall into the kitchen, catching Kason already lounging on the couch with the television on. My stomach growls on cue as I open the fridge, and I add, “And more importantly, what do you wanna eat, because I’m hungry enough to gnaw my own leg off.”

“Cannibalism is frowned upon in this household unless it’s on the television screen, Hazey.”

Hazey?

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