Page 31 of The Long Game

“Ok, sorry man. I didn’t mean…”

“She’s not the one I want.”

“So, there is someone. I knew it. You’ve seemed different the last few months. Who is it?”

Shit.

Silence drifts between us for a second.

“Tucker…?”

“It’s Lexi.”

I hear Luca sigh.

“Luca, I’m sorry. I know you told me to stay away but I fucking can’t.”

I wait for a response. I wanted to do this in person. I wanted to do this after Lexi and I had made plans. After she and I were doing well and he could see that I was capable of making her happy.

“I knew you went to the lake house for her th birthday.”

What the hell? Did she tell him?

I don’t say anything. Maybe he’s bluffing.

“You left your razer in our bathroom and an Ol’ Miss t-shirt in the laundry bin, you dumb fuck.”

“Shit.”

That’s all I can come up with.

“You remember what I told you?”

“Yes, black eye or diamond ring…I remember.”

“Yeah, but what I meant was don’t hurt her, asshole.”

“I didn’t! I swear to you Luca. I asked for a relationship. I asked her to come to school with me. I wanted to be with her. She told me no.”

The memory of looking in her eyes when she said it, still burned into my retina.

“And if someone asked you during your sophomore year of college, after you were already being recruited by scouts, to leave the NFL behind and be someone’s boyfriend…you’d say?”

“Take a long walk off a short pier.”

Still, I should have fought harder. I took it as rejection but instead I should have used it as an opportunity to prove to her that distance could have worked.

“Right.”

“I get I fucked up. But I tried again. Three months ago she said the same thing.”

“I already told you, Tuck. That’s my baby sister. If I would have caught you at the lake house with her all those years ago…”

“I know.”

“You have a shit reputation with women. I’m not exactly feeling good about this conversation to begin with.”

“You don’t think I’m capable of being in a relationship?”

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