Page 84 of Nothing Less Than Everything

When I looked up from my phone, four sets of eyes were staring at me.

“Well, it’s not like you three are choir boys,” I said, then looked at Gideon. “Well, except for you.”

Heidi patted him lovingly on his chest.

“Yeah, but I did not need that very vivid picture you painted,” Theo said.

Seth grimaced at the word painted. “Yeah. What he said.”

“So,” Heidi said, bouncing on her toes. “Do we finally get to know who she is? Must be pretty serious if she’s letting you come on her ti—”

“Ayyyyy,” I said, putting my hands out to stop her right there. “We don’t need a replay.”

Seth snickered. “Screenshots are forever, bruh.”

Theo snatched Seth’s phone from his hand and snapped it in half.

Seth’s jaw dropped and let out a pathetic squeak of disbelief.

Theo shoved the mangled device back into his hands. “Your thirsty followers will have to live without you for a few days.”

Seth stared, dumbfounded, at his crushed phone.

“Do you really wanna sell out the players you have to work with for the rest of your career, dumbass? Stop acting like a prick, Gwen Stefani.” Theo turned to me. “Better start talking. I can’t unsee that text, so you at least owe us a name.”

I wasn’t getting out of this. “Wren,” I said. “Her name’s Wren. We started seeing each other the day after I left Seattle.”

“Sounds familiar…” Gideon mumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It’ll come to you,” I muttered.

“The chick who redid your condo,” Gideon said at the same time Theo said, “that cheerleader?”

They stared at each other while I stood in silence, waiting for them to come to the same conclusion.

Gideon raised an eyebrow. “What are the odds that the interior designer you were chasing has the same name as the cheerleader you turned into a pancake during preseason?”

Heidi squealed, “I knew it! When I talked to her a few weeks ago, we were talking about you and I called you Tatum, not T.J. She had this look of surprise on her face, like we were in on the same secret. But she didn’t say anything. I just thought maybe you two hit it off when you were doing press together.”

“We actually hit it off before the season started. She works for the design firm that Sam hired to redo my place. She and I went out to dinner the night before my trade was announced and ended up hooking up.”

“Oh my God, give me her number,” Heidi begged, scrambling for my phone. Gideon wrapped his arm around her, holding her back and giving me time to pocket the device.

“None of this leaves the room,” I said, looking at the four of them. I knew Gideon and Theo would keep their traps shut. Heidi might spill it out of pure excitement. If I had to guess, she was thrilled at the prospect of getting along with one of the other WAGs. Hell, she might even make it through watching an entire game if she had a friend to do it with. Too bad Wren would be on the field. “You hear me?” I looked pointedly at Seth. “If Wren and I get caught, I’ll get fined and get a slap on the wrist, but she’ll get kicked off her team. It’s important to her, which means it’s really fucking important to me.”

They nodded in silent agreement.

Gideon raised an eyebrow. “What happened to you not dating during the season?”

I shrugged. “It just took meeting the right girl.”

“Did you know she was a cheerleader for the Reds when you started seeing each other?” Seth asked.

I shook my head. “Didn’t find out until I tackled her, and she passed out under me.”

Gideon nodded, the pieces of the puzzle clicking in his mind. “So that’s why you freaked the fuck out on the sidelines and disappeared after the game.”

“I had to make sure she was okay. Had to…” I scrubbed my hand over the top of my head. “I had to make sure it was actually her. When she hit the ground, she said my name. I didn’t know if I was hallucinating or what.”

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