Page 67 of Play Maker

I’d thought the same thing when I’d first seen it, but I didn’t want to sit around talking about Blue when I could be with her in person. “What do you want?”

“To apologize.”

That got my attention. I stopped stalling and faced her in the bedroom from a safe distance away. I wasn’t taking any chances one of my asshole roommates, not counting RJ, would jump to the wrong conclusion.

In a weird repeat of the morning Blue had moved out, I leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed. “I’m listening.”

She clasped her hands in her lap, sitting up straight and losing her usual playful attitude. “I’m sorry for hurting you, but I’m not sorry for leaving.”

“Your apologies suck,” I muttered.

“I’m still going, jackass. We were better as friends. I’m not interested in giving another person control over any part of my life, and the pressure would have slowly destroyed us. I needed some time away to separate what we had from what we were dabbling in. Honestly, I could still use some time, but football season waits for no one.”

My jaw clenched at the idea she still didn’t want to be around me. I used to think she knew me better than anyone, but this summer had opened my eyes. She knew Mac. She hadn’t seen Adam in years. I wasn’t sureIhad until Blue challenged me to be more than a rejected football fuckboy.

Still, it stung Eva had made all the decisions without consulting me. “Did you consider what I needed?”

“I did, and I knew it wasn’t me. Had I known it was Blue, I would have gotten out of the way sooner. I’m glad you’re happy.” The smile she offered me felt tattered at the edges, but I knew she meant what she said.

I borrowed some of Blue’s blunt honesty. “Why didn’t you stay and talk to me?”

Eva’s cheeks puffed as she let out a slow breath. “Because part of me wanted to give in and take the easy road. I already loved you—still love you—and I thought if I couldn’t make it work with you, I didn’t have much of a chance with anyone else. But that’s a terrible reason to be involved with someone. Fear I’d never have the opportunity again? Pass. I couldn’t do that to you.”

To Eva, being in charge was as necessary as breathing. It would take a special brand of voodoo to convince her to hand over the reins in a relationship. In hindsight, I wasn’t even close to that person. She’d seen the truth so clearly, and I’d totally missed the part where she was trying to protect me.

I hauled her off the bed into a hug. When she didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around my waist, one of the cracks in my heart healed. Blue made me happy, but so did Eva, just in different capacities.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to say no,” I finally told her.

Eva let out a watery laugh and pulled away. “Please. Have you seen my ass? No one is that strong. Now tell me why Coach has you on his shit list.”

“I might have skipped a couple of training sessions and fucked up a few times at camp. I had some other things on my mind this summer.” I sent her a pointed look, to which she simply shrugged.

“Sounds like you weren’t participating in team activities during the team building part of the pre-season.”

“I was participating. Coach literally had to pull me away from the team to inform me I was on his list. If he hadn’t interrupted, I would’ve had some money in the pool with the rest of them.”

She raised a brow. “Which one?”

“Coach’s mustache.”

Eva grinned. “His wife found out she was allergic to hummus when he got some stuck in his mustache then kissed her.”

I swore. ‘Wife made him do it’ had been my first choice. “You couldn’t have told me that last week?”

She shrugged. “You know my policy. I only use my powers for good or entertainment. Are we going to be okay?”

I hooked an arm around her shoulder and steered her out of my room. “Yeah, we’re going to be okay. I missed you, Wildcat. Stay if you want, I’m heading out to see my girl.”

She patted my bicep until I set her loose. “Nah, I have to go too. Henry’s in the car.”

I sent her an incredulous look. “The duck?”

“Don’t start,” she warned.

My shoulders shook with laughter as I remembered the way Henry had terrorized her and Chloe last semester. “Are you still putting him in those weird little diapers?”

She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder, one with a pink stripe I somehow hadn’t noticed until just now. “Sometimes. He looks very dapper in his houndstooth. Speaking of dapper, tell Blue I need pics of you all dolled up for Hope’s rehearsal party.”

---