Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Because I’d wanted it in Beau’s name. I’d wanted it to be his, and I was afraid that would come with too many questions.
“You there?” Wyatt asked, making me realize he’d been speaking to me while I was daydreaming.
“Sorry, you’re just boring,” I teased, and Wyatt laughed.
“You’ve always been a sarcastic motherfucker. Anyway, Holly’s out of town tonight. She’s visiting her parents. I thought maybe you’d want to grab a beer or something?”
“I can’t, actually. Beau and I are…working on some remodeling around my house.” Liar…I’m such a fucking liar. Why in the hell was this so goddamned hard for me?
“You need any help?” Wyatt asked.
Fuck. I should have seen that one coming. I didn’t even know if Beau and I had plans that night, but I figured we did since we were always together. I wanted to be with him. Cheesy or not, I always wanted to be with him. We were in that gooey honeymoon phase I teased many of my friends about in the past. “Shit. It’s Saturday, right? I forgot, we’re going to his mom’s for dinner tonight.”
So if anyone couldn’t tell, I was now the biggest liar in liar town.
“Okay… Well, what about Thanksgiving next week? I wasn’t sure if you had plans, but Holly and I were thinking you might want to come over. We have quite the feast. Shannon and a few other people will be there.”
Fuck. I obviously had plans with Beau on Thanksgiving. When I didn’t reply, Wyatt sighed. “Ash…you know you’re my friend, right? Nothing else matters. If there’s something you want to share with me, you can. It won’t change anything.”
My heart began to thud, and my palms got sweaty. He knew. Of course he fucking knew. How could he not? Everyone probably fucking knew. We were together all the damn time.
I took a couple of deep breaths. The urge to hang up the phone was there. My conversation with my agent echoed, together with the ringing in my ears.
It was a ridiculous response. Logically, I knew that, but I didn’t know how to get around the way it made me feel.
“I…” He’d said it was okay… Beth knew…Kenny knew… I wanted people to know Beau was mine. I sort of wanted to be growly about Beau belonging to me. I wanted people to know I belonged to him too. This was Wyatt. He’d been my best friend. I should be able to do this.
“Beau is welcome too, ya know? Or not… I don’t want to assume, but everyone sees you guys together all the time, and—”
“Yes,” I blurted out.
“Yes what?”
“What you’re thinking…about us. Yes.” My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the couch, my knee bobbing up and down like crazy.
“Cool. I don’t give a shit who you fuck, Carmichael. I’m not going to pretend I’m not shocked, but I guess it sort of makes sense. You guys always seemed to be in on something no one else was.”
I smiled at him thinking that about us and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t care. Wyatt didn’t care. “Not everyone is like that.”
“Then those people don’t matter.”
His words were true. I knew that in theory, but yeah, that emotional stuff still had me a bit fucked up. “There might be a team interested in me next year. I don’t know for sure, but…this could complicate things. No one knows. You can’t say anything.” Just saying those words had lifted some of the weight off my chest. It felt good to speak them—both about Beau and the team.
“Holy shit. That’s fantastic. Will make things difficult with you and Beau, though. What does he say?”
Another silence from me.
“You fucking dumbshit. He doesn’t know?”
“I’m going to tell him. I just didn’t want to do it until I knew it was a real possibility…and until I knew what I would do.”
“What do you mean, what you would do? You would give up pro-ball for him?” There was such shock in his voice that I felt it in my soul. This was football—professional football. It had always been the most important thing in my world. It was who I was.
“I don’t… Fuck, I don’t know.” When I heard a door slam, I pushed off the couch. “Listen, I gotta go. Beau is here. I’m going to tell him, okay? And thank you…for being okay with this.”
“Jesus, did you really think I wouldn’t be?”
I was still adjusting to being okay with it myself. “I gotta go, Wy. I’ll talk to you soon and…I appreciate the invite for Thanksgiving, but we’ll be at Beth’s.”
“You’re welcome, man.”
We hung up just as Beau came inside.
“What’s—”
“I told Wyatt,” I interrupted him. “About us.” A sort of high, giddy feeling washed through me at the admission. It had been…surprisingly easy to say. Strangely, much easier than when I’d told Beth or Kenny. It was as if the bubble Beau and I lived in together was expanding, fitting more people inside. Maybe it could stretch around my whole life, even football.