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“He” was Nash. I didn’t have to ask.
“But he’s happy with his job?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“And he’s got the youth football camp starting up,” I added.
She nodded again. “Yeah, he does, but that doesn’t make him any less lost. It just keeps him busy.”
I ran a hand through my hair and turned my gaze to the window. “He sent me the invitation. He didn’t sign it or anything, but I recognized his handwriting on the envelope. He wanted me to come. But now that I’m here, I’m scared it was the wrong thing.”
“Why?” she asked, her voice soft, almost a whisper.
Turning back to her, I felt a lump form in my throat. “Because seeing him again may crush me.”
Riley leaned toward me with a serious expression. “I don’t know exactly what happened. No one does except possibly Ryder. But Brady says Nash doesn’t talk. What little we all know is what Ryder told us, and that’s not a lot. I won’t lie: at first I was so mad at you. I was sure I hated you for hurting Nash that way.” She paused. “For hurting all of us. But as time went on, the more I thought about it, the harder it was for me to believe that you had cheated on Nash. It just didn’t sound like you. I’ve wanted to call you and talk to you, and I swear I have picked up the phone to text you a million times and stopped myself because I didn’t know what to say. But when Maggie said you were in town I knew I had to come talk to you. I had to see you. Not because of Nash but because you were my friend. One I miss terribly.”
I reached up and wiped a tear that had escaped and rolled down my face. I already knew what they all thoughtof me here. She may not have texted me, but I had received an angry text from Ryder. I never responded to it, but I had kept it.
“I didn’t cheat,” I said. “I would never have cheated on Nash. I loved him.” I stopped before I broke down and started really crying.
“Can you tell me what happened?” she asked me. I knew it wasn’t because she was being nosy. She had been hurt by all this too. She wanted to understand.
“Charles was my supervisor when I first got the job. He was helpful and nice. I appreciated how easy he made things for me just beginning. The models that the firm hired for marketing always seemed to end up in his bed. It was a joke around the office. He was a friend, and that was all. I realize now I was naive. I didn’t notice things changing for him. I didn’t see him as more than a friend and colleague. The first clue was when he brought me flowers he had picked up on the way to work. Then I finally noticed it had been a while since he’d come to work bragging about his latest model conquest. He had even stopped going to the photo shoots. I began to grow concerned by the attention I was getting from him. He was giving me bigger and more important jobs. Ones that I didn’t deserve. There were others there that should be getting those jobs. They’d been there for years waiting for chances like I was being handed.” I stopped andtook a deep breath. Remembering this was hard to do. My mistakes had cost me Nash.
“After overhearing two of the women in my office whispering about me and saying I had to be sleeping with Charles, I knew I had to talk to him about it. Stop it. I asked him if he could come to my office before he left that afternoon, and he did. I told him what I heard and how I thought they were right to be upset and angry. I didn’t want him to give me any more jobs that others should be getting a chance at. Then… then he told me he had fallen in love with me. He went on and on telling me how I was all he could think about. He thought we were perfect for each other. I immediately told him I was in love with Nash and that was not going to happen. He grabbed me then and kissed me. I was shocked. I didn’t expect that. But more than that, I didn’t expect Nash to come walking in on it. When I shoved Charles away from me, it was then I saw Nash standing there in the doorway. He had flowers.” My voice cracked, and I dropped my head into my hands. “He had flowers,” I repeated on a sob. “And then he left. He just turned and walked away. I ran after him, and… and when he finally stopped and looked at me, he told me to shut up. He didn’t want to hear my lies. He didn’t want to see my face again. Then he threw my flowers on the floor at my feet and called me a bitch. I… I couldn’t speak. Wordswouldn’t come. It felt as if my soul had been ripped from my body. I just stood there.”
Riley blew out a breath. “Wow,” she said.
I just nodded and wiped at the tears staining my face.
“And Charles?” she asked hesitantly.
“He was fired. I went to resign, and when my boss asked why, I told her. She wouldn’t allow me to resign, and the next day Charles was gone.”
“Nash never let you tell him all this?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No. He had already been acting strange. I knew he was jealous of Charles. I’d told him about Charles. I didn’t keep secrets. Every time Nash came to Chicago, Charles made it a point to drop by my office and say hello. I think he knew Nash was jealous of his being around me. He played off that. I was so damn blind.”
Riley stood up and moved over to sit beside me on the sofa. She reached for my hand and held it firmly in both of hers. “You’re kind and have a big heart. That was taken advantage of by an asshole.”
I sniffled. It didn’t make this better. I had still lost Nash. My heart was still damaged beyond repair.
CHAPTER THREE
NASH
It looked like a training facility. Two football fields, four field houses, stadium lighting, and equipment lined up ready to be used. Yet I could still see the field that it had been. The one with the bonfire, the trucks, the old tires and logs brought out for seating, and the keg that sat in the middle of it all. So many memories were on this land, some of the best and the worst. We had all grown up together out there, and now it was over. We were no longer kids but adults with different lives.
“We did it,” Ryker said coming to stand beside me. “Hunter would be so fucking proud of this.”
Hunter. The only one of us that would forever be ateenage boy in our heads. He wouldn’t grow old and age like the rest of us. The hate crime that had gotten him shot as he had stood to defend Ryker made him a hero that died tragically. My gaze moved to the stone memorial with his name that sat in the spot where he’d taken his last breath. It was there to remind us all of the boy who was a part of us but didn’t get to stay.
“I’m glad Aurora is going to speak. Hunter would want her to be the one to unveil the memorial and talk about him,” I said.
“She’s nervous, but she wants to do it. She still worries about how her voice sounds, even though I tell her daily how fucking beautiful it is.” Ryker sighed. Although she had the hearing implant she still heard things differently. Including her own voice. “Her parents are all going to be here, and she wants to do it for her mom and dad enough that she will overcome her nerves.”
I nodded but said nothing. We stood there awhile, staring out over what we had spent the last year working toward. I had thought it would bring me some kind of joy. Some happiness even. But the hole in my chest made that impossible.
