“Weare not walking into anything.” I start to pace.
I should open my mouth and fill them in. What harm would it do? Destroy any boundaries I’ve worked hard to build, bring me to the darkest point in my existence, shatter the shield and drop these guys into the pit of vulnerability.
Yeah, it’d do a lot to lay it all out there.
I’m not going down that road.
Parker wads up the protein bar wrapper and gives me a pointed look. “Should I ask—”
“No.”
“Okay.”
Griffin doesn’t have the same respect for boundaries. He claps a big hand on my shoulder. “Come on, man. What’s got you all flustered?”
“Nothing.”
“Ryder.” Griffin’s voice isn’t pushy, it’s sincere, and I hate it.
These guys genuinely care. They were the three I drifted toward when I was drafted. I don’t know why, all the guys on the team are decent men, but Parker reached out first, then Griffin, then Dax since we were drafted right after each other.
They are the closest people I’ve allowed myself to call friends since . . . since I left friends behind, I guess. They’re not going to judge me or offer advice. I’ve had their backs plenty of times before, and this is them simply having mine.
“I grew up with Ava’s brother,” I say in a long breath. “With Ava. They were . . . basically my second home, then I had a falling out with her brother right before college.”
My teeth grind together. The Williams were my family. I thought we were unbreakable.
Unnerving how one of them was the one to ram the sharpest knife in my spine.
“Has it been a long time since you’ve seen them?” Dax asks.
“Ten years.”
“Couldn’t have ended so terrible. Not if she wants to work with you.”
How little they know.
Drake is underhanded, but I’m no saint. I’m not sure I can forgive myself for hurting Ava the way I did. “I left when . . . Ava was going through something pretty rough. She might want the job, but it’s because of what the center represents. Not because of me.”
“What happened between you two?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Why?”
Griffin catches it and gives me that arrogant smirk telling me he won. “You fell for your buddy’s sister, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t fall. We were together.” I shouldn’t have said that. It dips too close to the nuclear moment my life shifted. I didn’t fall for Ava Williams; I’d been entirely convinced I was going to marry her.
“I see. Got it.”
“You don’t get anything.”
“Look, it’s awkward dealing with exes. We all get it,” Griffin says. “Well, maybe not Dax.”
Dax frowns, but doesn’t say anything.
“Bottom line,” Griffin goes on, “can she do the job? This is important to you, my guy. Will she see your vision?”
