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“What are you talking about?”
He nods in the direction Shayna took off in. “You’re still hung up on her.”
I stare toward the hallway of the bathrooms, wanting to run over to them, lock her in a stall, and make her hear my side of the story. “I am not. I just need her to know I’m not the loser she thinks I am. That the bet in college had nothing to do with what transpired between us afterward.”
Miles doesn’t smile and his eyes leave mine when Bryce laughs at something Brady says. “Who cares what she thinks of you if you’re not into her anymore?” He smirks with his eyebrows raised because the fucker knows me too well.
“I can’t explain it. It’s just… it’s the worst thing I’ve ever done to anybody and I need her to know I’m not the guy she thinks.”
He clasps my knee. “Good luck with it. Like I said—screwed.”
He doesn’t understand, but then why would he? Miles hails from a nice Midwest family with married parents, a sister, a golden retriever, and a literal white picket fence. He didn’t grow up with a mom who couldn’t get out of bed in the morning due to her depression over her husband’s early death. He didn’t feel like a constant disappointment.
That’s got to be why I’m so desperate to make her see that what we had meant so much to me.
She probably assumes I’m trying to get into her pants, but she’s wrong. Am I still attracted to her? Hell yes. But the last thing I need is to get all twisted up the way I was after shit went down with us. I was a mess and would probably have blown my scholarship if my brother Kane hadn’t calmed me down. My life is the same now as it was then. I still have too much on the line. I need to focus on my job and be the best damn quarterback in the league, proving my worth so I can secure the contract I want at the end of the season. And there’s no way I’ll be successful at that if I allow myself to be in a relationship with Shayna.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I tell Miles.
“Advice?” he yells after me.
I put up my hand. “NO!”
“Where is Burrows going?” Brady asks before I’m out of earshot.
“To get his balls kicked.”
Brady laughs and asks for clarification, but I trust Miles won’t say anything.
The bathrooms are unisex, a series of small individual rooms down a long hallway. I wait at the end of the line of doors since I’m not sure which one Shayna is in. Regardless, she’ll have to pass me to return to our section, so she won’t escape me.
Knowing Chase, he took off and is probably at his local bar by now. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Shayna darts out of a doorway near the end of the hall a minute later. She’s oblivious to me, searching her purse as she walks my way. I see the moment she realizes that I’m waiting. Her feet lose their cadence, irritation coats her features, and she blows out a long breath.
“What do you want?” She stops in front of me with her arms crossed, hip cocked.
Not knowing if I’ll ever see her dressed like this again, I let my gaze trail down to the deepVof her dress so I can soak in the view of her cleavage. I pretend not to notice the way her nipples pebble under the thin fabric when she quickly drops her arms to her sides, figuring—rightly—that crossing her arms would only make her tits more pronounced.
“I want to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say.” She pushes past me, but I take her upper arm, pulling her into a dark dead-end hallway with a set of doors. With her back against the wall, she rips her arm from my hold. “Jesus, Lee.”
I hold up my hands. “Give me five minutes?”
She huffs but doesn’t walk away. I take that as my sign.
“Shayna, I need you to know that I’ve thought a lot about what went down between us over the years.”
A sly smirk lifts one corner of her lips. “Feeling guilty all this time? Good.”
I step closer to her and she steps back to maintain the distance between us, except she has nowhere to go, so I step back so as not to crowd her.
“Yes. But not because I lied to you about my feelings. Because I didn’t tell you about the bet before I let anything happen between us.”
“What do you want from me?” She throws her hands in the air.
“I want you to forgive me. I want you to believe me.” I search her face for any indication that she’s ready to leave the past in the past, but I see none.
