Page 60 of The Run Option

Miles: Same here.

Brock: Please don’t talk about being home with my sister. I’m nauseous enough without that image in my mind.

Shaw: I didn’t say anything. And are you sick? Why are you nauseous?

Brock: According to the doctor, I’ve got the flu or something. I’m fine, though. If you tell Sutton or my mom I’ll kill you.

Shaw: Too late. She was reading over my shoulder.

Brock: Great.

Miles: You should let people take care of you, man. It’s not so bad.

Emmett: I’m trying to put June to bed and you’re blowing my phone up with nonsense.

I chuckle at Emmett’s gruff nature. If he really hated us messaging him, he’d leave the chat.

Shaw: Sutton says to tell June goodnight and that she loves her.

Jason: Tell her Uncle Jason is going to come and we can get unicorn cotton candy again soon.

Emmett: She said she loves Sutton too. I’m not mentioning the cotton candy. She won’t ever sleep if I say that.

I smile. I need to go visit them again soon. Willow would love sweet little June, and vice versa.

“Are you going to be on your phone all night? That isn’t the King I know,” a familiar voice says before a hand slaps my back.

I look up to find Harvey, one of the guys I used to go to clubs and parties with, grinning at me. I muster up a smile in return and slide my phone in my pocket. For the first time tonight, I’m glad Willow isn’t by my side. I don’t want her meeting this part of my past in person. All of our progress would likely be lost.

“It’s good to see you man,” I lie. Harvey isn’t a bad guy, but he also hasn’t given up his reckless ways. I don’t want to be seen with him and have anyone think I’m the same as I was before.

“It’s been too long,” Harvey says before taking a slug of his beer. No doubt he’s already had plenty tonight. “But I see you’re a married man now. Who would have thought you’d marry some chick you met at a party?”

My brows furrow. “What are you talking about? We met when she started working for the Lions.”

He laughs, shoving my shoulder. “Man, I know you’re telling everyone that cute little story. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Though it was hilarious the way you came over waving her number on a napkin like some kind of flag. That was the one night you out-drank me. Maybe if I drink a little more I’ll find a wife tonight.” He tips back his beer and guzzles it down.

My stomach drops. He has no reason to lie to me. Though he could be remembering wrong, something in my gut says he’s not. I look over at Willow, combing through memories for clues.

You don’t remember me.She’d said that at Jamal’s party, hadn’t she? I didn’t understand at the time, but now all the puzzle pieces are falling into place, and the picture they’re forming makes me sick. I tear my eyes away from my wife. Bile rises in my throat. How can I even think of her as my wife after I forgot the first time we met? Of course she hated me. I’d thought there was hope for her liking me, but how could she after I slighted her?

She saw the past me I’ve been trying to protect her from. If I thought I didn’t deserve her before, I know for sure I don’t now. I rake a hand through my hair, feeling like my heart is being put through a wood chipper.

“I need to get some air. I’ll see you around,” I mumble to Harvey before pushing my way through the throng of people and out onto the porch of Aiden’s ridiculous mansion. Willow hadlaughed when we pulled up, saying this is what she imagined my house to be like. That would have fit the picture she has of me.

I fight the urge to slam my fist against the wall. I lean on the porch railing, gripping the iron banister until my knuckles turn white.

“Jase?” Willow’s soft voice makes me hang my head in shame. “Are you all right? I saw you rush out here.”

I debate telling her I’m fine, or lying and saying I’m ill, but I don’t want this to be hidden between us any longer.

“I know the real story of how we first met.” My words hang in the night air, burning hot like the stars above us.

“What made you remember?” she asks, sounding nervous.

I let out a bitter laugh. “Nothing. Harvey told me he was there. He remembered, but not me. That whole night was a blur. I drank myself into oblivion after a phone call with my parents. He said I had your number, but I must have lost it.”

One thing I do recall after Harvey’s reminder is that we’d just won a big game that week. I’d thrown a touchdown in the last minute of the game for the win. When I called my parents, they said they’d missed it. They were at a winery in California and forgot I was playing that night. I’d started drinking after that and didn’t stop until I passed out. I was a pathetic fool.

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