Page 38 of Trust Me Always

“So…” he leads once the door closes behind Chase.

“Yeah,” I confirm. Saying his name isn’t needed.

“Not sure if this means I should want to kick his ass even more or find a way to let it go and be his friend.”

“Nah, don’t be his friend.”

Brady chuckles, tugging my hair from the messed-up, just-got-fucked pony and brushing his fingers through it until it’s strewn out behind me. “Sounds good to me.”

I smile even though he can’t see me, replaying the evening in my head and wondering if I’m supposed to regret any of it when I find that I don’t. “You know what the worst part is, Big Guy?”

“What’s that, Cammie Cam?”

I press on his chest, looking up at him in misery. “I didn’t even get to come before Chase burst in.”

Brady freezes, then explodes in laughter, and I can’t help but join in.

“You and me both, Cammie Baby. You and me both.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cameron

“You are getting prettygood at this cooking stuff.” I stare at my girl from the other side of the kitchen bar, fork pointed at her.

Ari smiles down at her bowl of only slightly sticky risotto.

“Seriously, these weeknight FaceTime cooking sessions you guys keep doing are paying off big-time. I’ve actually managed to keep some weight on this semester.”

“I did notice the Ensures haven’t been disappearing from the fridge as often as normal.” She looks up at me. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. Fine. Meds are down the hatch most days, and I didn’t turn the shade of a lobster when we had vodka after the game, so that was nice. Just keep feeding me all this starchy shit, and we’ll be good.” I don’t mention I haven’t had a period in four months or that my headaches are back. There’s nothing to be done about either, and both are nonconcerns that come and go. Just part of life at this point. I change the subject back to her. “You’re literally on your way to becoming the ultimate wife.”

“I’ll never be the cook of the family, but it will be nice to feed him something other than pizza and sandwiches when we do finally get to live together.”

I stare at my friend. “Ari, you know you can live with him now, right? You’re an adult. He’s a fucking NFL player, not the guy stuck living in the football house anymore.”

She sighs. “I know, but I made a commitment to you guys.”Her eyes meet mine. “Me, my brother, you, Chase, and Brady made this plan years ago, and we actually achieved it. We got into the same school, and they chose this one because I was able to get in when they could have gone somewhere with an even better team than the one they’ve helped build here. I’m not going to leave now. We’ve got less than two years. I see him a few times a month and more than that in his offseason and literally every day on-screen. We’ve talked about all this, Cam, and he gets it. Honestly, he’s happy I’m not alone in a big house somewhere while he’s on the road for ‘work.’” She makes air quotes with a smile.

My own forms, and I give her hand a little squeeze as I get up to rinse my bowl out.

Ari’s phone buzzes, and she looks down at it, chuckling as she follows me from the kitchen into the small living room.

“Do I even want to know?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

I scowl, snapping my head her way. She answered that way on purpose, so I turn her wrist toward me, looking at the screen. It’s a message in our group thread from Mason, a picture attached of Alister with his earbuds in, wiping his eye. Clearly, they just took it at the right time, but the caption makes me snort.

Mase: I take it she’s still ignoring him?

I groan, dropping down on the sofa. “Why couldn’t I have just gone out onto the back patio with you when Noah called?”

“Because you were determined.” Ari plops down on the cushion beside me, smiling over at baby Deaton, asleep on the pile of blankets on the floor.

I wait for her to look back this way before responding, that way my frown isn’t wasted. “And by that you mean?” I narrow my eyes.

“I could have told you exactly where you were going to end up that night if you’d asked.”

---