Page 77 of Defend Her Heart
I take the tumbler from him and bounce it between my hands. “There’s nothing going on with us.” The words rush out of my mouth. Does he know we’re married? No, he can’t. How would he?
Niko gives me a weird look. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you sound so paranoid right now? I thought that’s why you were here—to fill me in on getting her back? None of us knew you even had her in the first place, dude.”
Right.
“Sorry, man. Those walking violations in there just freaked me the fuck out.”
We make our way into the basement, walking past the yoga studio that was recently added down here, and open the door to the home gym I’ve used a hundred times before. I follow him toward the wall of cubbies and put my stuff away.
“Since we have a game tomorrow, we should probably keep it light. Want to do a short workout on the bikes?” Niko asks.
“Sure.”
We climb onto the stationery bikes, and after a few minutes of silence, I decide it’s time to finally speak my truth.
“Avery and I were high school sweethearts.” Niko doesn’tsay anything, but he turns his head, giving me his full attention. “We were young and in love, I’m sure you’ve heard a million stories like this before. But I really thought she was it for me.”
I don’t tell him that I still think that, but knowing Niko, he probably already knows.
“What happened?”
Taking a deep breath, I sit up on the bike and cross my arms over my chest. “I’m a year older than her. We were both the best players on our teams. Colleges from all over were recruiting both of us.” Sitting up, Niko nods, urging me to go on. “She told me it was her dream to play for Wisconsin. That’s where she’s from. And she wanted to go on to play professionally and be the best there ever was.”
Niko’s legs slow on his bike and then finally come to a full stop. “I don’t understand.”
I don’t stop pedaling. I need to do something with all these emotions flooding through me, so I pick up the pace and finish my story.
“When she told me where she wanted to play in college, I had already accepted my full-ride scholarship.”
Understanding dawns on Niko’s face. “You went to Boston University.”
“Yeah. And when Avery found out, she told me she’d come there too so we could be together.”
Niko’s face scrunches as he tries to figure something out. “Why couldn’t you have just done long distance?”
I laugh and point at him.
“Says the man who almost let Sadie walk out of his life and go to Denver.”
Niko glares at me. He wasn’t at his best at that time, but luckily he pulled his head out of his ass. Too bad I can’t say the same for myself.
“I was young? I don’t know. I just couldn’t do that to her,man. Anytime I brought it up, she was so adamant it would never work. With our crazy schedules, we’d never see each other. She was dead set on following me to Boston.”
“So you broke up with her.”
I nod. My legs are flying on the bike now. The memory of Avery’s devastated face has been permanently carved in my brain, it haunts me to this day. Niko leans over, turning up the tension on the bike so high, I have no choice but to stop pedaling.
“But you were drafted by Green Bay. Why didn’t you try to make it work after that?”
I look up at the ceiling, trying to remember what was going through my head at the draft when I heard Green Bay call my name.
“I thought about it. God, did I think about it. But Avery moved on. We still saw each other from time to time because we both stayed in touch with our high school teammates who were all friends. You know how that is. That bond lasts a lifetime. And anytime I saw her, she was so…happy. She had boyfriends in college and then was drafted by Minnesota. I guess I could’ve tried but I didn’t want to disrupt the life she had made for herself. That’s why I let her go, so shecouldmake that life for herself.”
Finally, I turn toward my best friend. His eyes are soft and he’s looking at me the way he looks at Sophia after she just got done crying.
“Don’t look at me like that, man. I’m fine.”
He climbs off the bike and walks to the shelf in the corner, tossing me a towel.
