Page 100 of Game Plan

What will Finn think? What will his teammates say? Is he going to be embarrassed because of me?

I rest my forehead against the steering wheel and consider leaving town. I don’t want to see Finn and know that I hurt him. That’s the last thing I ever wanted to do. But, if I leave, I’m handing Jordan more control over my life. And I’ll be damned if I let him have the last word.

“Let us come pick you up. You said you’re downtown. Branch and I can be there in twenty minutes, thirty tops. But let us come get you. I’ll drive you home, and Branch will pick me up from Finn’s.”

Finn’s. I’m going to have to have this conversation there—the place we’ve shared so much lately. The irony kills me.

“No. I’m okay,” I say. “I don’t want you running around town because of me.”

“You’re my best friend. You’re my fake sister-in-law,” she says, and I can hear the grin in her soft words. “I’d do anything for you, Pop. Let me come pick you up.”

I shake my head and turn on my car, wiping my face with the edge of my shirt. I glance at the clock and do a little math. By the time I get back to Finn’s, he’ll probably be walking through the door. And I don’t need an audience for the conversation we’re about to have.

“Layla, I love you. Thank you for giving me a heads-up on this, and I’m so sorry that your brother is probably having a really shitty day because of me.”

My stomach clenches at the thought of conversations probably swirling around the locker room. On the first day of training camp, damn it.

“I love you, too,” she says. “And I’m less worried about Finn than I am you. He’s a big boy. He can handle himself.”

I hope so. “I’m going to get myself together and try to beat him home. I want to talk to you later and explain things, so you don’t think I have all of these big, dark secrets.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

I grin sadly. “I used to think that. But lately, I’ve learned that we do owe the people we love certain things. Like not letting our fears and regrets control us.”

My gosh, how that’s true. And only now is it so abundantly clear … but I know why.

Because I love Finn.

I just hate that I can admit it to myself on the day that my past might’ve taken a knife to his professional life.

“The advantage of saying I’m not getting married is that it’s true,” he says. “It’s clean and simple. But the disadvantage is that there’s no guarantee that’ll stop the gossip, and that kind of crap isn’t something I need following me into the locker room this season. Kepner is already pissed that this is what people are talking about this close to the preseason.”

“Be careful driving,” Layla says. “And text me or something when you get to Finn’s. I want to know that you made it.”

“Okay.”

“Again, I love you. Call me if you need me.”

I sniffle. “I love you, too, Lay.”

“Bye.”

I end the call and drop my phone into the cup holder.

Fuck. I rest my forehead for a moment against the steering wheel, trying to pull myself together. Why, Jordan, you fuck?

Nothing could have prepared me for such a betrayal, and I have no clue whether he will win here—destroy me emotionally again—or if Finn’s and my relationship will survive something so seemingly irrevocable.

When I think about Finn’s kind, loyal heart, another thought spins through my mind.

Could having everything—the truth—out in the open free me from Jordan once and for all?

I sit up and start the car.

I hope. I fucking hope.

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