Page 46 of Fearlessly Us

I nod, swallowing down the lump that forms in my throat. “I will,” I manage, wondering if that’s true.

“Look at us.” Tyler swings one arm around me and the other around Cam. “Doing some serious sideline bonding like the besties we are.”

I huff a laugh, Tyler’s bit of comic relief easing the ache in my chest, and when I look over at him, I know that’s exactly what he intended. For a guy who’s mostly puppy dog, it’s easy to forget he’s also brilliant and weirdly intuitive. “I wish this game would fucking end so we can get off the field and do our bonding in the locker room.”

“Same,” Cam says, glancing over at the clock. “I can’t wait to see my kids and get my arms around my girl.”

“Where is she anyway?” I ask. As the team’s sports psychologist, Maddy spends most games on the sidelines watching us play, but I haven’t seen her since right before we took the field.

Cam shrugs. “She wanted to watch from the stands with the girls. Said it was the first time all six of them have been at a game together in a while.”

“Oh yeah!” Tyler says with a smile. “I totally forgot Soph told me Cait was coming. They were all excited because Cait never comes to games.”

When Tyler says Caitlin’s name, every thought of dropped passes and my asshole dad disappears and butterflies swarm my stomach as my head whips up to the stands. “Cait’s here?” I ask, my eyes scanning the crowd for the girl with the golden-brown hair and stormy eyes who hasn’t been far from my mind in weeks. I haven’t seen her since that day at her house two weeks ago, but we’ve been texting almost every day. All the messages feel like they’re leading somewhere that, despite my fucked-up brain and general distrust of everyone and everything, I really want to go. I’ve spent my sleepless nights strategizing the best way to see her again, and it looks like the universe just tossed me my chance.

Or maybe it’s Caitlin who tossed me my chance.

Do you ever come to football games?

Sports don’t really do it for me. I haven’t been to a game in years.

Hey, Drew?

Yeah, Catie?

I think I might like you too.

My brain is a runaway train, wondering if maybe she came to the game because of me. Because she wanted to see me as much as I’ve been wanting to see her.

This day is looking all the way up.

“Oh my god,” Tyler says, his voice low and a little incredulous. “Like, oh my fucking god.”

“What?” I ask absently, my gaze still roving the stands in search of the girl occupying all my thoughts.

“I knew I wasn’t imagining it. You like Cait.”

His words snap me back to reality, and I turn only to find him grinning at me like a lunatic. “What? No, I don’t.” The protest sounds halfhearted because it is.

I do like her. I want her.

Even though I shouldn’t. Even though I don’t really have anything to give.

In the shortest time, she’s tattooed herself all over my battered heart and maybe—just maybe—she can be the one who helps it heal.

Tyler snorts. “Tell it to someone who believes you. You said you fucked up with her and that’s why she was mean to you at Jack’s bar last winter. Whenever we’re all together, she looks at you like she hates you and you look at her with regret, and I thought you just felt bad about whatever you did to piss her off, but that’s not it at all. When I said her name just now, you got this sappy, loved-up look I didn’t realize your face could even make. It’s not regret I’ve been seeing. It’s fucking longing, dude. You’ve never liked anyone before, but you literally like her.”

When I glance over at Cam, the knowing smile gives him away. “She told you?” I ask under my breath. I was pretty sure Maddy would tell him at least a little of what I told her that night at their house, but he never brought it up, so I thought maybe I was wrong. I don’t hate Cam knowing, it turns out. Tyler either.

Even if I’ll probably fuck the whole thing up, the outside chance I won’t is enough to make me want to try.

Cam’s smile turns smug. “My girl tells me everything.”

“And I need you to tell me everything because I hate not knowing shit.” Tyler bounces on his toes with excitement. “Also, I can totally help. I got Sophie to fall in love with me. I can definitely get Cait to fall in love with you.”

I snort, even as I get a little thrill at the word love. Am I someone who could fall in love? Am I a person someone else could fall in love with? “You didn’t have to do anything. Sophie was in love with you for more than three years before you so much as thought about her as more than a friend. I don’t think you’re the authority on making women fall in love with you.”

Tyler just grins at me. “I think that makes me the authority. Because she was in love with me before I even had to do one single thing differently. All I had to do was be myself. Besides, none of that matters because I love her and she loves me and I get to marry her and be with her forever.” He turns and scans the stands then stops, literally beaming, his eyes shooting hearts and rainbows over the heads of the crowd.