Dating the Defensive Back (The Nash Brothers Book 1)

A Lot Can Happen in Three Weeks

He hasn’t gotten in trouble for the fight, though Lincoln called him in for a chat the morning after the fight happened. I guess Austin was there, too, and Lincoln made them work it out.

I’m not convinced they actually worked it out, but Grayson said they’re good, so I’ll take him at his word. Guy drama is different from girl drama, and maybe they really are fine. They sort of have to be ahead of the upcoming season.

I’ve been staying at Grayson’s for the last few days, and I haven’t been home to touch base with Kelly. I head that way after work on Thursday since I need some more clothes, and I cross my fingers that she’s home alone so we can chat…even though I’m nervous for this particular chat.

I get my wish. She’s on the couch watching a game show when I walk in, and she looks calm and relaxed since it’s summer break. She still teaches summer school classes, but it’s low-key and fewer hours than her usual workload.

“Hey Kel,” I say, and she hops up and turns to face me.

“Avelina Marie! Where have you been?”

I offer a tight smile as I walk over and give her a hug. “Sorry. I’ve been either working or with Grayson. Can we talk?”

“What’s wrong?”

We sit on the couch, and she relaxes back, setting her feet on the coffee table.

I sit up straight as I turn to look at her. “I’m sure you heard about the fight between Grayson and Austin, and I just wanted to talk to you about it.”

Her brow crinkles. “The fight?”

“Have you been talking to Austin?”

She shakes her head. “He’s been busy with workouts, and we had some fun together, but it pretty much just fizzled out.”

“When did it fizzle?” I ask.

She purses her lips as she looks up to the ceiling. “A few weeks ago. Maybe a month or so. The last time I saw him was before their OTAs in May.”

That was after I moved out.

Was he only seeing her to try to get to Grayson?

Once I moved out and Grayson stopped coming around here, he didn’t have a need for that anymore.

But Kelly and Austin talked the first night I saw Grayson at the Gridiron. He wouldn’t have known Grayson and I had a history at that point.

He also didn’t go home with Kelly that night. As I recall, she wanted to go to the Gridiron again so she could see him again, and he’d seen Grayson and me together by then.

I don’t say anything about any of that, though. I’d hate for Kelly to feel like he was just using her. If she puts that together, then fine—but I don’t want to be the one to hurt her. Instead, I say, “He recorded Grayson talking to my brother at the charity ball and posted a video that went viral. Then Grayson confronted him at the Gridiron, and I guess it got physical.”

“I saw the video,” she says quietly. “Are you okay?”

I nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. We agreed to keep up the ruse with my brother a little longer, so he was just saying what he had to say, and Austin happened to be behind him, catching the whole exchange to share with the world.”

“Ugh, I’m so sorry. What a dick,” she says.

“I’m sorry he’s a dick.”

“Yeah,” she murmurs. “It’s okay. I never expected anything serious with him. It was more of a good time, and he was good at the sex.”

“Are you heading back east this summer?” I ask. She heads to Louisiana every summer and spends a few weeks there with her parents before the next school year gets underway.

She nods. “The first session of summer school ends Friday, and I head out on the red eye for three weeks.”

“I’m glad I came by to see you, then,” I say. I give her a hug, and we settle on the couch for game shows and laughing.

Between work, organizing everything for the first of the three events I’m catering, and fitting in time with Grayson, I stay plenty busy in the next three weeks.

It’s the second week of July when she gets back, and I head over to see her.

Training camp starts in two weeks, and Grayson and I have spent as much time together as we can. He hasn’t proposed despite Ellie’s suggestion, and we haven’t spoken about it again. Instead, I appear with him at different community events, and we present a united front as we do our best to ignore the noise surrounding our true intentions with each other. It’s nobody’s business but ours.

I’ve learned over the last month that everybody has an opinion, but the only thing that matters is our truth.

“How was Louisiana?” I ask when I walk into the house.

When I spot her sitting on the couch, she’s…crying?

I rush over and sit beside her. I sling my arm around her shoulders. “Oh my God, Kelly! What’s wrong?”

I glance down between her hands and see the stick, and my heart leaps into my throat as I glance down at it.

Two pink lines.

“Oh…” I say. “You’re—”

“Pregnant,” she finishes.

“And it’s—”

“Austin’s.”

“Oh, shit,” I murmur.

Jeez, a lot can happen in three weeks.

And that’s when I realize…

I haven’t gotten my period this month.

“What am I going to do?” she wails. “We were just screwing around. Having some fun. And now…now I’m going to be tied to him for the rest of my life!”

“It’ll be okay,” I say quietly. Soothingly. But in truth…I have no idea what to say. On the one hand, I have my own racing thoughts running through my brain. I took the birth control shot, but we had unprotected sex during the first week I was on it. Lots of sex. So much sex.

What if I’m pregnant, too?

I know the odds are low.

But I also know…I’m new at this sex thing. I’m inexperienced, and I’ve never had a pregnancy scare before. I don’t know if this is a scare or not, but I’m sure as hell scared right now.

I want to be tied to Grayson forever. I love him.

But I don’t want it to be because a baby is pushing us together. I want it to be because he loves me—not because he feels obligated to stay with me.

And on the other hand…I need to push these thoughts from my brain. I need to be there for my friend. She actually is pregnant. The scare is over. This is the aftermath of the reality.

I rub Kelly’s back as I try to push my own fears away.

“How far along do you think you are?” I ask.

She shrugs. “It’s been…what, two months since I’ve even seen him? I couldn’t bring myself to take a test at my parents’ house even though I knew. I just knew. So as soon as I got home…”

“Oh, God, Kel. I don’t even know what to say,” I admit.

“I know. There’s nothing to say.”

“Are you going to tell him?” I ask.

“I feel like I have to, but I don’t want him thinking I did this on purpose to trap him or something.”

Would Grayson think that if it was me?

I have no idea.

She cradles her head in her hands. “I should’ve known better. We should’ve been more careful. I mean, we used condoms, but he might’ve slipped in once or twice, and it only takes once.” She sucks in a breath. “I always wanted to be a mom. I mean, I love kids. I wouldn’t teach kindergarteners if I didn’t. But I never thought it would be like this. I never imagined it would be because I was messing around with a football player. God, I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Kel. This could’ve happened to anyone.”

“It didn’t happen to you,” she points out.

I clear my throat. I’ve never been good at hiding what I’m thinking.

“Oh, shit. Are you…” she asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. I mean…probably not, but I didn’t even realize I might’ve missed a period until I saw that stick in your hand, and—”

“There are extra tests in my box. Take one. I won’t need them for nine months anyway, and by then they’ll be expired.”

I shake my head. “No. I’m not. I don’t think I am, anyway. It’s just the birth control shot or the stress…or something.” I’m talking myself out of it being pregnancy.

It can’t be.

She jumps up and leaves the room, and she returns a beat later with the box. “Take it. I don’t need it anyway. Go take the test now. Maybe we can go through this together.”

Shit.

I don’t want to go through this together, though I’m not exactly in the right position to tell her that. “I’ll take one later,” I say, turning the box over in my hand as I stare down at it.

I get up and toss it on my bathroom counter, and then I sit with Kelly, and we talk about what this means.

She agrees she has to tell him, and we even discuss strategies for what she can say since she isn’t sure she wants him around. She’s certain she wants to keep the baby, and she’s also certain she’ll figure out how to make this all work.

And then she throws out the thing that breaks my heart but might just be the right choice for her. “I don’t even know how to say this to you, but…I think I’m going to move back to Louisiana to be closer to my parents as I navigate this.”

I don’t blame her, though tears pinch behind my eyes. “You should, Kel. But what am I going to do without you?”

“You’ll never be without me. Instead of long talks on the couch, we’ll have long talks on the phone.” Her voice wavers a little at the end, and I start to cry, too. “It’s just the right time, I think. If I’m going to move, I’d rather do it in the summer than once the new school year gets underway.”

“I don’t blame you. And it’s absolutely the right choice. But I’m right here if you ever want to come back, okay?”

“I don’t want to leave,” she whimpers.

I reach over and squeeze her to me, and we both cry as we consider what a future might look like where we’re no longer roommates and where we no longer even live in the same town.

We sit on the couch reminiscing about the day we met and all the adventures we’ve had together. It’s dinnertime when my phone dings with a text.

Grayson: Will you be home for dinner?

I stand and stretch. “I should get home. Do you want to come over for dinner?”

She shakes her head. “No. I need to do some research about jobs by my parents and maybe make an appointment to make sure everything is okay in here.” She pats her stomach, and the slightest twinge of something rushes through me. It’s not quite jealousy, not quite fear, but some weird combination in the middle.

I should take that test.

I know it’ll be negative. Of course it will be. But I also have this strange feeling like maybe ignorance is bliss, and I kind of want to live in ignorance a while longer.

I call Grayson on my way to his place.

“Hey,” he answers.

“Hey. I’m on my way, and I haven’t eaten.”

“I haven’t, either. Want to meet somewhere?” he asks.

“Sure.”

He wants Mexican, so we pick a place not far from home, and I pull into the parking lot at the same time he does. On my way there, I decide I’m not going to tell him Kelly’s news. It’s not my news to share, anyway.

“You’re quiet,” he astutely observes after we order.

“Kel’s going through some things. She’s thinking about moving back to Louisiana to be closer to her mom and dad,” I say.

“Oh, Av. I’m sorry. That must be hard for you. Is everything okay with her?” he asks.

I nod. “She’ll be okay.” It’s just that her life is going to get completely flipped upside down, and I think I want that too.

I don’t say any of that.

“I’m right here if you need me, okay?” he says softly.

I glance up at him, and I see the sincerity there.

“I know. Thank you.”

I just hope Kelly has someone besides me in her corner, too.

I hope Austin does the right thing and steps up. But knowing him the way I do, I’m not entirely convinced he will.