Page 49 of Catching Kyle (Football Heartthrobs #1)

I sigh. “Yeah, but I miss you, Ams. This situation is complicated, but it’s the same as letting our partners get between us. I don’t want to be cut off from you anymore. I want to go back to the way it was.”

She takes a sip from her straw, and nods. “I don’t either. I wish I could go back and undo what I did, but it warms my heart that you’re willing to forgive me for it.”

“Of course,” I say. “And besides, Kyle leaving me is not your fault. It’s his. We could have tried to make it work. But he decided to be the asshole and abandon me.”

Amani raises her brow. “Yeah, about that…”

“What?” I ask, folding my arms. She knows something about Kyle that I don’t. I hate that, even after all this time and all he’s done, I need to know about him.

Her eyes bug out. “You haven’t heard?”

My heart starts to race. “Heard what?”

But then we’re interrupted by the waitress.

Amani orders some sushi, and I just order whatever their special bento box is.

The waitress catches the spine of the One-Piece tome and then starts fangirling with Amani.

Meanwhile, I’m tapping my foot while my blood pressure rises, desperately wanting to hear what she says about Kyle.

Finally, the waitress disappears .

“Tell me,” the desperation clear in my voice.

“Here,” she says. She pulls out her phone, scrolls for a bit, then hands it to me. She has an article from ESB pulled up. The title reads ‘Kyle Weaver Comes Clean about What Happened with Ex’.

I look up at her, deadpan. “Really?”

“Really,” she says, invoking our true word. “That’s the freaking ESB right there. Just skim it.”

I do so begrudgingly, but I find myself surprised by the end.

Robyn, the same woman that first leaked that Kyle and Amani were dating, quotes Kyle in saying that Amani did not cheat on him and rather that the relationship ended on mutually respectful terms. He ends the article by saying that any disrespect or slander toward Amani will not be tolerated.

“Is this really true?” I ask.

“Really,” she says, and my chest warms. It’s so nice to hear her say that again.

“And it’s not just that,” she continues. “Kyle personally took me out to dinner to apologize.

Butterflies take flight in my stomach. “You saw him?”

She nods. “He took me to this fancy place and apologized to me in person. He asked if there were any personal ramifications from the lies that were spread about me ‘cheating on him’. I told him the fallout wasn’t as bad as it could have been, especially if I was famous, and that I was fine.

He asked me about my writing, how work was going. ”

I exhale through my nose. “He really said all that?”

She nods. “And it really seemed genuine.”

Our food arrives, and we both eat in silence for a bit, which gives me time to process what I’ve just heard.

Kyle came to Amani and apologized for what he’s done. Does that mean I should be expecting to hear from him?

Amani takes a sip of her water. “He also asked about you,” she says. “Because he wants to see you. ”

I nearly spit out the water I’m drinking. “Yeah, right,” I say. I put on this indifferent facade, but there’s a tingling feeling in my chest now. Part of me wanted to know that Kyle wanted to see me. And I’m relieved that he does.

When Amani doesn’t respond, I take the bait.

“What did he say about me?”

“I really don’t want to act as the messenger between you two,” she says. “I mean, look where that got us.”

I chuckle. “Yeah.”

“But he said he hasn’t been able to reach you.”

“Yeah,” I say, fiddling with some sushi with my chopsticks. “I blocked him after I never heard back.”

“I get it,” she says. “I’ll share what he said now and leave the rest up to you.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Kyle wants to talk. In person. To explain himself. To apologize.”

I roll my eyes. “Explain what? That I deserved to be ghosted?”

Amani shakes her head. “Like I said, I’m not getting involved more than I am. That’s what he said, you can take it or leave it.”

I lean back and fold my arms, biting down on my lip.

Part of me really wants to see Kyle again, but where would it go?

So much of our back in forth has involved him acting out because he’s too afraid of being gay, crawling back to me, us working for a while, and then him acting out again.

It’s a pattern, and I’m tired of it. We’ve talked enough. He needs to change his actions.

“Shit, I forgot,” she says.

I groan. “There’s more?”

“Last thing, I promise,” she says. “He got us suite tickets to the playoffs in Seattle. Paid for plane tickets and lodging for us as well.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope,” she says, slipping some edamame into her mouth. “He said, if anything, he’d want to see you. Even at one of his games.”

I scoff. ‘Even at one of his games’. As if it’s an honor that he’d consider inviting me.

“Do you want to go? ”

I sigh. “Ams, there’s no point. I don’t want to talk to Kyle. Are you planning on going?”

“To the playoffs? Hell yeah. I don’t know about you, but I still love football after watching Kyle play for so long.”

I let out a short laugh. Truth be told, I really like it too, but it’s not worth the trouble of running into Kyle right now.

“There’s two tickets, right?” I ask. “Take Angie with you. Even if she doesn’t like football, a suite experience at a playoff game would be crazy fun.”

“Really? Alright,” she says not without disappointment. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I say.

We finish up the rest of our food, catching up on the rest of our lives.

Amani has decided to forgo traditional publication altogether and go the self-publishing route.

She details the process, at least what she knows so far, and I’m already overwhelmed.

If I decided to no longer try and find a literary agent, there’s no way in hell I’d have the energy to do the entire publishing process myself.

“Well, I’m glad you reached out,” Amani says after we pay our check.

“Me, too.”

“And even though I’m not going to be the mediator between you and Kyle, maybe you could give him a chance. At least unblock him. Maybe talking to him wouldn’t hurt.”

I bristle at her words. “We’ll see.”