Page 79 of Personal Foul

Easton

Liam popsthe top off a beer and hands it to me as we head into the living room of the football house. I take a long swallow and try to let my head settle. There was too much fucking shit piling up right now between football, classes, and her, and it was all starting to take a toll on my ability to just chill the fuck out. If this was what post-college life was going to look like, I think I might be less excited about it than I thought I was.

“So what’s your agent saying?” he asks as we hit the couch where Ben and Waylon are already sprawled out watching a game, eating wings, and complaining about the last play call.

“He still thinks I have a good shot, but I don’t know. I’m trying not to get my hopes up.” I shrug.

“You’ll be in.” Waylon shakes his head. “Just a matter of what round you go. And even if you hit free agency, you know you’ll get snapped up somewhere.”

“We’ll see. I just hope the project goes well. I want a back-up plan if shit hits the fan.”

“Makes sense. Never know when things can go to hell.” Liam gives a bitter smile, glancing down at the knee he blew out this past season.

“Right. You made a decision on that, speaking of?” I look up at him.

“Still figuring it out.” He shrugs. “So when’s the reopening of Wren’s bar again?”

“Next Friday.”

“We’ll be there,” Ben pipes in.

“Yeah and bring a friend, or a few. Wren has more than the project riding on this. Stuff with her grandfather hasn’t been great.” I take a sip of the beer and Liam’s eyes snap to me.

“You guys have been spending a lot of time together.” He looks me over like he’s assessing something he regrets not noticing before.

“Yeah,a lotof fucking time,” Waylon chokes back a laugh.

“Why is he saying it like that?” Liam’s points his bottle toward me. “Please fucking tell me you didn’t.”

“I plead the fifth,” I deflect, avoiding his gaze by staring at the TV.

I guess I couldn’t avoid this much longer. She’d told me she was telling Liv and Mac, so it was only a matter of time until he found out anyways. Although I was kind of hoping Liv would tell him, as he was less likely to give me a lecture then and I suspected she would have my back on this.

“No one else is worried about this?” Liam looks around at Ben and Waylon.

“Just tell him.” Waylon raises his brow at me.

“Fuck… I told you not to go there. That it would end badly for all of us if you did,” Liam groans.

“Yeah, well I went there a while ago and you all have survived so far.”

“And why weren’t we informed of this? Or am I just the last one to find out?”

“You’re the last because I knew you’d rip my fuckin’ head off for it, and it wouldn’t have changed my mind anyway.”

“So how long have they known?”

“A few weeks.”

“More than that.” Ben looks at me.

“He knew before me?” Waylon sits up, looking at me like I just punched him.

“I needed fuckin’ advice. We all know Ben is better with women than the rest of us. Plus I didn’t tell him so much as he guessed it.”

“We could all fucking guess. You’ve been telegraphing that shit for months,” Liam grumps.

“Yeah well, you’re one to fuckin’ talk.” I level him with a look.