Page 23

Chapter 22

Tyler

L ast night, after we got home from having dinner at Jonah’s, Lily, Luna, and I all fell asleep together on the couch. I don’t even know how it happened. Well, actually I do, but it was unexpected, and today, I’m still kind of reeling from it. I was on one end, she was on the other, and the goat was between us. Yes, I let her put the goat on the couch. I mean, you should have seen the two of them looking so cute together. How could I not? Plus, with the diaper on the goat, it worked out fine. At some point, Lily tossed a throw pillow up against my leg and lay down. She pulled that goat into her arms, and almost simultaneously, they both fell asleep.

On the other hand, I did not. I stared at her for an indecent amount of time. I really don’t think there’s a more beautiful person on this whole planet. She has this thing about her that calls to me like no other, and my entire body answers. It’s unsettling as I keep having to remind myself that she’s my best friend’s sister.

And then to satisfy this ache in the pit of my stomach, I picked up a loose piece of her hair to feel it. Most of the day her hair was up in a knot, but lying there on the couch, several pieces had escaped at some point, and I needed to feel it. So soft, so lovely, so her.

Wham!

“Oww! What the . . .?” I stumble as a football bounces off my helmet.

“What the hell are you doing over there, Quinn?” Marcus yells at me. He’s our offensive coordinator, and he gets grouchy when he thinks we aren’t taking practice seriously.

“Nothing, Coach. Just running through the stick-nod changeup in my mind.”

He eyes me like he’s calling bullshit, but I stand by my statement before he makes me drop and give him an obscene number of push-ups.

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s workload day. I was up and out early for meetings,a workout, walk-throughs—which is where I am now in our practice facility—and later this afternoon is media. I’m anticipating questions about Lily, but I’ll shut those down immediately. Media is meant to talk about the team, our season, how we’re playing, et cetera. It is not there to dig into our personal lives although I’m not sure these reporters have ever gotten the memo.

She asked me on the way back to the house why I wasn’t more upset over the photo from the football game, and I just shrugged. There’s no reason to be upset by it, and I told her that there are always football pictures of me floating around. I’m fine with it. Occasionally, there are a few with friends and some out in public, but mainly, it’s my life at home that I don’t want to share with the world. I don’t want them to have a peek into my personal life and know how I live. Marissa ruined that for me, with her fake social media accounts and then all of the blackmail footage. And aside from me, I’ve seen what the masses say and do to those who do share. No, thanks.

She seemed satisfied with that answer and I’m glad because what I didn’t tell her is I also want that dick of an ex of hers to see her with me and see her happy. Lance and I always picked up a vibe when we were around him. He didn’t like me near Lily, and even though Lance is her brother, it’s like he thought Lance would have some sway over her or he was jealous, I’m not even sure. Subtly, we always knew he wasn’t happy when he had to be around us.

Do I have any right to stake claims on her? No. But you bet your ass with that one gesture of me holding up my pinky for all to see, I did claim where she’s been and who she's been spending her time with, which all confirms one thing . . . I have it bad for her.

I should have known this would happen. I’ve always thought she was beautiful, but being around her this much, there was no way I wasn’t going to fall for the girl behind the turquoise eyes and orange hair. In many ways, she’s like her brother—who’s my favorite person on the planet. After all, they are related, and Lily might be one of the very few people who hasn’t had to earn my trust, she just has it. And that feels good. It feels like I have someone in my corner, just for me, and I’ve never had that.

So why am I not moving us forward? I don’t know. You’d think that after all these years, I would be ready for another relationship, but something is stopping me. Do I worry about my friendship with Lance? A little. But I think at this point, I’m worrying more about what would happen to my friendship with Lily if I crossed that line, and it didn’t work out.

She just got out of a long relationship. She’s trying to figure out where her life is going next. She needs me, I know she does, and while she’s been slowly opening up more, I don’t want to do anything that will hold her back or cause her to regress. I don’t want to complicate her life when things are finally coming together for her.

I also don’t know if these feelings are reciprocated, and I don’t want to jeopardize what we have just to satisfy my curiosity. At least not yet.

“So,” Bryan says as he wanders to stand beside me with a shit-eating grin, “a little birdie tells me you rented Lily a baby goat and took it home with you.”

Jonah. I can’t believe he ratted me out to these guys. And here I thought I was doing a nice thing by bringing Luna over so Vivi could play with her too.

“A little birdie or a big mouth?” I scowl.

I glance over at Jonah, and he nods in acknowledgment. I return the gesture by flipping him off. He glances at Bryan and then laughs. A few other guys stop to look at him. It won’t be long now before they all know. I should have known—it was never going to be Lily spilling the beans about the baby goat, it’s my teammate.

Marcus glances at us again, gives us an eyebrow raise, and then goes back to talking to Titan. With game one under our belt, upper management has been reviewing and tweaking the plays in our playbook that they added during the offseason. While many of our basic concepts, plays, formations, and adjustments are our core and transfer from year to year, there must be changes and variations. Otherwise, our opponents would rip us to shreds.

“I guess you got your answer.” He chuckles. “Remember what I said, farm life.”

I roll my eyes because he’s not wrong, and he did warn me.

“I’ve never given much thought about having a pet, outside of the fish, but maybe you and Jonah were onto something with your dogs. It was nice to have Luna there, and you should have seen Lily. She was so happy.”

Bryan’s face is blank as he looks at me, but I can tell he’s trying to get a read on what I just said.

“So it was nice to have the goat there, or is it nice to have Lily there?” he asks even though we both already know the answer.

“Who has a goat?” Rico asks as he saunters over to stand next to us.

“Tyler.” Bryan smirks, knowing he just added fuel to the fire. Suddenly, I don’t know who I want to kill more, Jonah or Bryan.

“Bro.” He gives me this disgusted look and takes a step back. “Who are you? What did you do to my friend?”

“I didn’t get a goat. I rented one for the day.”

His face scrunches up. “What the fuck for?”

“Lily likes baby goats.”

“That doesn’t mean you go out and get her one,” he argues.

“Get what?” Benny asks.

“Bro over here went and bought his girl a goat,” Rico says as if this is the worst thing he’s ever heard. I should correct them all that Lily’s not my girl, but it’s kind of starting to feel like she might be. Or maybe that’s just me and wishful thinking.

Benny cracks up with a loud cackle and slaps me on the shoulder. Benny is from Texas. He is a country boy through and through. Granted, he grew up with oil and cattle, but still. I’m pretty sure the idea of a single goat doesn’t sound repulsive to him, but normal.

The other players on the field turn to look at us, including Marcus.

“Let’s go. I don’t know why y’all are standing around gossiping like teenagers. Run the tree again. This time, substitute with 5A and 7D.”

Instantly, we break apart, but Rico keeps eyeing me like I’m either a stranger or someone he needs to save. It makes me crack up, and he frowns even more. It’s funny, now that they know,I thought I would feel some type of annoyance for being outed over the goat, but I really don’t. She was so happy, and that makes it all so worth it. This must be how Bryan felt over the chickens and Jonah felt over Molly.

Bryan moves to the fifty. Reid and Titan move to the left side of the field, with Benny on corner, and Jonah and I move to the right side of the field with Rico on corner. Bryan calls the play, and I take off for route one, otherwise known as the flat route, a quick route toward the sideline. I love running routes, I love when we build upon a basic tree and amp it up, and I love when these routes execute perfectly during a game. Whether it’s me catching the ball or one of the other guys, advancing the ball from dedicated preparation feels damn good.

The ball slides right into my hands, and it’s as familiar and easy as walking. I jog back and toss it to the assistant quarterback coach as Bryan calls route one for the left side. Rico looks me over from head to toe, still giving me a confused look, and I smile real big at him. He snorts and turns away. I don’t even care. Renting that goat was worth it.