Next Man Up (Making the Score #2) - Tawdra Kandle Page 0,101
night in the hotel restaurant. On one hand, there wasn’t any doubt that Nate was supremely happy, and that by sacrificing her own feelings, Quinn had given her friend a gift only she could deliver. Nate might only have a few months of life left, but he’d live those out as Quinn’s husband.
On the other hand, giving into Nate’s request meant that Quinn had hurt Leo so deeply that I feared the two of them might never recover.
I figured we were all thinking along the same lines, as everyone was quiet in our little booth. Clearing my throat, I spoke up.
“It was a nice ceremony, at least. I mean . . . for what it was, I guess.”
Gia looked up and me, her eyes dull, and nodded. “I guess.”
On the bench seat next to me, Eli snorted. “What the fuck, you guys? That was some kind of messed-up shit. I love Nate like a brother. We were roommates for four years, and I hate that his time is running out. But come on. What he did to Quinn, asking her to marry him now, that was just wrong. She’s miserable. Anyone could see it.”
He wasn’t wrong. Quinn had been anything but a glowing bride today. If anything, she’d looked as though she was going to her own funeral.
Leo, who’d been steadily consuming boilermakers all night, downed another shot and reached for his beer. He didn’t respond to what Eli had just said, but I could see the misery on his face.
“Hey.” I gave him a little kick under the table. “It’s okay, bud. You’re among friends. Don’t feel like you have to put on a happy face or any shit like that.”
He glanced up at me, and one side of his mouth tipped up slightly. “Thanks. But crying in my beer feels like too much of a cliché.”
Eli cast me a side-eyed glance. I could see the compassion on his face. “You’re going to get through this, dude. Focus on the good stuff. You’re playing for Richmond, come this fall. You’ve got amazing talent. One step at a time and all that.”
Leo gave a brief, humorless laugh. “None of that stuff has much meaning when the woman you thought would be at your side just married another man.”
“Leo.” I patted his hand where it lay on the table. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do? Will you wait for Quinn? Or what?”
“I’ll take the ‘or what’ option for a hundred, please.” Leo leaned back and dropped his head against the top of the seat. “All I know right now is that I’m going to get on a plane tomorrow morning and fly back to Richmond. I’m going to do everything I can to make it work on this team, to be who they need. To play the game.” He fiddled with the paper coaster under his mug. “And I’m going to do everything in my power to forget all about her. She’s made her choice. I need to move on. I need to get over her. It’s about fucking time, don’t you think?”
Gia sighed. “Do you really think that’s possible, Leo? Can we get over the people who hurt us, even though we loved them the best way we knew how?”
Leo sucked in a slow breath. He slid his arm around Gia’s shoulder and drew her closer to his side. When he spoke again, his voice had gentled.
“I’m going to do my damnedest to find out, G. And so are you.”
In the aftermath of Matt’s death, Eli and I had never gotten around to looking for an apartment. I’d been too overwhelmed with taking care of Gia; although Quinn was around, too, she had her own shit to handle.
As it happened, Gia had been too wrecked to finish her classwork that semester, so the college had kindly allowed her to graduate, with the understanding that she would complete her requirements in the fall. They’d also allowed us to keep renting our on-campus apartment until December. I had a feeling that some of Nate and Eli’s connections at the housing office had done us a favor, in light of Gia’s breakdown. However it had happened, I was grateful that I didn’t have to add relocating to my list of hard things to do this year.
Eli had moved in with us after he and Nate had given up their place, and between the two of us, we made sure that Gia attended class, did homework and managed simple things like