One Year Ago
one year ago
DELANEY
I thought I’d caught a glimpse of Blake at least five times since walking into this football stadium, but as it turned out, there were a lot of men over six feet tall with dark, wavy hair in Minneapolis.
But I knew he was probably here somewhere.
His brother was playing in town tonight.
I was sure he wouldn’t miss it.
Honestly, it felt weird not knowing whether or not he was here. But it wasn’t really any of my concern since I’d come with Austin. The man I was engaged to. The man I’d be married to for a whole year—if only in a legal sense. He said he had tickets, and I jumped at the opportunity.
I wasn’t really a fan of football.
But it was a good chance to get to know Austin a little better ahead of our impending nuptials. Because either way, even if my engagement to Austin was fake, I should likely spend time focused on him.
And less time searching for Blake London in the crowds.
But even as I told myself that, I saw him.
He was surrounded by two guys—his other younger brothers. All three of them were staring intently at the women’s bathroom like they were waiting on someone.
I wondered who it was.
Blake did a double take when I walked up to him, like he hadn’t expected to run into me at a football game of all places, and I couldn’t really blame him.
“Lane,” he breathed, his brows furrowing.
His two brothers stood taller, turning with a bit of surprise to look at me, too.
I was pretty sure the blonder one’s name was Sully and the other, Theo. We’d only met once or twice before. They both lived in the cities, a little more than an hour from where Blake and I lived in Rochester.
“I have to go find Austin, but I saw you in the crowd and just wanted to say hi!” I said, knowing my voice sounded overly bright.
Maybe that was why Blake’s frown deepened.
Then he cleared his throat.
“You’re here with Austin.”
“Yeah, he’s a big…fan.”
Of which team, I honestly wasn’t sure.
Blake nodded. “Right.”
This was feeling a lot more awkward than I’d expected.
“I hope Noah has a good game,” I said with a smile, looking between Blake and his brothers. They flashed me polite smiles between continued glances at the women’s bathroom. Huh.
“I think he’s going to have a great game, considering the company in the stands tonight,” Sully said before snickering to himself like there was an inside joke that I didn’t fully have the context for.
“I’m sure he’s happy to have you all here.” I looked back to Blake. “I’ll see you soon, yeah?”
I needed that reassurance. It had been a few days since we’d talked. I didn’t like it.
“Yeah.” Blake swallowed and smiled at me, but it seemed forced. Like the smile he gave other people. Not the smile he gave me. “I’ll see you soon, Lane.”
Something seized up in my chest as I walked away—some kind of malfunction that I was sure textbooks wouldn’t be able to diagnose.
But I was sure it was nothing.
Just a bit of nerves. For meeting with Austin tonight.
It was a nervous system problem.
Definitely not a cardiovascular thing.
Definitely not.