“Yeah.” Nate’s gaze found mine. “It’s been hard, was stupid hard for a while when you left. I just felt… I don’t know. It’s ridiculous.”
I shook my head and shuffled my feet, though I refused to look away. When we were kids, we’d been close and shared almost every thought and feeling with each other. But this sharing right now, as grown-ass adults, pushed my discomfort into overdrive.
But I couldn’t pull away. I needed Nate’s words, his truth.
“It’s not ridiculous. Tell me. Please.”
“Even at uni I played around with a basketball almost every day. It was my half-arsed attempt to stay connected to you.” He shook his head, just once, a soft smile tilting his lips a fraction. “You leaving, then you ghosting me, fuck, Ryan, it all but destroyed me.”
Instantly, my throat constricted, and sadness slammed into me thick and fast. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
He bobbed his head, eyes still on me despite the wetness evident in their depths. “I know you are. Are you going to tell me why? I know you shared some stuff with me, but there’s more.”
“There is?” I was full of it, and we both knew it, but I couldn’t do this now.
Nate’s lips pulled tight, and he arched a brow at me, calling me out.
“When the season’s over, okay?” I didn’t elaborate, but I didn’t need to. Not with Nate.
“Fair enough.” There was a slight rise in his chest, and I felt the action as if it were my own: that need for a deep breath to pull myself together. “I score the next two, you’re screwed and are going to be asking for Tina Turner.” While his smile was a little tighter, I accepted the shift.
I gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Tina Turner’s ‘Nutbush’ will find a new lease of life in the States if that’s the case.” I wriggled my brows, and Nate snorted out a laugh.
“Whatever you say, Broadwater. I’m looking forward to it.”
Four minutes later, Nate was laughing his head off, and I was already considering the quietest, most remote bar I could think of when we headed back to Minnesota that I could take him to. The fewer people to witness my god-awful dance moves, the better.
“Okay, calm your farm, Nate. Next time your ass is mine.”
He quirked his brows and laughed even louder when heat whipped around my body, scalding my face so fast, it was like taking a visit to the sun or some shit.
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes and smirked. I wasn’t ready for that conversation yet. “Shower, and then we can head out for food?”
His laughter eased off, and he nodded. “Sounds good.”
“You still doing okay; not jet-lagged?”
“All good. That bed made all the difference.”
“Good,” I answered. “I’ll still need an earlyish night, though. I have to head out for a run in the morning.”
“The gym?”
“Nah, can’t stand running machines. If I can avoid them, I will every time. I think there’s a few parks nearby, so I’ll head out there. You can join with if you want.”
Nate’s scrunched nose was adorable.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“You can take that as a hell no.”
“You know, exercise makes you sweat, and there’s nothing sexier than a naked, sweaty body.” The words fell out of my mouth unbidden, and heat hit my cheeks. It was something Jayden said regularly, and I’d always laughed it off, but with Nate, even the idea of him naked had me almost swallowing my tongue at the image that evoked.
Wide-eyed, he stared at me a beat before grinning. “Yeah, I’ve heard that about exercise. But you know what?”
“What?” I asked, willing my cheeks to cool.
“So does whisky.”
