Faking the Play (Hot Mess Harems #2)

31. Logan

Chapter thirty-one

Logan

T he trip back to CSU was louder than usual, and while I enjoyed celebrating with my teammates after our two massive victories on the road, I breathed a sigh of relief when the bus pulled into the stadium parking lot. All I wanted was the relative peace and quiet of home with my two friends and our girl. It had been too long since we’d gotten to do more than just text her, and even those had been infrequent over the three days we were gone.

As much as I loved this game, I couldn’t deny that a part of me looked forward to the end of the season when we’d finally get a real break and could spend more time with Amelia. A little voice in the back of my head whispered the question that I’d been ignoring for weeks.

What would we do if the three of us signed to separate NFL teams?

It had always been likely. Maybe two of us could go to the same team, but all three? The odds of that happening were slim, and we’d accepted that. It would suck being separated from my friends and teammates, but it wouldn’t have broken anything between us. Now, though, every time someone mentioned playing professionally, I couldn’t help wondering if Amelia would have to make a choice.

And that could break us.

Pushing those negative thoughts out of my mind, I focused on how good it was going to be to see her again.

“You guys coming to the party?” Darak asked. “Or do you all have plans with a certain brunette?”

The humorous glint in his eyes suggested he knew what Ethan, Ryan, and I had been doing, but he didn’t say anything crude or inappropriate, which made me think he didn’t care. I had to admit, I liked knowing that not everyone would freak out if they found out about the four of us being in a relationship.

Sex was one thing. It’d ruin Amelia’s reputation, but not ours. Wrong, yes, but unfortunately true. More than sex, however, and people started to get weird, especially when it came to athletes, and football was probably the worst when it came to the whole macho men bullshit.

“I think we’ve seen enough of your ugly faces for a while,” Ethan said with a grin. “Try not to miss us too bad, all right, Wolverton?”

“I’ll do my best,” he joked as he slung his bag over his shoulder. “See you at practice.”

“You guys didn’t want to go to the party, did you?” I asked as the three of us headed for my car. “I don’t want to assume that we all want the same thing.”

Ethan snorted a laugh. “Come on, man. We all want exactly the same thing, and that’s why we’re going home rather than going to another party.”

“You think she’ll be waiting for us?” Ryan asked.

I shrugged. “We gave her a key so she could water our plants while we were gone, so she might be there.”

“You went out and bought plants for her to water so you could give her a key without actually telling her that you wanted her to have a key,” Ethan pointed out.

“I didn’t hear you complaining when she took it,” I said. “Or telling her that you wanted her to have a key.”

He didn’t say anything to that, and neither did Ryan. They’d been happy enough to let me take the lead when it came to giving her the key. If they didn’t like the way I’d done it, that was their own damn problem.

It didn’t matter that he was right in a way. Doing something like giving someone a key came with discussions about where things were going and giving names to feelings. All the shit that I avoided whenever possible.

I took a slow breath as I pulled out of the parking lot, putting aside all of that. We didn’t need to put labels on things, use words that didn’t mean anything. Actions were what mattered. I didn’t need to try—and fail—to tell Amelia how I felt. I’d seen too many people say all the right things but then betray each other when it came down to it. And I’d seen it up close and personal.

“Should we text her?” Ryan asked. “See where she is?”

“I sent her a message before we left this morning,” Ethan said. “She said she was running some errands.”

“If she’s not at the apartment, we’ll shoot her a text,” I said. “Invite her over, maybe order some food.”

Thinking about seeing her again had my smile returning, and by the time we stood in front of the door to our place, my former excitement had come back as well.

“How’s your arm feeling?” Ethan asked as he leaned against the wall, waiting for me to unlock the door.

“Fine,” I said. “Why?”

“It just looked like it was bugging you during that last throw,” he said.

“I talked to Jet about it after the game.” I pushed open the door. “He just said to lay off the lifting for the next couple days.”

The apartment was dark when we went inside, telling us that Amelia wasn’t here. I was a little disappointed, but didn’t let it get me down. We’d just reach out like we’d talked about. We were a little early, after all. Except when the lights came on, we realized we had other things to worry about.

“What the hell?” Ethan stared at the mess in the living room.

Food and empty containers were scattered everywhere. On the couch, the chairs, the coffee table, the floor. Nothing was broken or missing, but it looked like someone had just decided to eat a bunch of food and not clean up after themselves. Setting our things down by the door, we moved together to the kitchen and found dirty dishes piled up in the sink and three empty wine bottles that I didn’t recognize.

“Those aren’t ours, are they?” I asked.

Ryan shook his head. “I threw out the last empty bottle before we left.”

“Did Amelia say she was going to have friends over or that she needed to clean things up before we got home?” The question sounded hollow to my own ears.

“Something’s wrong here,” Ethan said, frowning.

“No shit,” I muttered, heading for my room.

The other guys came after me, going to their rooms too. It took me only a few minutes to see what I needed to see, and I went back into the hallway to wait for the guys, a sick feeling in my stomach.

Both of them looked confused as they joined me, and that was enough to tell me that they’d found the same sort of shit I had.

“Bed’s a mess,” I said, my voice even despite all the emotions roiling inside me. “Wet towels in the bathroom. There’s a used condom in the trash.”

“There’s boxers on my bed and they’re not mine,” Ryan said. “Condom wrapper next to them.”

“I found a bra on my desk and a used condom in the trash,” Ethan added. “Who the hell would have a party in our apartment while we were gone?”

“I want to know how they got in,” Ryan said. “I know we locked the door before we left and it was locked just now, so it’s not like someone broke in.”

I stared at both of them, wondering how they could be so clueless. “You guys really think that’s what’s going on here?” When they gave me blank looks, I gritted my teeth. “Amelia. The only time this has ever happened is right after we gave her a key to our place.”

“You think Amelia had a party?” Ethan laughed. “Come on, Logan. The only person who dislikes parties more than Amelia is Ryan.”

“I don’t think she had a bunch of people over,” I said. “But she partied all right.”

And then I held up the one thing I hadn’t left in my room.

“Is that Jason Hunn’s student ID?” Ethan asked. “Why do you have that?”

“It was in my room,” I said. “On the floor, like it would’ve been if it had fallen out of someone’s wallet while they were getting a condom.”

Ryan shook his head. “Amelia would never have let Jason in here. And she definitely wouldn’t have let him hook up with Megan in your room.”

I blew out a long rush of air and resisted the urge to call him stupid. He wasn’t, but right now he was definitely acting like it, not wanting to see the truth even though it was right in front of him.

“Jason wasn’t here with Megan. He was here with Amelia,” I said.

“No.” Ethan shook his head emphatically. “She’d never cheat on us and she sure as hell wouldn’t go back to him.”

“Yeah, that’s what my dad thought about my mom and her ex from high school,” I said. “She has a key and knew we’d be gone. It’s a great apartment, not like that dorm room she shares with her former best friend.”

“Lia wouldn’t.” Ryan’s words were firm, but I could see the doubt in his eyes. “We know her.”

I shook my head. “We knew who she was as a kid. And then we ghosted her for seven years. That’s a lot of time to build up some serious anger toward us. And what better way to get back at us than to make us care about her and then fuck her boyfriend all over our home?”

Neither one of them looked like they wanted to believe me, but then we heard the front door open and a familiar voice call out for us.

Pushing off the wall, I clenched my jaw. “I guess we’ll just go ask her and find out.”