Chapter 416 - Confession

Chapter 416: Chapter 416 - Confession

Practice had already ended when Roxie reached the football facilities.

She spotted Zac near the edge of the field talking to two teammates while pulling tape from his wrist. His shirt was damp across his chest and back, his hair messy from training, and he looked tired enough that the two hours of sleep were finally catching up with him.

Dylan was sitting several feet away on one of the benches with his elbows resting on his knees and a bottle hanging loosely from one hand.

He looked worse.

Roxie slowed as she approached them. Normally Dylan came out of practice still talking, complaining about whatever Coach had forced them to do or arguing with Zac about plays Roxie barely understood. Today he was staring toward the ground while everyone else moved around him.

Zac noticed her first. His expression brightened as he said something to the two guys beside him and walked toward her.

"You actually came."

Roxie lifted the bag in her hand. "You sound surprised."

"You said maybe."

"That means yes when food is involved."

Zac took the bag and leaned down to kiss her. Roxie kissed him back before looking him over more carefully.

"You look terrible."

"Good to see you too."

One of the guys Zac had been talking to walked past them, then slowed and looked back.

"Prescott, this your girlfriend?"

Zac looked over. "Yeah."

The guy looked at Roxie again, clearly surprised. "Damn."

Roxie raised an eyebrow while Zac frowned.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

The guy laughed and lifted both hands. "Nothing. You just left out some details."

His teammate behind him looked over too. "That Roxie?"

Roxie immediately turned toward Zac. "That Roxie?"

Zac sighed.

The second guy laughed. "Okay, so definitely her."

Roxie smiled. "What exactly has he been saying?"

"Nothing," Zac answered immediately.

She looked at him. "I wasn’t asking you."

The first guy grinned. "Mostly that he has a girlfriend, she’s coming here too and apparently he has to answer his phone or she’ll kill him."

Roxie looked at Zac.

"That is not what I said."

"Close enough."

The second guy started walking backward toward the building. "Hey, if you ever get tired of his ass, hit me up."

Zac gave him a flat look. "Fuck off."

The guy laughed. "Worth a shot."

Roxie shook her head while both of them continued toward the locker room.

"Nice teammates."

"They’re idiots."

"They seem friendly."

"He just tried to steal my girlfriend."

"He doesn’t even know my last name."

"That didn’t stop him."

Roxie smiled at the irritation still sitting on Zac’s face and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You’re safe."

"I wasn’t worried."

"Sure."

Zac looked inside the lunch bag instead of answering, which made Roxie’s smile widen.

"You’ve been talking about me."

"I said I have a girlfriend."

"They knew my name."

"That’s usually how conversations work."

"What else did you tell them?"

"Nothing interesting."

"I’m asking them next time."

Zac groaned and started toward the benches. "There’s not going to be a next time."

Roxie followed him, laughing. "You train with them every day."

"They’re banned from talking to you."

"Very normal behavior. Doesn’t sound toxic at all."

"I’m glad you understand."

Her attention shifted toward Dylan again, and the joke disappeared on its own.

Roxie reached into the bag and pulled out the second container. "I made extra."

"For Dylan?"

"If he wants it."

"He’ll eat it." Zac looked toward his friend. "Come on."

Roxie studied Dylan for another moment.

Would he even appreciate her fussing over him?

The thought made her hesitate. Dylan had never been particularly close to her. Maybe the last thing he wanted after whatever happened with his family was Zac’s girlfriend hovering around him asking questions.

Maybe he just needed his friends.

"I’ll just say hi."

Zac gave her a look but said nothing as they walked over together.

Dylan finally looked up when Roxie stopped in front of him. His eyes moved toward the container in her hand.

"I brought you lunch."

He stared at it for a moment. "For me?"

"Unless Zac suddenly needs two."

"I might."

Roxie ignored him and held the container toward Dylan.

Dylan took it. "Thanks."

"Yeah."

He opened it almost immediately, which told Roxie Zac had probably been right about him eating whatever she brought.

She sat beside Zac while Dylan started eating. Zac opened his own container, and the conversation drifted into practice without Roxie having to ask anything.

Zac complained about Coach making them repeat the same sequence several times.

Dylan looked up from his food. "Because you kept screwing it up."

"I screwed it up once."

"You missed the read again."

"That was somebody else."

"That was you."

Roxie looked between them. "I understood maybe four words of this conversation."

Dylan pointed his fork toward Zac. "He sucked today."

"I understood that."

Zac gave both of them an irritated look while Roxie laughed.

Hearing Dylan argue with him helped. He still looked exhausted, and the dark circles beneath his eyes were obvious, but he sounded more like himself than he had the night before.

One of the assistants called Zac over before he finished eating. He told Roxie he would be right back, took his container with him and headed across the field.

Roxie stayed beside Dylan.

For a while neither of them spoke. The silence itself wasn’t strange. Roxie and Dylan had never been particularly close. They joked when they were around each other, but most of their connection existed because of Zac.

Dylan ate several more bites before glancing toward her.

"Zac didn’t tell you?"

Roxie looked toward Zac across the field before shaking her head. "No."

His eyebrows rose. "Seriously?"

"He said it was your thing to tell me."

Dylan looked across the field too, then gave a quiet laugh. "Of course he did."

"I asked."

"I figured."

"He refused."

"That must’ve killed you."

Roxie smiled. "A little."

Dylan gave her a look.

"Fine. I wanted to know, but he was right. It’s your business."

Dylan looked back down at his food and stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"My family found a picture."

Roxie turned slightly toward him but waited.

"Somebody sent it to my cousin. I still have no idea who. Then apparently it got passed around because my family needed its own fucking group discussion before anybody called me."

Roxie frowned. "What picture?"

Dylan hesitated.

She waited again.

He dragged his thumb along the edge of the container before finally saying, "Me kissing a guy."

Roxie blinked.

Dylan looked at her.

She looked back.

A few seconds passed before he frowned. "What?"

"What?"

"That’s it?"

Roxie laughed softly. "I’m processing."

"You look like I told you I changed my major."

"I’m surprised."

"Very convincing."

Roxie studied him for another moment. "Was he at least hot?"

Dylan stared at her.

"What?"

His mouth twitched before he finally laughed. "You’re fucking stupid."

"So yes?"

"He looked fine."

"Good."

"Why does that matter?"

"If your family is going to lose its shit over a picture, at least look good in it."

Dylan shook his head, but he was still smiling when he went back to his food.

Roxie let the joke settle before asking, "So they found out you like guys?"

Dylan was quiet for a moment.

"I’m bi."

Roxie nodded slowly.

Now she understood why Zac had been so careful with every answer the night before. He knew exactly what happened and still refused to be the person who told her.

Something warm settled in her chest at the thought.

"Okay."

Dylan looked at her again.

"What?"

"You keep saying okay."

"What am I supposed to say?"

"I don’t know."

"Congratulations feels weird."

"Please never say that."

Roxie laughed. "Exactly. I don’t know what else you want me to say."

"Fair."

Dylan took another bite. His expression changed slightly afterward, and when he spoke again his voice was quieter.

"My family’s really religious. My dad was never going to understand. My grandma called this morning just to tell me she was praying for me."

He chuckled, but there was nothing funny about it.

Roxie’s smile disappeared.

She looked across the field toward Zac. He was still talking with the assistant, but every few minutes his eyes came back toward them.

She wondered how much of this was bringing back everything with his own family.

Zac knew what it felt like to have people who were supposed to love him decide there were conditions attached to it.

"Are they threatening to cut you off?"

Dylan snorted. "The scholarship is more than enough. I don’t really need support from them."

Roxie looked out over the field.

Money was one thing.

Dylan had always seemed close to his family, and there were so many of them. She remembered gatherings, relatives, people constantly calling him and asking where he was. He had grown up surrounded by attention in a way Roxie never had.

Even with the scraps Claire gave her, Roxie had spent years wanting more from her mother. Every bit of affection had mattered because there had never been enough of it.

Dylan had grown up with the opposite.

His family had always been there.

Having all of that affection suddenly change because of who he kissed had to hurt in a completely different way.

Roxie had no idea what to say that wouldn’t sound stupid or make things worse, so she stayed quiet.

Dylan finished another bite before looking at her.

"You really don’t care?"

Roxie turned toward him. "About what?"

"Me. Being bi."

She frowned. "Well... no."

He gave her a skeptical look.

"I care that your family treated you like shit. I care that Zac sounded worried about you. Who you were dating months ago really isn’t my business."

Dylan nodded slowly.

Roxie glanced toward his nearly empty container. "Unless your taste in men is terrible."

A quiet chuckle left him. "I have standards."

"Good."

Zac returned a few minutes later and looked between them.

"What happened?"

Dylan closed the container. "I told her."

Zac looked at him first. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

That was all Zac asked.

Dylan looked toward him. "Your girlfriend asked if the guy was hot."

Roxie immediately looked at Zac.

Zac raised both hands. "Why are you looking at me?"

"You knew about him."

"That doesn’t mean I rated him."

Dylan laughed, and Roxie chuckled as Zac sat down beside her.

The conversation moved back toward practice after that. Dylan still looked tired, but he was eating, talking and occasionally laughing, which was a huge improvement over the guy Roxie had seen sitting alone when she arrived.

When they stood to leave, Roxie reached for Dylan’s empty container.

"You want extra again tomorrow?"

Dylan looked at it. "If you’re already making some."

"That means yes."

"Then yes."

Zac looked at him. "You have food at home."

"So do you."

"I live with her."

Dylan handed the container to Roxie. "Sounds like your advantage."

Roxie laughed.

They walked toward the parking lot together before Dylan split away toward his car. He took several steps, stopped and looked back at Roxie.

"Hey."

She turned.

"Thanks."

His voice was quieter now.

Roxie knew he wasn’t talking only about lunch.

She gave him a small smile. "Yeah."

Dylan walked away.

Roxie watched him for a moment before looking at Zac.

"You really kept that from me all night."

"It wasn’t mine to tell."

"I know."

Zac glanced at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I’m impressed."

His eyebrows rose. "You expected me to tell you?"

"No. I just like that you respected his privacy."

"I respect people."

Roxie smiled. "Sometimes."

"That compliment lasted three seconds."

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Good boyfriend."

His expression changed immediately.

"Do I get rewarded?"

"You got lunch."

"That’s not what I meant."

Roxie laughed and started toward the car.

"I still remember what you ruined last night."

"I thought Dylan ruined it."

"He was having a crisis. You’re easier to blame."

"That makes no sense."

"It makes sense to me."

Zac caught up and slipped an arm around her waist.

"So those plans are still happening?"

Roxie looked him over. "You slept two hours and practiced all morning."

"I feel fine."

"You look half dead."

"Try me."

Roxie laughed as they continued toward the car.