She holds her arms out for him making grabby hands motion. “Gimme,” she commands, and I hand him to her. She leans back against the couch, and he immediately settles in her lap. “Are you going to keep him?”
“We have to at leasttryto look for his owners.”
“How long will that take?”
I look at Wyatt for any idea of how long is long enough to look for Arthur’s owner. “I don’t know. Two weeks?” he says.
I look back at Chrissy. “Two weeks.”
“That’s so exciting for you guys.” She pauses and then adds, “And sad for his people if he has any.”
“I’m trying not to get attached to him just yet,” I say.
“You guys are making a little family,” she coos with her hands clasped in front of her like that’s the cutest thought she’s ever had in her life.
“Maybe we’re moving too fast,” I laugh.
“What do you mean? You’ve already been together six months and you’ve known each other for years.”
I pause, the lying from the last couple months bearing down on my conscience in front of Wyatt’s teammates, who I consider my friends. We look at each other for just a second like we’re deciding with telepathy who is going to be the one to own up. In a split second I decide it has to be me. It was my idea. I strung him along. I don’t want Wyatt’s friends to hear about our deception and think of him differently. Everyone deserves to know the truth.
“Actually,” I hedge, and all seven pairs of eyes land on me—eight, if you include Arthur. “Wyatt and I were faking it.”
Mack gasps like I just revealed the killer on his latest telenovela.
Colin looks to Wyatt as if in confirmation. I hurry to explain. “It was my idea. I wanted to fill the stands for the Moons games, and I thought that using Wyatt’s access to the Hurricanes’ popularity would help.”
“You used us?” Mack exclaims, shocked. Almost too shocked?
I hold my hands out to him wanting him to understand. “No! Of course not. Unless you guys only came because Wyatt asked you to and not because you wanted to see me play?”
Colin steps in and signals to Mack to calm down. “That’s not true, Nash, and you know it. We would have come tosupport you even if you and Wyatt were just friends forever. If you’re important to him, you’re important to us. No label needed.”
“But,” Wyatt starts.
My head whips in his direction. “But what?”
“I had to tell them.”
I look at all the people around me. “You knew?” It comes out an accusation, not a question.
Chrissy raises her hand. “I didn’t.” But everyone else in the room nods.
Wyatt takes a step toward me, and I take a step back. The hurt in his eyes makes it almost not worth it. “I needed their help,” he says as if that’s a perfectly good explanation.
“So they watched us kiss and hold hands and they knew it was fake the whole time?”
Noah clears his throat. “We knewyouthought it was fake.” He points at Wyatt. “We knew he was actually in love with you the whole time.”
My first instinct is to be mad, but I take a deep breath and one second to think about what this really means. Wyatt brought his teammates into this because he needed them to know what the stakes were for me. He confided in guys he didn’t want to like for me. Now look at us, all crammed in Colin’s house like sardines.
“You did this for me?” I ask Wyatt, tears stinging the back of my eyes. He just nods in response.
Mack speaks up, interrupting our moment. “How do we know you weren’t just using Wyatt this whole time?” Colin shoots him a silencing look, but the words are already out.
“If everyone’s telling the truth here tonight, I guess I will, too. Our deal was that we were going to find a way to mutually end the fake dating after Wyatt’s brother’s weddinglast weekend, but…” the words get stuck in my throat, which is too clogged with emotions to speak. I swallow hard and look at Wyatt. His friends all know, but he needs to understand. “It turned into something real along the way. I was in denial, but something has always been there for me. Wyatt told me he loved me in Wisconsin, after his brother’s wedding, and after I told him I loved him back, I told him he couldn’t give up on the Butchers for me.” I turn to face him now. This isn’t how I imagined telling him what I did, but it’s now or never.
“And?” Mack asks on the edge of his seat on the couch.