“You have to tell him the truth,” I told myself. I nodded my head in agreement before stepping out of the room.

“You’re right on time,” Kellon said when I stepped out the door. He hadn’t turned to look at me yet. He was sitting by the window, gazing out at the night sky.

“The pajamas are perfect.”

He stood from the window and turned to look at me. His eyes widened and then lowered with lust.

“Damn, you look good,” he whispered, making the hairs on my arms stand.

“Thank you! So do you.” I giggled.

He had freshened up as well. Gone was his sweat suit, and in its place were silk pajamas that matched mine. We stood there for a second, taking each other in before he broke our comfortable silence.

“Come have a seat,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”

He grabbed my hand and walked me to a small table where dinner was being served. I couldn’t fight my smile as he pulled my chair out and pushed me up to the table before sitting on the other side.

“This has been the most amazing day. I can’t thank you enough.” I couldn’t help but express my gratitude.

“Honestly, besides winning the Super Bowl, meeting you has been one of the highlights of the last twenty-four hours.”

“Wow. That’s a huge comparison don’t you think?”

“Don’t get me wrong… Winning the Super Bowl has been on my goal list since I first started playing football when I was five.”

“I bet.”

“It’s just… Can I tell you something?”

I nodded. The look in his eyes told me that whatever he had to disclose was heavy. I wondered if it was as heavy as the secret I had.

“You ever heard of my brother Jeronee Barnes?”

“I have. He passed away, right?”

“Yeah.”

His eyes sank, and suddenly, I felt terrible for bringing it up. Though I knew little about football, I heard about the death of Kellon’s brother a few times. It seemed to always be a trending topic in the media.

“When my brother died, he was two games away from playing in his first Super Bowl. He never got to live his dream because I insisted on driving us home that night.”

My hand flew over my mouth, and my heart broke for him. He blamed himself. That must have been tough to live with. I reached across the table and grabbed his hand, offering my support.

“Kellon,” was all I could manage to say.

“I should have swerved, hit the brakes or something before the eighteen-wheeler hit us, but I froze. I was inexperienced. It was only my second time driving on the highway. Rone told me it was too dark and wet for me to be driving, but I insisted, and now, he’s gone.”