After a few beats, Nichole meets me in the doorway. “Should I assume we’ll be staying in tonight?”

My eyes well up as I nod. “Yeah.” Because Ryot is right, I would never disrespect him by fucking another man while I’m still married. You can’t do that to the man you love. Even if your soul feels so broken.

Chapter Six

RYOT

Seven years ago . . .

“This was not a good idea,” I say as we finally make it to our reserved bar-top table. From the moment I entered the well-known Chicago pub that runs the best trivia nights in the city, it’s been a goddamn parade. And sure, I’m grateful for all the love, especially since Bobbies fans can be so brutal if you’re not performing, but I’ve been spotted several times. Not to mention the rival team to the Bobbies, the Rebels, also have rabid fans who are more than willing to bring you down in any way possible. I’ve heard a few comments from them as well.

Mostly, “Bisley, you suck!”

Now that I’ve gained popularity in the city and have a regular spot on the roster with the third-best batting average on the team, just falling short to Walker Rockwell and Knox Gentry, I’m well known throughout the city, which makes it very hard to do public things, like trivia night with Banner.

“It’s fine.” Banner takes a seat on one of the stools. “You just had to get in here. Now everything is normal.” Banner stares at the menu, not noticing the hundreds of camera phones pointed at us.

“Dude, look around,” I say through a smile. “Everyone is recording us.”

“Well, then refrain from picking your nose, as you don’t want to be caught doing that.” He sets the drink menu down and smiles. “Seriously, just relax. It will be crazy for the first ten minutes, but once trivia night starts, everyone will be so focused on beating you that it won’t matter.”

“Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome.” He taps the drink menu. “They have that IPA you like. Are you going to drink tonight?”

“I’ll have one,” I say because I know Banner has planned this night to spend some time with me. With my schedule and his busy job coding apps, we haven’t seen much of each other lately. When he asked me to go to trivia night with him, I knew I had to say yes.

“One drink? Living large, man,” he teases.

Banner flags down a server, orders us each a drink and burgers with fries, and then picks up the laminated list of rules for trivia night.

“Have you done this before?” I ask.

“No, just heard about it from the guy down the hall.”

“Which guy?” I ask. Banner and I share an apartment in the heart of Chicago. It’s a two-bedroom with a decent living space. There are many people on our floor, and since Banner works from home, coding God knows what for companies, he has gotten to know our neighbors.