Darius shook his head. “No harm, no foul, brother.”
“So what’s the problem, Quincy?” Ean crossed his arms over his chest. “Why haven’t you tried to get something going with Ramona?”
Quincy paced the empty room, from the bay window past Darius and Ean, to the far wall and back. His movements were stiff and abrupt, as though he was debating with himself.
The professor finally stopped in front of the window, his back to the room. “I don’t like to lose.”
“Who does?” Ean glanced at Darius. What did that have to do with anything?
The former running back turned from the view outside the office and held Ean’s eyes. “If Ramona turned me down, it would mean that you won and I lost.”
“Ramona isn’t a trophy we’re competing for.” Ean?
?s voice snapped.
Darius scratched his chin. “I thought you liked Ramona.”
“I love her.” Quincy spoke as though forcing out the words.
Darius’s frown deepened. “If you love her, ask her out.”
The conflict in Quincy’s eyes added to Ean’s frustration. “In your mind, you’ve worked me into this perfect person who’s really popular and never wrong. I don’t know where that came from.”
Darius shrugged. “It’s bullshit.”
Ean spared the former tight end a glance but otherwise ignored him. “It’s not true. I don’t even see myself that way.”
Darius shook his head. “Neither do I.”
“Ask her out.” Ean clamped a hand on Quincy’s shoulder. “Even if she says no, you wouldn’t have lost.”
Quincy snorted and turned away. “That’s what you think.”
His friend’s reluctance was a wall Ean couldn’t break through. “How do you know if she could love you if you don’t give her a chance?”
Quincy quirked a brow. “Since you told her I’m leaving Trinity Falls, how do I know whether she loves me or the idea of moving to Philadelphia?”
Good question.
Ean exhaled as memories returned. “When Ramona left New York, I realized she never loved me. She loved the dream of living in New York. I was just a part of that dream.”
Quincy pulled his hands over his clean-shaven head. “Why did you tell her about the Penn interview?”
“Let it go, Q.” Darius leaned back against the bay window’s ledge. “This is Trinity Falls. It’s not like she wasn’t going to find out.”
“Philadelphia gives you an in with her.” Ean propped his shoulder against the room’s far wall.
Quincy grunted. “New York didn’t help you keep Ramona.”
Ean shrugged. “I didn’t love her, either. We were too much alike, like brother and sister.”
Darius looked closely at Ean, as though seeing him from another perspective. “I’d never thought of that.”
Ean hadn’t, either, not until Megan had pointed it out—Megan, who’d stormed from his town house Friday night. What would it take to convince her he hadn’t slept with her cousin?
Darius turned to Quincy. “Ean’s right. Use Philly to get Ramona’s attention. What do you have to lose?”
“Everything.” Quincy’s answer was bleak.