Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Guilt flickers in his eyes.
“Jesus Christ.” I rock back on my heels, stunned. “You knew she had feelings for me, and you did it anyway.”
“I thought it was just a crush she’d get over. I didn’t realize–”
“What? That you were breaking her heart, too?”
“Yeah,” he admits. “I didn’t realize I was breaking her heart, too. I didn’t know she was that serious about you.” He stares at me, his eyes narrowed. “You were in love with her back then, weren’t you?”
“Not your business,” I snap.
He nods like he expected that answer. “Thought so. Guess it was right in front of my face all along, wasn’t it? I thought you were always following them around because you were in love with Vanessa.” He laughs abruptly, without humor. “I was a fucking idiot.”
“Yeah, you were,” I agree. “And you deserved what I did. You should have been banned from the game and throwing in a fucking cell to rot. If you’re in hell now, you deserve that shit, too.”
“I know,” he says, his voice a regretful scrap of sound.
“But Sutton never deserved to spend five fucking years believing your bullshit because your career was more important to you. I’ll never forgive you for that.” I shove past him, knocking him into the wall. “Stay out of my goddamn face from now on, Jamison. Keep your teammates out of my face. Don’t push me.”
“What does that mean?” he asks.
“I didn’t tell your sister the truth when she asked for it,” I say quietly. “But keep pushing me, and maybe next time she asks, I will tell her.” I shoot a cold look in his direction. “Think she’ll ever talk to you again once she knows what you did?”
He grabs for me, but Nash and Logan shove him up against the wall before he can get his hands on me. That doesn’t stop him from trying to lunge at me again. “Leave my sister out of this, Jordan.”
“She and I have nothing to do with you. We never did, so go fuck yourself and your demands.” I pause, casting a scathing look at him. “And get your shit together, you prick. Don’t keep making yourself her problem because you feel sorry for yourself now. You made your bed. Rot in it with a goddamn smile on your face. You owe her that much.”
“Leave her alone, Jordan!” he shouts as I turn, heading back toward the locker room. “I mean it.”
I hoist my finger up over my head, telling him without words exactly what he can do with his demands. Hell will freeze over before he keeps me away from her. She’s mine, just like she should have been five years ago.
Chapter Seven
Sutton
It’s nearly midnight when my phone rings, startling me awake. I reach for it blindly, a thrill shooting through me.
“Hey, handsome,” I murmur, my voice gritty from sleep. But I can’t fight the smile dancing on my lips as I snuggle back down against my pillow. “I didn’t think I’d hear from you tonight.”
I was worried I might not hear from him at all, truthfully. I watched every second of the game. My jerk of a brother’s teammates were all over him for half the game…and Jordan isn’t the kind of guy who lets things go on the ice. He fights. A lot, actually. But tonight, he held back. I think he spent less time in the penalty box this game than he ever has.
“Are you fucking him?”
My eyes pop open wide, my heart slamming against my ribcage. That isn’t Jordan’s voice.
“J-Jamison?” I gasp.
“Clearly not who you were expecting,” he snaps, his voice full of bitterness. “You’re fucking Jordan, aren’t you?”
“That’s not your business,” I say, proud when my voice doesn’t shake.
“Jesus Christ, Sutton!” he practically yells at me. “You’re supposed to be smarter than this.”
“Don’t,” I snap, struggling to sit upright. “You don’t get to insult me or tell me what to do when you’ve been lying to me for five years.”
“Maybe I lied for a reason. Did you ever think of that?”
“Yeah, you lied to save your own ass.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“Is it true?”
He doesn’t respond, which is answer enough.
“Well, at least you aren’t lying to me this time,” I mutter, squeezing my eyes closed. “God. What did you do, Jamison?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Really? Is that why Vanessa quit school? Because it doesn’t matter?” I retort, trying not to lose my cool and yell at him. That’s what I want to do. Yell and scream and rage until he finally tells me what he’s hiding, what he did to hurt her. Why he ruined everything, including his own damn life.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, sounding calmer this time. Uncertain, as if he isn’t entirely sure what I know or how much I know.
“You’re right, I don’t. And that’s your fault,” I remind him, my tone acerbic. “You lied to me to cover up whatever you really did. You tried to make Jordan the bad guy and used him as a shield. And I was stupid enough to believe you. Do you even care what he went through because of you?”