Page 65 of A Major Puck Up

His frown only deepens. “I tell you I want to marry you, and you start packing your bags?”

“That’s not—” I shake my head and look away. The pain in his eyes makes my heart feel like it’s cracking in two. “I’m not ready to tell my father.”

“Millie, I’m saying this because I lo?—”

I whip around and glare at him.

He swallows and huffs out a breath. “Because I care about you. I do. I care about you so much.” He steps closer and grasps my hand.

My stomach twists at the wariness in his expression. He’s watching me like he’s trying to weigh his words, as if I might break. “I’ve risked my friendship with your father for you, and I wouldn’t take it back. Not for anything. But we can’t have a healthy relationship if you don’t talk to him. I won’t be a dirty secret, and I won’t be an act of revenge.”

Pain blooms in my chest, so acute I have to fight not to double over. Revenge. That might have been my motive that night, but he has to know that changed the moment I went home with him. Lungs burning, I heave in a breath, but when I speak, my words are barely audible. “You know you aren’t.”

For several long seconds, we stare at one another. In the silence that stretches between us, I will him to remember every moment we’ve shared. Every word. Every touch. To hold on to the connection we have. But then he blinks, and the deep brown of his irises goes dull. That’s when I know we’re not on the same page. Hell, we’re not even reading from the same book.

“Then prove it to me.” He sighs and releases my hand. “I’ve got to go. I told your father I’d meet him at the restaurant.”

“What?”

He shuffles to his closet and removes a pair of dress pants from a hanger. He steps into them, then slips a button-down shirt on. Once his shirt is buttoned, he turns around and looks at me, his face a mask of calm determination. “I can’t keep playing these games, Peaches. The sneaking around isn’t fun anymore. Not when I feel the way I do for you.” He steps up to me and presses a kiss to my lips. It’s so quick I don’t have time to return the gesture. “I’ll always be here for you. Always.” His forehead falls to mine, but he doesn’t hold my hands, clasp my arms, touch me anywhere else. “But this isn’t healthy.”

My heart splits in two, and a tear slides down my cheek. “Are you breaking up with me?”

When he steps back and a rush of cool air hits me, the loss of him is palpable. “How could I break up with you? We’re—” He shakes his head and takes another step back.

“I can’t lose you,” I whisper. The world is upside down right now, but that’s the one thing I know for certain.

Gavin presses his lips together and gives me a pitying smile. “Can’t lose something you never truly had,” he says. “Take care, Millie.”

TWENTY-THREE

GAVIN

Present Day

“And then what happened?” Henry says, swiping at his eyes.

I scrub a hand against mine as well. Fuck, this is sad. “Nothing. I haven’t spoken a damn word to her since.”

“That’ll be a thousand dollars, Uncle Gav,” Finn sings as he appears from behind me.

Dammit, the kid is sneaky.

Henry leans forward, elbows on his knees. “You didn’t go after her?” He sounds affronted. Like he’s the one who got his heart broken.

I stand up and point to Finn. “Come on, buddy. We gotta get you home.” Then I turn to Henry. “She didn’t want what I wanted. Should I have gone after her?”

The old man clucks. “Come back tomorrow with a burger and fries from Wendy’s for me. I need to think this one through tonight. Figure out how you can make this right.”

I snort out a laugh. “McDonald’s not good enough for you?”

He smiles. “There’s no real competition. The fries and chocolate Frosties from Wendy’s are far superior.”

I shrug. “You got a deal.” I pull out my wallet and dig out a couple hundreds. “Thanks for listening. Make sure you stay somewhere warm tonight.”

The man stares at my outstretched hand, but he doesn’t take the money, so with a sigh, I push it into the breast pocket of his shirt.

“I’m not homeless,” he grumps. “I was just sitting on a bench, enjoying the afternoon sun.”

---