Page 78 of Cruel Steps

“Right. Um. Let’s see. I left the locker room and debated leaving, but I didn’t want to let you guys down, so I was trying to find the courage to go out on the field when Hope cornered me.”

“What did she say, Mer?” Colter asked, his brows drawn low.

I sucked in a breath, tears gathering in my eyes at the memory. “A lot of hurtful things. She triggered all of my insecurities, and by the end, I couldn’t tell fact from fiction. She said…” I shook my head. I didn’t want to say it out loud.

“Go on. We need to know, Merbear.” Cotler’s eyes were so intense that the gold specks simmered. Hearing the familiar term of endearment broke the rest of my shields. I needed to know the truth and quit accepting everything Hope said at face value.

“She claimed Holden was fooling me and that you and she…” Colter squeezed my hand and I swallowed. “That you were engaged, or getting engaged, but she let you have your freedom now,” I paused, narrowing my own brows in thought as I pieced together the lies. “I was just a fling, and you were done with me or something.”

“That bitch,” Cody said, drawing my attention. He frowned. “Is it wrong to say that now? Why do I feel bad?” He groaned, throwing his head back against the seat cushion.

“Mer, look at me,” Colter urged, turning my face back to his. “I know my history is full of girls on campus, but I promise I have never touched—or even desired to—kiss, or hook-up with Hope. I promise. She was lying. The only girl I’ve had eyes for this semester is you.”

I searched his eyes, but I knew he wasn’t trying to fool me. It was in the way he spoke to me, the gentle touches, and all the texts he’d sent me over the past month. I hated that my self-worth was so destroyed that I believed Hope’s lies over the blatant truth. That was something I needed to work on. The first step, apologizing for doubting him.

“I’m sorry. You’ve given me no reason to doubt you. She’s just so convincing, and the years of only hearing her voice made it hard to trust my own. But that’s no excuse for hurting you.”

Colter moved closer, cupping my face with his hands and brushing his thumbs over my cheeks as he stared at me intently. “Mer, I was so worried when you didn’t show that I almost left the game. Without the risk of scaring you, I have big feelings for you. It felt like the world had fallen out from under me when you blocked me.”

For the first time, I saw Colter’s scars. I’d been so focused on myself that I hadn’t looked closely enough. He struggled with feeling like he was enough, too. Kissing his lips softly, I fell into his arms, wanting to be as close as possible. His arms wrapped around me, and he held me tightly. We sat like that for a few minutes until Cody brought us back to the topic.

“What happened after you talked with Hope?”

I wiped my cheeks and sat up, but Colter didn’t let me go far. “It felt like I had nothing left to lose, so I messaged BlackDiamond to go forward with the article. After that, I left. I came home and showered the slushy out of my hair. By then, you had texted, so I responded, then turned off my phone and fell asleep.”

“And you’ve been asleep the whole time?” Colter asked.

“Yeah. Until I woke up and found Holden in my room.”

“Wait, what?” Colter stared down at me, worried. “What did he say?”

I swallowed, emotion thick in my throat. “He asked why I broke my promise and then told me he was done with me.” I shrugged my shoulders like his words hadn’t decimated my heart and crushed my soul.

“Fuck. He disappeared after the hospital.” Colter ran a hand through his hair.

“He mentioned a car hit Hope?”

“Yeah,” Cody said, hesitating, so I turned toward him. “I showed Donovan the article, and he shared it with Holden, who then went to confront Hope. I think Rose ended up with my phone at one point. Hope’s friend had pulled up the article by then, and everything escalated from there. She kept lying about you, and Holden, well, he didn’t let her.”

“Once Hope realized something was happening, she panicked and knocked all their phones down, but the damage was done. She took off, and that’s when the car came out of nowhere.”

“Shit.” My heart raced at the relay of events. There was no love lost between myself and Hope, and I’d thought about pushing her in front of a car numerous times, but that was the extent of my fantasy.

“That’s not even the worst part… You took your mascot uniform with you?” Colter asked, switching gears.

“Yeah. I stripped down in the parking lot and tossed it in my backseat.”

Cody bolted up, standing over me. “It’s still there?”

I frowned. “Yes.”

Colter stood, and together they raced toward the door. I rolled my eyes. They wouldn’t be able to get into my car without my keys. Standing, I followed them outside at a leisurely pace, finding them standing by the car, and looking into the backseat.

“Your windows are tinted.”

“Yessss,” I drawled, looking between them. “What’s going on? Why are you obsessed with my car and uniform?” I crossed my arms. I’d wait them out until they explained.

“Open the door, Mer. I promise we’ll explain.”

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