Page 86 of Hate to Love You

He walks us over to the couch and I fall onto his lap as he takes a seat in the middle of it. My arms are still wrapped around him. I just want to hold Brody close. I want to be the balm that soothes his soul.

He sucks in a breath and expels it with measured movements. “We need to talk.”

And just like that, my world tilts sideways.

He’s going to end this. I can feel it. And after what happened at practice today, I can’t blame him for wanting to put a little distance between us. This charade has gone on long enough. The last thing Brody needs going into the season is to be on his coach’s shit list or have bad blood with another player.

If I hadn’t gotten all gooey-eyed, I would have expected it sooner.

I nod and steel myself for the inevitable.

Wait a minute…

What am I waiting for?

That’s when I decide to pull the plug myself.

Chapter Thirty-One

Brody

“I get it,” she says abruptly.

“Get what?” What’s there to get? We haven’t even begun to delve into this conversation yet.

My brows draw together as I stare at Natalie.

My gaze drops to her lips.

I’m tempted to wrap my fingers around her neck and bring her mouth to mine. As soon as she opened the door, I wanted to gather up her into my arms and kiss her. It showed great restraint on my part that I didn’t do exactly that.

Unfortunately, this conversation needs to happen. And it needs to happen now. Especially after what that douchebag said on the ice. Every time I think about it, it pisses me off. I need to know where Natalie and I stand. I don’t want to dance around my feelings anymore.

She drags her gaze from mine and says woodenly, “That this needs to end.”

Even though I’m sitting on the couch and she’s perched on my lap, I rear back. What’s she talking about?

This isn’t how I envisioned this conversation unfolding.

Like at all.

My brows jerk across my forehead and nearly slam into the ceiling. “You want to end this?” I don’t give her time to respond before clarifying, “Between us?”

Well, fuck.

This isn’t good.

Sharp white teeth sink into her lower lip, and she jerks her head in the affirmative. “It’s probably time, don’t you think?” She avoids eye contact, looking everywhere but at me. I have no idea what’s going on in that head of hers.

Fed up, my fingers settle under her chin. I gently turn her face until she has no choice but to meet my gaze again. “What the hell are you talking about, Davies?” Even though I don’t mean to snap out the words, that’s exactly what happens.

“When we got together, we agreed this relationship would last for a few weeks. After the whole thing with Reed died down, we’d go our separate ways.” She looks at me for confirmation.

“I know what we said,” I mutter, feeling annoyed by the way this is going. I went into this arrangement knowing that a relationship with me would be a tough sell, but still…I didn’t expect Natalie to drop me like a bad habit. I’d been holding out hope that things had changed between us.

Maybe I was wrong to assume she felt as strongly as I do.

She shrugs. “Well, it’s been a month. We should probably move on.” Something flickers in her eyes. “Right?”

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