Page 120 of The Love You Win

“You don’t believe her.” Griffin shakes his head. “I knew you wouldn’t. You’re dead set on believing no one could love you for who you are and not what you could give them.”

“What? That’s not true,” I splutter.

“It is, man. And I get it, but damn. You’re wrong about this one.”

“Right,” I say derisively. “Because I should just take her word for it.”

“Honestly?” Griffin purses his lips and pulls his phone from his pocket. “I think you should. She’s never given you a reason not to. But I know you, and I knew her word wouldn’t be enough. Which is why I paid her ex a little visit at work.”

Shit. “And?”

My friend laughs. “The guy almost pissed himself when I strolled into his office. The receptionist was a fan, so he let me right in. He told me where Alex’s office was and I just barged right in.” His nose crinkles. “The guy was trying to get into this blonde’s skirt, man, and it was awkward as hell. Looked like he was having a seizure while he dry-humped the chick.”

That has Wright laughing, but I don’t join in. I’m too busy holding myself still. I want to shake Griffin and demand he cut the shit and get to the point.

“Anywhooo,” he drawls. “After Blondie tried to give me her number as she fled the room, Isla’s ex did that whole bullshit routine where he puffed up his chest and threatened that he’d get security. The guy’s a serious tool. I don’t know what Isla saw in him. She called him a micro-dick when we were talking, and after meeting him, I don’t think she was kidding. The dude has total micro-dick energy.”

“Griff. Spit it out, man.”

“Right.” He shakes his head as if clearing it. “After I told Alex that the security guards were huge Rogues fans and that I could shove my hockey stick up his ass without so much as a you probably shouldn’t do that, I told him he could either tell me the truth about what happened that day, or I’d beat the shit out of him.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get arrested.”

“I’m not a total idiot. I didn’t take a video of that part. Just his confession.”

I stare at my best friend as he unlocks his phone and pulls up a video. “His confession?”

“Yeah, man. He admits to all of it. Just watch.”

So I do. I stare at Griffin’s phone and watch Isla’s sniveling ex squirm under my teammate’s glare and detail how he showed up at Isla’s school and tried to get her back. He even admitted that he didn’t actually want my girl. He just didn’t want anyone else to have her. Couldn’t stand the idea that she was happy without him.

Fucker.

Griffin was right. I only caught a small part of their conversation and I totally lost my mind.

And my woman.

I’m such a piece of shit.

Wright watches the emotions play out across my face. Horror followed by anger followed by disbelief before grief wins out. He scoffs. “Yeah. You get it now, don’t you?”

I do. Fuck me, I do. “But the things she said…”

“Dude, have you not snapped something sarcastic at someone when they won’t leave you alone? You admitted you didn’t even see her face when she said it. She was probably making his balls shrivel with her pissed-off glare. But you didn’t stop to find out. You just assumed the worst of her and left.”

“But I asked her if she had anything to tell me that night. She didn’t bring Alex up. Why would she keep that from me if she didn’t do anything wrong?” I’m grasping at straws here, and I know it. But how can I not? The alternative is accepting that I hurt the woman I love and blew up our relationship for nothing.

Because I was too much of a coward to risk hearing that she was using me. Too much of a coward to risk getting my heart broken in a way I couldn’t ignore or deny.

Griffin rubs a hand over his mouth as he considers me. Like he’s deciding if I can handle more truths capable of digging my grave even deeper. “She didn’t want to throw you off your game. She was planning to tell you all about it afterward. But she blamed herself for the bad press you were getting, and all the assholes saying she was the reason you’ve been distracted got in her head. She thought she was protecting you.”

Shit. Shit.

“Are you sure that’s what happened?”

Wright nods. “Yeah, man. I’m sure.”

I’m an idiot. A stupid, cowardly, raging idiot.

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