Page 100 of The Break Out

“Your pussy really likes me,” I tease.

Brynn just rolls her eyes, but when she doesn’t say anything back, I know there’s something really wrong. I turn her towardme, pushing some of her golden hair behind her ear, tracing my hand along her skin. “Talk to me,” I encourage.

She takes a deep breath. “What do you know?”

“Just what some of the guys showed me at practice. Some article about that shithead Richardson. He didn’t hurt Spencer, did he?”

She shakes her head. “Not like that, no.” I can see her hesitate. “Did you know?”

My brows furrow. “Did I know what? About Richardson? Fuck no.”

She looks up at me and I see her walls back up again. The ones I could’ve sworn we’ve worked to break down, but she’s looking at me like she used to. Like she doesn’t trust me. “You didn’t know anything? You were so close with that team. You hated having to come here and were still close with them, so you must have known something,” she snaps.

“I wasn’t close with him, and if I knew anything I would’ve done something.”

“Would you have? You’d stand up to your little buddies? Because for a while you were borderline harassing me, so I think you may have joined in.”

I rear back like she slapped me. “You really think that? So, what, you think I forced you to be with me?”

Conflict flashes across her face and I don’t know if she means what she’s saying, but she’s doing what she said she wasn’t goingto. Which is run. But this time she wants to make sure I don’t come back.

“We’re going back to pretending you didn’t want me then, Baby Collee?”

“I…I did, but you were really pushy, and I just don’t know if maybe–”

I cut her off, not able to hear more of this, “Say it, then. You think I was involved too. Tell me what a shitty person you think I am even though you know damn well that’s not the truth. I may be an asshole at times, sure, but you fucking know me. You know for a fucking fact I would have never done anything with you that you didn’t want. And I would never ever fucking hurt you. Or any woman and you should fucking know that.”

Instead of saying anything else she just shrugs.

Just fucking shrugs.

I drop my hands, and take a step back from her, despite the hurt I see flash across her face. It must mirror mine because I can’t believe this is happening. Especially after everything was so perfect just this morning.

“You know me, Brynn, you really know me and I want you to think nice and hard if you think I could do something like that.”

She wraps her arms around her stomach, eyes dropping down to the floor. “You should probably go; I have a lot to deal with.”

I have to fight the urge to plead for her not to do this. For her to stop fighting her feelings and see what’s right in front of her. I want to bare my fucking soul for her. Lay it all out for herto know that I love her, that I would rather rip my heart out of my chest than hurt her. That I don’t want to walk out of this fucking door.

But she’s shut down right in front of my eyes. Her fears taking over and overriding anything I could do or say right now. So, I don’t beg for her like I want to because she needs time. And the last thing I want to do right now is push.

“You think you’ll still come to the game later?” I can’t help but ask, even though I’m sure I know the answer.

“Probably not.”

I nod once, opening the front door, but I linger for a second, my back turned to her, and I can’t help but say one more thing.

“I’ve given you everything, Brynn, please don’t throw it away because you’re scared. Everything is easier to get through if it’s done together and you don’t have to do everything alone anymore.”

When the door closes behind me, I feel like I just shut the door on so much more, but when she doesn’t open it again, I know her decision has been made for now. I’ll respect whatever that decision is because she already accused me of being pushy before. I refuse for that to be true now, I love her too much to try and force her to be with me.

I love her enough to have to let her go if I have to.

This game fucking sucks.Tensions are high between our teams, and I feel like everyone is looking at me like I’m the onethe article is about. I fucking get it, but it wasn’t me and I didn’t know about it.

It feels like everything that was changing has gone back to square one and it’s coming out in this game. We’re also headed out on the road for two weeks after this game and are going against L.A. in a couple days.

The last thing I want right now is to leave town. Facing my old team is a close second.

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