Page 39 of Dreams on the Ice

“God, I’m not sure this is ever going to end,” Brooklynn whispers. “I hate it.”

There it is. Her whispered words are all I need to know. I wrap my fingers in her hair, twisting the strands and tilting her head back so I can look down into her eyes.

“Brooklynn,” I say through a clenched jaw. “They are miserable people. They will not get what they want, and they’ll have to get over it.”

“No,” she snaps.

Blinking, I am surprised by her outburst. “Honey,” I rasp. She tries to push away from me, but my muscles tighten, keeping her close. Shaking my head, I clear my throat. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t. We will get through this drama. It’s stupid and immature.”

“Forrest,” she murmurs with tears in her eyes.

She doesn’t blink them back. She doesn’t even try to swallow them. I press my lips together, trying to think of how to play this. I want to tell her to shut the fuck up because I think I know what’s going to happen. And I fucking refuse.

“No.” It’s my turn to snap. “Marry me, Brooklynn. I’m fucking serious. Marry me. Let’s end all this right now.”

“You know that’s not going to fix anything,” she whispers.

Shaking my head, I clear my throat. “I’ll hire a publicist to fix it. I’m done. It’s not going to just go away because they’re crazy. So I’m going to beat them at their own game and hire someone to fix it all.”

It’s an idea that came to me after looking into her tear-filled eyes. This needs to end. Me pretending it doesn’t exist isn’t helping shit. “I don’t know if that’s going to work.”

I snort, shifting forward to touch my mouth to hers. “Well, I’m telling you that whatever it is you had planned is definitely not going to work.”

Chapter

Nineteen

FORREST

I holdBrooklynn against my body tightly. She thinks that whatever it is she’s going to say, it’s going to make an impact on me. That I’m just going to accept it—take it lying down. That I’m not going to fight for her.

I’ve been fed and taken enough shit in my short twenty-five years, and I’m tired of taking it. I don’t have to. And in this case, I sure as shit do not need to accept shit because I know that she’s trying to protect herself and maybe me, too.

“I think that maybe it’s best we take a break. At least until this stuff cools down,” she whispers.

I can tell that her words are hesitant. Mine would be, too, if I had just fucked my woman on her birthday and then tried to break it off with her. Because fuck that, and with all the respect in the world, fuck it—wholly and completely.

“You might think that, but you would be wrong, Brooklynn. Walking away never fixed a damn thing.”

Those tears slide down her cheeks, and her breath hitches. I hate to see her cry and would do anything to keep those tearsfrom staining her cheeks, but in this case, I’m not giving in to whatever fucked-up reasoning she has rolling around in her pretty head.

“I’m selling my part of the salon and moving to Raleigh.”

My eyes narrow on hers. I absolutelydo notlike the sound of that, but at the same time, I know that Raleigh isn’t far because that’s where our games are. But that’s not the point. Fuck, we were there tonight.

Keeping my voice low and my tone even, I speak to her, attempting to sound calm. Inside, I’m ready to flip tables. I’m so damn worked up. “Honey,” I murmur, “you ain’t running.”

“I’m not running,” she states, although her voice shakes when she says it. “I’m saving my friends from getting their business ruined. The reality is that if I stay, it’s going to ruin everything we’ve all worked for. They would never make me leave. They aren’t like that, but I can see the writing on the wall.”

“And if you leave, change your entire life, then Kiki wins, but really, she’s just a pawn. I don’t even know her that well. If you leave, my parents win.”

And that is the fact of it all.

This comes back to my parents.

All of it does—it always does.

“Forrest, we need to be realistic. They are going to make you miserable. They’re going to ruin my business, my friends’ business. And they don’t care because money and people mean nothing to them.”

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