Page 150 of Breaking Away

“Let him. I’ll be ready.”

I hold my hand out to Hughes, who looks at it with confusion. “What is it?”

“I’ll wear it,” I grumble.

It takes a moment for him to understand. His whole face brightens when he does.

He runs to grab it.

The headband he’s been harassing me to put on all season.

Hopefully it’s lucky enough for us to win tonight and then to win the final game that decides who takes home the Cup.

63

KAVI

He ambushesme right before the last game of the series. The one that decides who wins the Cup.

A poster-perfect blonde with super white teeth, and an almost imperceptible cleft in his chin. Unfortunately, since the last time I saw him, he’s not turned into a gremlin. He’s still a quintessentially handsome jock.

Even so, I’m repulsed. I try to step back, but there’s a wall behind me.

How did this happen? How did he find a chance to corner me at the stadium with no one around?

Tyler’s eyes pierce through me. “I don’t recognize you.”

It’s such a brutal sentence to tell someone, designed to make them question everything about themselves. It makes me want to scream, but conflict makes me seize up and go quiet.

Tyler scoffs at my rapid blinking.

“You’re being horrible,” I finally force out.

“Kavi.”

My name is oily on his mouth. I try stepping sideways, but he mirrors the movement, blocking me.

“I’m not horrible,” he says. “Even though you obviously think I’m a massive cheater and didn’t give me a chance to win you back.” His eyes flash. “You don’t know how much money I was going to spend on wowing you. It would have made you fall to your knees.”

“Go away, Tyler,” I plead.

“Don’t you want to hear it? To hear how much of a mistake you are making. I’m the Captain of the Seattle Blades?—”

“Stop! It’s notaboutthat.”

It’s not. The thing is, I don’t think I’ll ever get a black and white confirmation about whether Tyler cheated on me. He’ll deny it forever, and it could be the case that he didn’t cheat, even if my gut feels so strongly otherwise. But that’s also not why I can’t imagine being in a relationship with him ever again.

“It’s not about cheating,” I explain. “It’s that I don’t want to be with you, Tyler. I’ve realized that you don’t make me feel—”Safe, nurtured, attractive, encouraged, loved.“—all the things I deserve. Don’t you see? Ending a relationship isn’t a negotiation. Both people don’t have to agree that it’s over. I can decide I want something different, and that means it’s the end of us. I’m allowed to do that.”

He comes closer, caging me in. There’s a very stubborn set to his mouth.

I’ve got nowhere to go. Not knowing what else to do, I look over his shoulder, searching, and that’s when I see them.

Hughes and Quinn have spotted us. They don’t waste time getting here.

Quickly, their bodies insert themselves into the situation.

“Step away from her,” says Hughes. His blue eyes have gone shark-flat.

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