Page 88 of Perfect Score

A part of me wants to yank the ring out of the box and chuck it into the bushes past Liam’s head. But I know that Liam will never stop being a part of our friend group. I’ll still have to see him at birthday parties, and gender reveals.

It’s time to put an end to this.

Seeing Liam down on one knee doesn’t give me even the slightest butterflies.

“Zoey. Give us the chance we deserve.”

“I can’t, Liam… I’m not in love with you anymore,” I tell him. “It’s time that we both move on.”

“So what… you’re in love with Brent?” he says bitterly.

I nod. “Yes.”

A part of me would like to have softened the blow, but he didn’t do that for me when he chose Shelby a year ago, and this break between us needs to be final.

“He can’t make you happy. He only gives a shit about himself and hockey,” he sneers.

I know that’s not true.

If it were, he would have let his grandmother raise Tessa so he could live the bachelor life as a professional hockey player.

I can’t claim the man I’ll be moving on with will be Brent because he and I haven’t talked about what happens next, but I do know that I have Brent to thank for making me see that Liam isn’t the one.

“That’s not true, and you know it,” I say.

“You’re making a mistake,” he says, still down on one knee.

I look back down at the ring he’s offering me. There is no promise in that ring. It means nothing to him.

“My biggest mistake was holding on so tight. I should have seen it sooner and let you go way before this.”

I know marrying me isn’t what Liam wants. I don’t think even he knows what he wants. Ever since hockey ended for him, I think he’s always been looking for something to fill that void.

But that “void filler” won’t be me anymore.

Chapter Twenty-One

Brent

“Where did they go?” Phoebe asks.

Her head shifts from side to side, looking on both sides of me while I chat with her dad.

This is the first time he’s looked me in the eye without growling at me since I didn’t pick his daughter up for prom a decade ago.

The man can hold a grudge, but hopefully I can win him over because I have no intentions of going anywhere this time around.

I lost out on fourteen years with Zoey, but I won’t give up another minute if she’ll give me a chance.

“Where did who go?” I ask.

“Zoey and Liam.”

My stomach lodges in my throat.

They’re missing? Fuck, I should have figured he’d do this.

I start looking around frantically, without any sign of either of them.

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