Page 113 of Break my Heart

Across the room, Colby cracks his knuckles, his expression serious. “Want me to take him out?”

I blink, momentarily distracted from my grief. “No.”

“Are you sure?” he presses, raising a brow. “Hayes is one of my best friends, but I’d still do it.”

Despite the hollowness in my chest, a tiny smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Colby shrugs. “Just saying. It’s an option if you change your mind.”

“Thanks, I appreciate the offer.” I try to sound lighter than I feel, but it comes out flat.

Britt nibbles on her lower lip as she stares at me in concern. “Don’t you think you should talk to him? Maybe there’s more to what you saw.”

The memory of Hayes, surrounded by those girls, laughing with them, as if nothing else in the world mattered, flashes in my head.

In that moment, I felt invisible. Something I’ve never felt in his presence. He has the rare ability to make me feel like I’m all he sees.

All that matters.

My heart constricts.

“I don’t know if I want to hear whatever excuses he has. I saw enough to know I don’t mean anything to him.”

As detached as I try to sound, like I’m already past it, the truth is, it’s ripping me apart.

How could he so easily dismiss everything we found together?

The intimacy we shared felt so real.

At least it did to me.

But now… I don’t know what to believe.

Maybe none of it was real.

“You meant something to him,” Britt says quietly. “I know you did. I could see it.”

Even though her words are meant to offer comfort, they only make me ache more.

If I meant something to him, why did he let me think I didn’t?

Why did he let me walk away without a fight?

I swallow hard, pushing back more tears. “I’m going to head over to the rink and clear my head.” I glance around my apartment. Everywhere I look is a reminder of Hayes.

His smile, his laugh, the way he made me feel like I mattered.

I need to escape.

Britt’s worried gaze stays pinned to me. “Are you sure? Do you want us to come with you?”

With a shake of my head, I rise from the couch. “No, it’s okay. I just need some space.” I feel like I’m suffocating. I can’t even go in the bedroom without being slammed with memories.

Maybe I’ll sleep at my parents’ house tonight.

Or for the next week.

Thoughts of Nadia Petrovic flood my brain.

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