Page 99 of Power Play

“There’s no need. I understand what happened, and I know it’s all my fault. I ruined everything.”

“And what happened exactly?” Clay arches an eyebrow.

“I hurt your feelings, and acted like a coward. It’s logical that you found someone better. I wish you and Dylan only the best. You’re a very cute couple.”

“Dylan and I aren’t a couple.”

I blink but recover quickly. “Okay, then have fun fucking, I guess,” I blurt out, my cheeks flaming up. God, what a terrible thing to say. I hate myself.

Clay keeps silent, his gaze never leaving my face. I want to cry, scream, and hide from him. It’s all too much.

“I can’t do this.” He steps back. “I can’t fucking talk to you when you don’t even want to listen to what I have to say.” He turns around and goes down the stairs.

I put on my pink sneakers and rush after him, not giving a damn that I’m making a scene. I want to know what he means by that.

The sky gives off a sudden bolt of lightning when I catch his elbow and halt him in his tracks. It illuminates his face, and my heart squeezes painfully in my chest with how sad he seems.

“What do you mean?”

“Did you read my texts?”

I shake my head.

“Then I have nothing to tell you, Layla. I explained everything.”

“Please, Clay, what do you mean?”

He scrutinizes me. “Yesterday, after I texted you to come over, I saw Dylan fall out of her Uber face first. She was drunk, and the driver didn’t know what to do with her. She didn’t have her purse, so she didn’t have her keys. And because I couldn’t let her sleep on the ground, I brought her to my house, put her on the couch, and let her sleep. She’s my neighbor, and we’re friends, but that’s all.”

“She was at all of your games?—”

“I invited her to our first home game,” he drawls, “so I could introduce her to Dean Crawford. They’re kinda seeing each other. I’m not interested in Dylan. I never have been.”

“What?” My jaw drops as I stare at him, not understanding what’s going on.

“Layla.” He exhales, exasperated, turning his face to the sky. My whole body shudders, and I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the rain that has finally started. “How can’t you see? After all these years, how can’t you see that I love you?”

My lips part. The words are so unexpected yet so familiar, and they ring in my ears as if he’d used a megaphone. “You can’t,” I tell him, taking a step back. “You can’t love me.”

His brow furrows, and he bites the inside of his bottom lip. In a blink, he closes the distance between us, the crease between his eyebrows deepening. His body radiates maddening heat. He glowers at me. “Why not?”

I snicker, shaking my head. “Do I really need to answer that? Isn’t it obvious?”

“No.” He shrugs. “Why?”

“Because I broke your heart,” I whisper, my eyes veiling with tears. “I broke your heart so many times, you should hate me.”

“I don’t hate you. I love you,” Clay insists. “What else?”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“That’s for me to decide, don’t you think?” He cocks an eyebrow at me, his eyes as stormy as the weather gets with each passing moment. “And I think you do deserve me.” The first tear falls down my cheek, mixing with the droplets of rain that are now hitting my face. “Anything else?”

“It’s not just me anymore. Maya and I…we’re like the sun and the moon. We don’t exist without each other. It’s a one-plus-one deal, Clay.”

“And I’d be happy to be another plus-one in your equation because I love you and Maya.”

I expel a shaky breath, my fingers trembling. “I’m dependent,” I confess. “I’m trying not to be, but it’s hard. I lean on Drake and Angie, on Ava, on my parents. I always need someone to help me make a decision.”

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