Page 35 of The Problem with Players

“Come closer.”

He took two steps toward me.

I leaned over the display and whispered, “Say one more bad thing about Avery, and I’ll slam your fucking face into this glass display.”

That drained the color from his cheeks before he turned and left.

The second he was gone, Priya turned to me with a look of concern.

“I thought that guy was engaged to Ms. Kingsley?” Priya asked after Wesley left the shop.

“He is,” I said, feeling a pit of doubt sitting heavily in my stomach.

“Wow,” Priya said as she restocked the pork belly in thedisplay window. “Ms. Kingsley is a better woman than me. I would never be okay with my fiancé being all over another person like that.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if Avery knew about Wesley and Drew. I doubt she would’ve been fine with how close the two of them seemed within our shop.

The urge to kick Wesley’s ass was a strong one, but instead, I debated if it was my place to inform Avery of what I’d seen. Then again, if it were me, I’d want to know.

Even if it hurt.

10

AVERY

Imoved through the day as a zombie. I ran into a few people in town. None of them realized I wasn’t myself that day—or maybe this was my true self. Still, they didn’t notice how off I felt. They didn’t see me because I’d worn a mask to hide my darkness so well.

Sure, they saw my grumpiness and cold persona, but they didn’t see the heartbreak rippling through my system. They didn’t see my sorrow and pain as they passed by me. I felt invisible to the world, and I couldn’t help but think that even my partner couldn’t see the hurt within me.

As I walked to my office before practice, I took a few deep breaths at my desk. I wished there was a button on my body to reset my system and be normal. Whatever normal was.

Nathan knocked on my door and peered inside. “Hey, Coach. I just wanted to stop in and check on our plans for today and…” He stepped into my office space and knitted his brows together. “What’s wrong?”

“What?”

“You look…off.”

My chest tightened slightly from his words.

No way.

There was no way he could see me—see the real me—when the rest of the world seemed so blind.

I crossed my arms and sat back in my chair. “I don’t look off.”

“Yes, you do.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know…You just look…” He studied me with a slight tilt of his head. “Sad.”

I swallowed hard.

Sad.

Yes.

That’s it.

---