Page 27 of Shoot Your Shot

She looks nervous, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, but the wind catches it, blowing it right back to where it was. “Oh. The, uh … tabloids sort of painted a different picture. It’s hard to know the truth.”

“Like you said when I was listening to the reporters onSportsCenter, they need a story. When it comes to my dating life, it’s the same deal. So, they take something small and run with it.” As the last words leave my mouth, her shoulders slump, making me stop in my tracks and reach for her arm. “There was no story. Not with any of the women in the tabloids. You knowhow it goes—I go to an event, and someone jumps beside me, and then the paps take a picture before I even have a chance to get away.”

She swallows nervously as she starts to walk, making me do the same as I drop my hold on her arm.

“You really don’t owe me any explanation, Kolt. It wasn’t my place to ask.” She chews her lip furiously. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

As her steps speed up, I stop on the sidewalk. “Why? Because you’re scared I might ask you the same question in return?” I call behind her, and slowly, she turns around to face me. “Afraid I might ask about Dexter and your perfect life together? Or how happy it must make your old man that you’re with his assistant coach’s son now?”

Her face twists with confusion and anger before she marches toward me. “I have no idea what you’re even saying, Kolt. Care to explain why Dexter is even being brought up in this conversation?”

“You tell me.” I shrug my shoulders, looking her up and down. “Is he back home, taking care of your three-legged cat right now?”

“What?” She rears her head back. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no. My friend Jill is.”

“Why is that? Is he too busy being a douchebag to take care of Rocket?” I know I sound like a fucking moron, but I can’t stop. “Is he too good for a cat missing a leg?”

“Would you quit bringing up the three-legged part?” she snaps. “Simply call it my cat. Or Rocket. My God. And I haven’t seen Dexter in forever. Well, besides in passing at a few games.” She shakes her head, looking at me like I’m crazy. “I don’t understand your obsession with him. You’ve brought him up, like, multiple times now.”

“My bad, I thought you all were cozy.” I keep my eyes fixated on her. “At least, you were two months after you left my ass. You moved on quickly, huh?”

For a moment, we stand on the sidewalk. Her hair flies around in the wind, and the leaves fall from the trees around us.

But eventually, her eyes widen. “Wait, how did you know that?”

I look down for a second before glancing back up at her, keeping my eyes narrowed. “Because I saw you. I heard you laughing too.”

Her entire face sinks, and she looks at me like she’s seen a ghost. “Kolt, my dad wanted me to get out of the house because all I did on my weekends was watch movies in bed or on the couch. He told me if I just went to get a coffee with Dexter—as friends—he’d let me have a cat at their house.” She stops. “Wait, you drove back home?”

Ignoring her question, I squint my eyes to slits. “So, a cat was more important than us?” I bark out. “That’s good to know.”

I turn and start walking back toward the house, and within seconds, she’s beside me. This fight is stupid. I know I sound like a fucking lunatic, mad over a cat. But, fuck, I’m pissed.

“Kolt, stop acting like a child!”

Ignoring her, I take large strides, continuing on. I know I’m being unreasonable, but, fucking hell, I just found out that I lost all this time because I thought she had moved on. If I had simply knocked on the door, would she have come home with me?

Once we get closer to the gate at the end of our driveway, she rushes in front of me, putting her hands on my abdomen to stop me. “Would you just talk to me instead of acting like a caveman? My fucking God, Kolt. Whatever the hell happened when we split, that was my business. Just like whatever shit you’ve been doing is yours!”

I stare at her, stuffing my hands into my pockets again. “You were laughing, Paige. Like … really laughing. The way you used to for me.” I shake my head quickly. “I was barely fucking surviving after losing you, and you were laughing at another man’s jokes. All so that you could get a cat.”

“It wasn’t like that,” she whispers, her lip trembling. “You have to know it wasn’t like that. I was in such a dark place for so long after I moved home. And even that day … I was hurting. I promise you, I was hurting so much.”

“But that’s what it looked like.” I shrug angrily. “And so … seeing you that day confirmed what I had known for a long time. You were better off without me. I was always going to be a weight, dragging you down. So, I got in my truck, and I left. When the papers came, I should have signed them. But in my fucked-up head, I thought, as long as we were legally married, you couldn’t become another man’s wife.” I inhale sharply. “Losing you hurt like hell. But ever finding out you married someone else? It would have killed me, Paige.”

“But you chose this,” she growls, stamping her foot. “You pushed and pushed until I finally broke.”

“I did what I had to do,” I say, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. “For you.”

“What are you even talking about, Kolt?” Her voice grows louder. “That makes no sense. What I needed was my husband. Not the guy who wanted to be drunk with his buddies most nights, who couldn’t stand to be in the same room as me.” Her eyebrows pinch together with sadness. “If you didn’t love me anymore, you could have just said it, Kolt. It would have saved me a lot of pain.”

Taking a step forward, I cup her cheeks with force. “Is that what you really think?” I growl, bringing my face lower to hers when I bend down. “You really think that I would ever stop loving you?”

“What else was I supposed to believe?” she screams up at me. “You became a stranger. The man I’d married was long gone.”

My eyes float to her lips. If I kissed her right now, would that fix us enough for her to give me another shot? If I told her the truth—the entire truth—would she listen? Or would she blame me more?

I’ve spent the past eighteen months missing her, and now, she’s so close. But she’s looking at me like she fucking hates me.

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