Page 120 of Fair Catch

“I think the reason is obvious.” Kason’s voice cracks, and I glance over at him to see him shaking his head. “They don’t think I’m good enough or worthy of you or driven enough. All the above, probably. And hell, maybe—”

“Maybe they’re full of shit? Yeah, that’s exactly it,” I cut in. Rolling to my side, I cup the side of his face and brush away the remnants of his tears. “Please tell me you don’t believe a damn word of what you just said.”

His gaze falls to my chest, and all he does is shake his head.

And the sight damn near cracks my heart in two.

“Kason. Baby. I wantyou.Iloveyou. Please tell me you believe that.”

“I do,” he whispers, his voice cracking like shards of glass. “But I also believe they’ll follow through on their threats.”

The unfortunate thing is he’s probably right. I don’t comment on that, though. Don’t confirm the threat is anything but empty.

But I can’t lie to him either.

Instead, I tell him the most honest thing I can.

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“And I don’t want to watch you lose everything you’ve worked for. Every plan you’ve ever made for yourself.” He shakes his head, a sad watery laugh leaving him. “You can’t just give up everything for me.”

“Then we’ll come up with a new plan,” I tell him, pressing my forehead to his. “We can pretend to end things. You move out—hell,I’llmove out, even. We play things cool for a while. Sneak around, see each other when we can between classes and everything. Then when things blow over—”

“That’s not gonna work, and you know it,” he whispers.

His hand sliding down to find mine, our fingers interlocking. The warmth of his palm against mine grounds me, and my eyes fall closed.

“Then let them cut me off,” I mutter, my forehead rolling against his as I shake my head. “I have trusts they can’t touch. Everything that’s left in my college fund is all mine too. And look at Quinton, you know? He’s been able to make it work, and I don’t think he’s been happier in his life after being free from the shackles his parents had on him.”

His hand tightens around mine ever so slightly. “What’s your fallback, though? Because he has a professional hockey career. You don’t have one of those.”

“I have two degrees,” I counter. “That’s more than enough to get me a job. Sure, it might not be my family’s company, and maybe it’ll be a lot harder to make happen, but it will all work out.”

“But that’s the thing. It won’t be everything you’ve worked your ass off to get.” His hand rubs across my jaw, the touch featherlight, almost like a ghost. “It won’t be what youdeserve.And you deserve everything, Hayes.”

I remain silent, unable to do anything other than wrack my brain for some other option. Because there has to be one. There’s no way there isn’t another solution, and if we look hard enough—

“Look at me,” he whispers, shattering my train of thought. “Please.”

Pulling back, I force myself to meet his gaze, and it’s a knife to the gut, seeing the agony in them. The sorrow and pain that he doesn’t deserve, that I’d do anything to take away…yet I’m the reason behind it.

My throat constricts, and I shake my head.

Physically rejecting the thoughts I can see in his eyes. Read in them, clear as day.

“You want to end this, don’t you?”

“That’s the last fucking thing I want. But I think it’s the only real option we have.” His eyes are filled with more unshed tears, his voice cracking when he mutters, “I’m not gonna let you throw away your entire future for me.”

“So instead, we have to throw away ours?”

My chest aches as I look at him, at this perfect, amazing guy who is everything I never knew I needed.

How do I tell him that the future I want has him threaded and woven into the fabric now? How can I fight him on something he seems so dead-set on?

He shakes his head, a sad smile creeping over his lips. “We don’t know what’ll happen after this. But I have to believe, if we’re supposed to work, then we will. It doesn’t matter if it takes six weeks, ten months, two years; it’ll happen. But for now, it’s just not the right time.”

Not the right time.

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